All Shook Up- A Review

Theatre Reviews | Perth | Actor | Music All Shook Up was presented by Mesh Musical Theatre company at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre in the Riverside Theatre. In what is known as a "jukebox" musical featuring a variety of Elvis songs woven into a story line loosely based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. I went on the closing night, Saturday. I paid my student price of $24.00 to see this show and was overall unimpressed, sadly so because I would have really loved for a youth musical theatre company to have wowed me in all the different aspects that makes theatre so entertaining. Firstly kudos to the two leads, Rebecca Daniels and Drue Goodwin (please forgive any spelling mistakes in names I have lost my lovely program!) their singing was outstanding and I appreciated both of their commitments to the characters. My only constructive feedback (for the whole cast aswell) would be to not "be in on the joke" so much. If you truly are those characters and take on those thoughts and feelings, the humour becomes much more entertaining for us an audience as you become more and more believable. I thought most of the other performances were very mediocre, I did seem to think that there was a fair amount of overacting which was a shame because the characters did have the potential to be more three dimensional. Also a mention must go to the actor playing Sylvia who really convinced me in her character as well as having a lovely singing voice. I recognise that this is a young group of performers who are still learning , as I am myself, and as such the vocal work was not overall very strong. The group numbers were fantastic in energy and from someone who has two left feet and admires any dance ability had some great moments of choreography, a bit of a feast for the eyes. This was not matched vocally though with a more cohesive sound needed, a few flat voices that were slowly pulling the rest of the cast out were very noticeable and induced those cringy moments when something doesn't sound quite right! The set was not very impressive, especially in what was essentially a colourful production, this was not reflected in the set but perhaps the director has his reasons, this is just my opinion. I did however like how the band was placed on the stage, I'm always excited when they aren't concealed in the orchestra pit. I thought it was very sweet that the conductor got really groovy with the songs but at times did find it distracting. I didn't like the "jail cells" in the beginning of the show as it concealed the Chad's expressive body during the opening number and blocking his face at some points. I liked the costumes, blue suede shoes especially as well as the wonderful 50's style full skirts. A caution though to watch for too much cleavage I coped quite an eyeful in a couple of the otherwise well executed dance moves but was too busy trying not to look to really appreciate the moves! Lighting and sound is an essential part of any production but I was very disappointed with the quality here. As mentioned above, I went on the last night, but there were repeated sound problems to the point of missing complete verses and I'm sure wonderful harmonies in some songs, I do expect a certain amount of technical professionalism when in such a venue and with such a ticket price. The lighting was very poor, and I'm no expert, but it barely complemented the action on stage with frequent moments of performers in darker spots while empty stage brightly lit... could not understand this one! The band was outstanding and overall supported the performers excellently. My biggest problem with this production is the actual quality of the script, I did find it a little too cheesy and not to my liking. I would like to think Perth audiences can handle a fantastic musical theatre show without having jokes pretty much spoon fed to us and highlighted in such a way that at times became honestly nauseating (the rainbow flag lighting effect..) I can enjoy a good old cheesy show but I do believe there can be quality cheese! In this case I believe it was a combination of not the best of scripts, lack of appropriate direction and over acted performances that contributed to a lower quality "high school" performance, for want of better description! Well done to Mesh for their first foray as I am sure you have delighted many people and your performers clearly enjoyed themselves. I'm glad I went to see it, there's always something to learn from any production. But I do hope Mesh sets the bar higher next time, grabs a fantastic musical that its cast can really sink their teeth into and challenge themselves with and the audience can appreciate much more. We do have wonderful talent in Perth and I hope Mesh continues to find them with their spotlight, goodluck for the next show. Kathleen Douglas