Friday 8 June 2012

It’s astounding …


Concert –
The Horror of the Inch
Producer/Company –
All That Glitters
Venue, Date and Time –
Order of Melbourne
Sunday, 22 January, 8pm
DnM Night Club
Sunday, 29 January, 7.30pm
Cast –
Jess Barlow, Joel Bow, Leela Thompson, Dinesh Mathew
Crew –
Musically directed by Shanon Whitelock

The Midsumma gay and lesbian carnival always has some gems tucked away in its program each year. One of the slightly less polished ones this year was this concert, which included a program ranging from ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ to ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’, with plenty of glam rock and/or roll in between.

A talented cast headlined ‘Horror’, with Jess Barlow being quite a find. Barlow’s amazing vocal range effortlessly scaled the heights of her songs. The boyishly handsome Dinesh Mathew provided plenty of bare-torsoed eye candy. And Rach Collins belted out her several numbers, while Joe Bow did his best David Bowie.

I attended ‘Horror’ twice; initially at the Order of Melbourne, after I received free tickets from a friend, and then at DnM Night Club. Neither venues was entirely appropriate to the show, though: Order of Melbourne had a very curious seating design, although its atmosphere and décor certainly suited the production; and while DnM’s atmosphere was appropriate for the show, the small-ish audience at this performance was a little lost in the large room.

‘Horror’ was a fun, stylish evening of rock and roll, but it was let down by a lack of polish and rehearsal. The show would have greatly benefitted from a director to smooth out the technical elements of the show. The band was in great form, but the sound design was such that the singers’ vocals were often overshadowed. Bearing these comments in mind, the audience on both nights I attended accepted the limitations of the production and still enjoyed the great rock and/or roll on offer.

Verdict? – Enjoyably bad.
(The Abusicals two-word summary is, of course, tongue-in-cheek.)



No comments:

Post a Comment