Featuring some great stage effects including an Evil Magician, tap dancing rabbits and bumbling Beefeaters, The Star Child proves to be delightful Christmas family fare.
Narrated by the Beggar Woman and Leper, which are excellently played and sung by Elizabeth Macgregor and Robert Green, the show begins strongly with the opening scene featuring blizzard sound and lighting effects (Michael Schell) and a great starry backdrop (Owen Gimblett).
The orchestra is hidden away at the side of the stage but under the terrific leadership of Timothy M Cater they don’t go unnoticed. There are about twenty songs in total including big show stopping numbers and also ‘popular musical’ numbers, which feel like Les Mis or West Side Story in style. Other songs range from jazz to pop/contemporary and soft ballads. Songs include ‘Trendsetter’, when The Star Child is at his most obnoxious and arrogant, ‘The Transformation’, describing the ‘magical’ times when the Star Child is morphed into another state, and a big whole company number simply called ‘The Star Child’. As the beggar woman Macgregor also has some haunting solos.
Ben Bennett (The Voice) as the Star Child is great and leads the show magnificently. A young, blonde Justin Bieber he tremendously conveys his character’s very steep learning curve and suffering. He appears cold and narcissistic at first with his sycophantic gang and coldly tells the beggar woman to go away. Eventually the changes and suffering he undergoes at the hands of the Evil Magician sees him learn humility.
Tall Robert Wells as the Evil Magician has great fun hamming it up, panto –style, with his smelly, silly assistant Pongo (Greg Thornton in a terrific wig and costume). Dominic Scarf as the all-singing all tap dancing cheeky rabbit (with the Playboy bunny Rabettes ) was much fun and Debbie Smith’s snazzy showbiz choreography incorporated the assorted skill levels in the cast to great effect. Martin Searles and Amber Wilcox as the good-hearted woodcutter and his wife also were terrific.
The show features plenty of one liners – Wilde himself was famous for them – while some of them worked well others were too obvious and heavily telegraphed. There were also allusions to Gilbert and Sullivan – more ‘The Mikado’ than ‘ Yeoman of the Guard’.
With this world premiere production Gimblett and Edwards have added their version of The Star Child to the long list of works by Wilde that have been adapted for the stage in various genres over the years.
3.5 Stars
Running time 2 hours
Oscar Wilde’s The Star Child runs at the Genesian 23 November- 14 December 2013
Directors Roger Gimblett and Stephen Lloyd Coombs
