Music: Tim Acito
Book and Lyrics: Tim Acito and Alexander Dinelaris
Director: Scott Le Crass
Good morning, Heartsville! It’s a new school year and our seniors are ready to work hard and play hard. And if they have extra love, why, then magical fairy Zanna with his sparkly magic wand can help make it happen – he’s clear he can’t make a couple fall in love, but he can put them in situations where love might blossom and grow. But what of Zanna? Can he find love for himself? It’s all very High School Musical with a young cast with an impressive line in high energy and high kicks belting out numbers.
But this is middle America with a topsy-turvy twist: the norm is homosexuality and heterosexuality is taboo, so the couples for whom Zanna matchmakes are exclusively single-sex. Yes, we have the usual parade of characters including the new guy whose fathers are in the military so he never sets down roots and joins the football team bringing instant success; and the school heartthrob (and chess champion) but all seen through that lens. We work our way through the kids’ senior year, with little to show that this America is different. Until that is, the drama club decides to perform a controversial new musical questioning why heteros can’t serve in the military – including the song, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, a glorious parody of this world’s American military’s attitude to gay servicemen and women at the turn of the century (remarkably, with hindsight, the turn of this century, not the one before).
Inevitably, a gay presenting straight couple fall for each other to outrage and ostracism. Can Zanna and his magic help? And if he can, what might the consequences be?
For the first half, this is an entertaining, but pretty standard coming-of-age musical albeit with the above twist. The world of Heartsville has the same flaws as our own reflected in some pink looking-glass. But as our protagonists find their true feelings, it all becomes more interesting. We do find ourselves examining our own attitudes towards those different to ourselves and rooting for our heroes to find a way through the moral maze in which they find themselves.
At the centre is the exuberant and magnificently camp, Zenna, played by Jack Gittins. Remarkably, due to the indisposition of the original cast member, Gittins was brought in with just a couple of days’ notice and rehearsal time. It certainly doesn’t show – his performance is full of confidence and camp sass; he fills the stage whenever he appears, twirling his magic wand to do his magic and barely missing a beat. A true triple threat, he belts out the songs with the best of them while executing the intricate choreography of David Winters – often in killer heels.
Sam Brasenell and Oliver White bring us Kate and Steve, the couple who discover their forbidden love. White’s Steve is believably confused, if a touch underplayed, while Brasenell brings a powerful set of pipes to their believable and conflicted Kate. Adam Makepeace brings us Mike – the chess-champion lover Steve spurns in favour of Kate. Makepiece brings a vulnerability and introspection to the role with a particularly fine and moving rendition of I Could Write Books in the aftermath of Steve’s abandonment of him.
It’s a fast-moving piece under the sure hand of director Scott Le Crass, although one feels that the first half is maybe a touch overlong as it sets up Heartsville and its students – including the unforgettable Girls’ Intramural Mechanical Bull-Riding Team. Nevertheless, it hots up after the interval as we start to really care about these characters. A simple set from Joanne Marshall quickly transports us around Heartsville, while Reuben Speed maintains the camp factor in his predominantly pink costume designs.
It’s a loud, flamboyant and energetic night out, with some maybe unexpected pathos among the laughs, and well worth making the effort to see.
Runs until 15 December 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Flamboyant
