Shane Warne - the Musical

Wednesday, 18 March 2009

I am a huge fan of Casey Bennetto's previous satirical cabaret hit Keating! so when I heard that he was part of the team bringing us the life and times of one of our best known and tabloid mugging cricket stars, it was a no-brainer to buy a ticket to see the show.

A lot of my friends sniggered at the idea of a musical theatre rendition of Warney's fiobles, from his diet pills fracas to the 'gotcha!' SMS headlines screaming of his extracurricular activities on the England tour, but the show is a fantastic night out and actually humanizes the man somewhat.

Eddie Perfect, who also wrote and composed the music for the production, is fantastic as the titular character, his shambolic demeanour and boyish charm making Shane likable and somehow almost innocent, a man-child who is given an easy life due to talent and who indulges in booze, pills, cigarettes and women because they are available.

Dream sequences involving a giant cigarette, worry about hair loss and baby doll dressed bedmates skewer the protagonist while the rest of the numbers consistently reveal sharp writing, current takes of these very real people's lives (Shane on meeting Simone waxes that she should be "Dancing with the Stars") and Australia's own tall poppy syndrome.

The professional ensemble were all superbly voiced and it was great to see Mike McLeish (star of Keating!) in the line-up. Amy Lehpamer as Simone was also suitable sympathetic and Sally Bourne as Shane's mother was both comforting and fussily bossy - you could see that Shane, at the crux of it all might still be a little bit of a mama's boy.

I loved how the show opened with the band playing "Fanfare for the Common Man" which has been used as a television theme for many sports shows, this version was reminiscent of the rock kick it was given headlining Channel 9's sporting shows at the height of cricket tragicdom.

We also got an announcement at the start to leave our mobile phones ON...'cos you never know when an important SMS might be coming through!