Saturday, 25 January 2010
Having been delayed from it’s October 2009 premiere to accommodate a more collaborative move and be part of the 2010 line-up of the Perth International Arts Festival, I was expecting big things from Company B Belvoir’s The Sapphires, an amalgam retelling of an indigenous forgotten girl group from the 1960s.
I will say right of the bat that I was disappointed with the preview I attended. While an avuncular introduction by director Wesley Enoch was at first charming, it was soon shaped as an apology as he detailed delays that the production had come up against and then stated that this performance was going to have to accommodate a few stops and starts (for safety purposes) and that for all intents and purposes it was going to be treated as a final dress rehearsal.
The director even went so far as to jokingly call the audience cheap for having chosen to attend a preview. Oh really?
Live theatre is fraught with the unexpected, and while the stage, setting and music were something to sing about, the transitions were at times clunky and laboured and there were more than a few delays while the leading ladies zipped through the multitudes of quick changes the script called for.
Though the fourth wall was broken by occasional asides from a miked Enoch, I will admit that at times the show could really hit it’s stride. Jimi Bani was infectious and charismatic as Cynthia’s (Casey Donovan) erstwhile lover-on-the-run and he did a mean impression of James Brown that had the audience ready to get on up! And there was no doubting the singing talent on offer with Christina Anu and Casey Donovan deliciously deadly and diva ready.
In the end, despite all the trails and tribulations The Sapphires impressed, and the show will probably go on to be the hot ticket at this year’s festival. It’s just a pity that it decided to be fashionably late about it.
Having been delayed from it’s October 2009 premiere to accommodate a more collaborative move and be part of the 2010 line-up of the Perth International Arts Festival, I was expecting big things from Company B Belvoir’s The Sapphires, an amalgam retelling of an indigenous forgotten girl group from the 1960s.
I will say right of the bat that I was disappointed with the preview I attended. While an avuncular introduction by director Wesley Enoch was at first charming, it was soon shaped as an apology as he detailed delays that the production had come up against and then stated that this performance was going to have to accommodate a few stops and starts (for safety purposes) and that for all intents and purposes it was going to be treated as a final dress rehearsal.
The director even went so far as to jokingly call the audience cheap for having chosen to attend a preview. Oh really?
Live theatre is fraught with the unexpected, and while the stage, setting and music were something to sing about, the transitions were at times clunky and laboured and there were more than a few delays while the leading ladies zipped through the multitudes of quick changes the script called for.
Though the fourth wall was broken by occasional asides from a miked Enoch, I will admit that at times the show could really hit it’s stride. Jimi Bani was infectious and charismatic as Cynthia’s (Casey Donovan) erstwhile lover-on-the-run and he did a mean impression of James Brown that had the audience ready to get on up! And there was no doubting the singing talent on offer with Christina Anu and Casey Donovan deliciously deadly and diva ready.
In the end, despite all the trails and tribulations The Sapphires impressed, and the show will probably go on to be the hot ticket at this year’s festival. It’s just a pity that it decided to be fashionably late about it.
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I am pleased to say that on 29th Jan when we went the show was seamless from start to finish and was rewarded by a standing ovation. Shelly said it may have even been the best musical she had been to. I thought the story combined well with the song and Aboriginal issues of the day were treated with enough subtlty to make the point without making Saphires into a protest show. All singers and performers did a great job. I would have been angry if I had been told I was in someway cheap for coming to previews. I must admit I have been to many in the past and they have never been as you have described here. Given the already delayed production, I really can't understand why it was so on your night. Jaymez
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