IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU : AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE OF A BROADWAY HIT MUSICAL

Chatswood Musical Society’s Australian premiere of the Broadway  hit, IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU, music by Barbara Anselmi and lyrics by Brian Hargrove, is 90 minutes of non-stop hilarity. With his production of the show,  Director James Worner has been able to spread the joy he felt when he saw the play on Broadway.

This is a roller coaster musical farce featuring nervous grooms, overbearing mums, unexpected guests, and the odd blushing bride.

The bride is Jewish. The groom is Catholic. Their mothers are gale force matriarchs. The audience related to, and many times laughed at, the familiar fears, expectations and tensions that come with family celebrations. As old relatives staggered about, young friends weaved in and out of the melee seeking reassurance. When the bride’s ex-boyfriend crashed the party, it was up to the sister of the bride to turn things around to enable the happy ending.

The split-level stage lit in a pastel pink and lemon glow, with a closet discretely located at lower stage left, is an apt setting for a farce with a relatively large cast of 13 performers in 15 roles.

Brian Hargrove’s strong script gave all the main players their time to shine.

The Chatswood Musical Society had an ‘unfair’ advantage in Atha Kastanias playing the Wedding Planner, as Atha is, in fact, a wedding planner and celebrant. Naturally Atha performed the role admirably.

Jon Emmett as the bride’s ex-boyfriend, showcased a strong jazz voice.

These were some of my highlights from the show :-

Kate Mannix, as the Jewish mother, trying to play nice during the hairdressing session.

Chapin Ayres as the Catholic mother, singing her plea Where Did I Go Wrong. She desperately tried to keep herself as the only girl in her son’s life!

Greg Thornton as the best man, and Dylan Hayley as the bridesmaid trumped the comedy by putting another layer of farce in the song they prepared for the wedding couple.

Both Chloe Angel as the sister of the bride and the aforementioned Atha Kastanias as the wedding planner, clearly owned the stage when the spotlight was on them.

Chloe impressed with her strong stage presence and resonant voice, as did Atha in portraying how his character, such an experienced, world weary Wedding Planner was still able to be so overwhelmed by the twists and turns that took place.

There were also moments of apparently unscripted mirth. During the curtain call Ken Goth as the Jewish father tried to embrace Michael Saddington as the hug-phobic Catholic father.

The choreography by Natalie Neary allowed full use of the stage. The timing and pacing of the spoken words and the songs made the production flow easily. Natalya Aynsley’s musical direction did justice to Barbara Anselmi’s original score.

Charming, funny and original, I recommend you accept Chatswood Musical Society’s invitation to attend a particularly memorable wedding that you will leave  feeling uplifted.

IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU is playing the Independent Theatre, North Sydney until 8th April.

https://www.chatswoodmusicalsociety.org/

2 comments

  1. Loved the show, great voices from the female cast and good humour and funny situations, loved it and all in 90 minutes.

  2. a wonderful show they just needed the orchestra on stage like a Palm-Court orchestra instead of piping the music through the sound system resulting in muffled music n cast having trouble pitching their harmonies.

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