Ben Apfelbaum

CRY- BABY @ THE HAYES THEATRE

I regard the Hayes Theatre as a bit of a miracle in Sydney’s theatre scene. It presents eclectic musicals, brings them back to life, in the Nancy Hayes Theatre which I regard, referencing Dr Who, as a Tardis. By that I mean, that in such a tiny space it can produce musicals such as CRY-BABY with a spectacular cast of 14 people on stage and a very hot band out the back.

The basic plot is nothing new. It is Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story and Grease. However it’s what you do with the music and lyrics that make this show stand out from the crowd.

Based on a movie of the same name written and directed by the King of Bad Taste John Waters, the story has been turned into a musical with the book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, and songs by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger.

Cry Baby, a teen delinquent from the wrong side of the tracks falls for good girl Alison. It is a satire on the teenage exploitation movies of the sixties with James Dean being the archetypal, misunderstood leather jacketed Romeo.

The playful, mischievous nature of the songs can be illustrated by an uptempo number celebrating polio, to a triumphant sonic boom championing the exclusive nature of an atomic bomb shelter, a  tender and yet ironic refrain demonstrating graphically the joys of tongue kissing, and a regretful lament framing people for a crime that sent them to the electric chair. This illustrates that one is experiencing a musical with themes far removed from the norm. This originality is a joy!

The ensemble and leads harmonise beautifully and the energy level is ramped up to eleven.

Unlike many musicals  each member of the ensemble is given a distinct personality and a vocal outlet to demonstrate their individual talents. The principals and supporting cast appropriately and deliciously over-act. In this they bring John Waters’ acerbic and black humour to the stage.

Christian Charisiou as Cry Baby plays the James Dean/Elvis Presley character to the hilt with pelvic thrusts and swinging arms but he has a very fine voice to back up his ‘bad boy’ performance.

Ashleigh Rubenach as the good girl, ‘square’ Allison reminded me of Olivia Newton John in Grease. I mean this in a complimentary way.  But unlike Newton John/Sandra Dee her lyrics are wicked and often deal a lot with feelings below the waist line. Furthermore, she has a soaring soprano that could fill an auditorium unaided.

Joel Granger  as the villainous Baldwin vying for Alison’s hand in marriage is exquisitely camp and yet again musically talented.

Beth Daly as Mrs Vernon-Williams, Allison’s grandmother steals the show as a very stuck up member of society who can’t quite manage the facade. I hung on her every arched eyebrow, pursed lips and her subtle hand gestures which she used brilliantly to extract every ounce of comedic material from her character.

Honorouble mentions go to Alfie Gledhill as Cry Baby’s best friend, Dupree, and Laura Murphy as a very funny Lenora whose love for Cry Baby is amusingly unrequited.

Alexander Berlage, the director and lighting designer, seems to have swallowed John Waters humour whole and infused all the characters with the caustic humour with which he pilloried white bread America, facilitated by very camp direction. Berlage’s lighting design is used to witty effect especially when Beth Daly’s character chases the spotlight.  Furthermore, to wrangle fourten people in a tiny space without them bumping into each other is a minor miracle.

In this he is aided by choreographer  Cameron Mitchell. The dance numbers  matched the tone and wit of the mischievous songs and rounds up the backbone of all musicals, the dancing.

Isabel Hudson, set designer, Mason Brown costume designer, and Tegan Nicholls sound designer combine to evoke a pitch perfect recreation of the nineteen fifties, joyously optimistic and patriotic, after World War 2, yet at the same time almost claustrophobic in its narrow mindedness with regards to the unconventional and xenophobic in its outlook in relation to foreign and ethnic societies and worlds.

Musical Director Nicholas Griffin, in a cramped, unseen and limited space, allowing little room for the four musicians, nevertheless produced an almost big band sound to accompany the vocal acrobatics that were occuring on stage.  

This is a bright and breezy musical satire with some misguided  stereotyping of people who are different both in persona and class.
I am sure this will be a sell out season if the audience’s continual laughter and involvement is a judge and it is unreservedly recommended.  

CRY-BABY opened at the the Hayes Theatre on Thursday 26th July.

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.