On a cold, winter’s night in Sydney, Mark Kilmurry’s production for the Ensemble theatre of Neil Simon’s ‘They’re Playing Our Song’ brought some much needed warmth.
The springboard for Simon’s play comes from the romance that took place between composer Marvin Hamlish and lyricist Carole Bayer Sager. Simon wrote the script with Hamlish contributing the music and Sager the lyrics. In the play Vernon Gersch is the Hamlish character whilst Sonia Walsk is Sager.
The curtain opens with Vernon Gersch tinkling away at the ivories. Into his apartment rushes in flamboyant young songwriter Sonia Walsk, wearing what she calls her Chekhov dress.
Sonia has come to his apartment to find out what he has thought of the song lyrics she sent to him. He tells her that he liked one of them, and has composed a song, which he then plays for her. She likes his interpretation, and so begins a working, and then a romantic partnership.
Simon’s ‘They’re Playing Our Song’ is hearty fare in the romantic comedy/musical stakes. The playwright is in favourite territory, his script hones in on another odd couple. Gersch is introverted, quiet, urbane whilst Walsk is outrageous, loud and obnoxious. The playwright gets some great comic scenes out of their differences such as when Walsk gets Gersch to make out with her in the wrong holiday home, and Gersch is sure that he will be found out and arrested as a common criminal.
There are some genuinely touching moments…When the couple are in a café, and on the radio comes on the song that they’ve written together, and the couple are full of excitement…The big break-up scene when the couple are in a recording studio trying to put down their new song, Gersch wants Walsk to hurry up recording the song and leave the studio, Walsk is trying to hang in. In the midst of the drama, a laidback sound engineer is trying to direct the session as painlessly as possible.
Georgie Parker as Sonia Walsk makes the most of one of her big moments in the show, delivering a plaintive rendition of the song, ‘I’m still in love with you’.
Another Parker highlight…On one of their first dates, Gersch and Walsk go ballroom dancing. Gersch is stumbling around the dance floor, and coyly tells Walsk, ‘I’m not much of a dancer’, hoping for a gentle, sympathetic response. It doesn’t happen! Parker fires back, with no hesitation, ‘there’s no need for you to tell me that’.
Mark Kilmurry’s direction was assured. I enjoyed both portrayals. Georgie Parker plays bubbly and quirky well. One of the quirky things Sonia does is keep her old boyfriend as her best friend. This is a source of endless frustration to Gersch, and source of some great comedy.
Simon Burke looked the part of an erudite, middle-aged New York composer. His comic timing and his voice was good. Simon had Gersch regularly speak his private thoughts into a tape recorder, so it made it easy for audiences to pick up what was going on for him.