Musical –
Moonshadow
Producer/Company –
Sue Farrelly,
Executive Producer
Venue –
Princess Theatre,
Melbourne
Date and time –
Thursday, 31 July,
7.00pm
Cast –
Major cast members –
Gareth Keegan,
Gemma-Ashley Kaplan, Jolyon James, Sally Bourne, Tony Cogin, Rodney Dobson,
Robert Grubb, Blake Bowden, Marney McQueen.
Major creative team members –
Cat Stevens/Yusef, Rachel Wagstaff, Anders Albien, Stephen Amos, Yvette Lee.
Cat Stevens is
well-known for a string of popular songs and albums from the 1960s-70s. These
songs include: ‘Matthew and Son’, ‘The First Cut is the Deepest’, ‘Wild World’,
‘Peace Train’, ‘Morning Has Broken’, ‘Remember the Days’, and ‘Moonshadow’. The
last of these songs is the title of the musical featuring Steven’s songs, which
played its premiere season in Melbourne from May until August 2012.
Cat Stevens
famously converted to Islam in the late 1970s, changing his name to Yusef
Islam, or simply Yusef as he is now known. When embracing his new faith, Yusef
gave up his music and the subsequent fame for twenty-five years, retiring to
undertake philanthropic work. In the 1990s, he again became active in music,
and he then started releasing albums in the mid-2000s under the name of Yusef. This
duality is reflected in the credits for ‘Moonshadow’, which lists it as
‘Created by Yusef’, with ‘Songs by Cat Stevens’.
‘Moonshadow’ is a
jukebox musical in a similar vein to ‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘We Will Rock You’. The
show features the previously mentioned Cat Stevens’ songs, as well as many new
songs from the musician’s new career as Yusef. All of these pieces are hung
upon the frame of a plot created to showcase the material.
The central story
of ‘Moonshadow’ is similar to Romeo and Juliet; two star-crossed lovers held
apart by family issues. The main action of the story, though, is the journey
undertaken by the lead male character, ‘Stormy’. He embarks upon an odyssey to
solve the central concern of the story, which is the absence of a sustainable
source of light and heat for the people who populate the planet of ‘Alaylia’,
the setting for the musical.
Unfortunately,
‘Moonshadow’ doesn’t quite succeed in the way that the other previously
mentioned jukebox musicals do. The somewhat confusing plot – which tends to meanders
throughout, borrowed as it seems to have been from a number of sources – concludes
with a final resolution sequence that seems too simplistic. The well-known Cat
Stevens’ songs are effectively interwoven into the plot, yet the rest of the
new, pleasant enough pieces by Yusef lacks emotional resonance and tends to
feel like filler material.
In the lead role
of ‘Stormy’, Gareth Keegan has been directed to play the role quite broadly.
The same is the case with another pivotal role, that of ‘Moonshadow’ played by
Jolyon James. The result is that the talented actors playing both characters,
with whom we spend most of the show, often lack the depth needed for the
audience to better engage with the story and the action.
The production
benefits greatly from the presence of strong leading ladies. Gemma-Ashley Kaplan
gives a winning performance as ‘Lisa’, Stormy’s love interest. And Sally
Bourne, as Stormy’s mother ‘Layla’, stops the show with her stunning ballad
rendition of ‘Wild World’. The villain of the piece, ‘Princess Zeena’, is
played with great relish by Marney McQueen. Unfortunately, their characters –
like a number of others in this musical – seem somewhat underwritten, and so
they many of the principal roles don’t effectively enough assist the audience
to connect with the overall piece.
The design of ‘Moonshadow’
has clearly been a major focus for the creative team, and it was beautifully
realised. The sets, costumes and effectively animated backdrops gave a wonderful
sense of a modern resetting of the ‘Arabian Nights’. Kudos go to Jolyon James
who spent the entire show on stilts as the character ‘Moonshadow’, making him
appear more than eight feet tall.
Unfortunately, the
overall superior look and feel of ‘Moonshadow’, coupled with the wonderful Cat
Stevens’ songs, are not quite enough to make up for some of the deficiencies
with the writing and structure of the show. This seems to be reflected in the
box office for the production, as it is closing much earlier than expected, and
the producers apparently don’t plan to tour within Australia in the near future.
I think an intense period of revision of this show would be the best
suggestion, perhaps combined with additional creative talents who could then
lend a fresh set of eyes with a view to this musical’s future incarnations.
Verdict?
Beautifully trippy
(The Abusicals two-word summary is, of course, tongue-in-cheek.)
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