Giving their all: The cast has been rehearsing for three months for STAG’s return to the stage next week. Photos: contributed
You just know stormy weather has passed and the super cruise ship of planet Earth is getting back to an even keel when there’s a community theatre show on the horizon.
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Shepparton Theatre Arts Group premieres its first big musical production in two years when the musical The Drowsy Chaperone hits the boards of Westside Performing Arts Centre a week from today – Friday, April 1.
Now, April Fool’s Day may seem a dangerous date for a theatre show to start, but in this case it’s entirely appropriate.
The Drowsy Chaperone is packed with laughs, ridiculous scenarios and overblown, melodramatic and nonsensical characters.
In fact, the whole thing is one big joke – at the expense of musical theatre.
Which is why it appeals to me, because believe it or not, I don’t actually like musical theatre.
Yes, I know I’ve appeared in Annie, My Fair Lady, Oliver! and countless rock cabaret shows.
Cripes, I’ve even written my own musical performed at Westside nearly 20 years ago.
But that was all fun community stuff.
I never took it seriously as an art from.
Musical theatre to me is like a Bugs Bunny cartoon inflated to bursting point with emotion and drama.
It’s a giant balloon not designed to carry all this prickly weight of human interaction.
Wide awake: Stefania Panella plays the Drowsy Chaperone in this witty and timely show. Photo: Contributed.
Which is why I like The Drowsy Chaperone – underneath the jokes and the silliness are pointed reminders of how misogynistic, homophobic and plain racist old musicals were.
This energetic spoof of a 1920s song and dance show is narrated by a man sitting alone in his dark apartment, which only lights up when he puts on a vinyl record of his favourite musical and all the characters spring to singing and dancing life.
The character of the Man in Chair is revealed to be a recluse who wants to escape the horrors of the modern world by immersing himself in fantasy.
He yearns for the escapism, the romance and the glitter of the musical while simultaneously poking fun at the shallowness of the characters.
There’s some truth in that for all of us – well for me, anyway.
STAG’s production has been in rehearsal now for about three months.
It is a leap of faith after the roving spectre of COVID-19 forced the cancellation of its productions of the British comedy Noises Off, the bright and sunny Abba tribute Mamma Mia! and its platform for local playwrights 10 in Ten – all within two years.
These shows were either already cast or in rehearsal with stage sets and costumes a real thing when they were abandoned and people walked away to sit in darkened rooms and reminisce in the bubble of their own musical theatre memories – a bit like Drowsy’s Man in Chair.
Two weeks ago I stood against the wall of a big tin shed in central Shepparton to watch people sing and dance and once again become a larger version of themselves.
I was struck by the number of people in the shed who were not there to sing and dance.
They were there to watch, take notes, give advice or beaver quietly away at costume making and set building.
Not to be missed: Get ready for the magic of community song and dance once again.
I had forgotten that theatre productions are like giant icebergs.
What you see on the stage is just the tip.
For this past week a Shepparton self-employed electrician has given up a week’s work to weld a bannister rail for the set of The Drowsy Chaperone.
He has re-purposed the stage set from cancelled production Noises Off and rebuilt it for this new show.
With a small team of helpers, it’s taken him three months of evenings and weekends to build this giant magical ship in the dry dock of a tin shed, ready for launch next week.
Theatre is the most collaborative of all the arts, which makes it the perfect activity for a community regrouping after so many lonely seasons and empty dreams.
Get along to see STAG’s The Drowsy Chaperone – you will be uplifted and energised, not just by the talent we have here, but by the ability of a whole community to stand up after a storm, brush itself down and carry on.
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