Review: THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS (THE MUSICAL!), Phoenix Arts Club

If there’s any fanbase that is totally unafraid of in-jokes and self-references, it’s musical theatre enthusiasts. This is a group of people who will quote a throwaway line from one of Sondheim’s lesser known shows and not care whether or not the joke lands. It’s that kind of sentiment that The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) tapped into when it first premiered in 2003, and little about theatre kids has changed, so the show goes on.

Like many of the musicals it’s inspired by, the conceit for this revue feels like a fever dream: a theatre company cannot pay their rent (seems like there’s a missed opportunity for a joke about the musical Rent here), and is forced by a ‘voice of God’ landlord to come up with a series of hit shows to pay the bills. They then compose five ‘musicals within a musical’ with the same basic plot – a girl, an ingenue of some sort, needs to find a way to pay her rent – but each written in the style of a different composer.

The plot doesn’t really matter, though, since this has all been an excuse to honour and to lampoon the works of five musical theatre titans – Rodgers and Hammerstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerry Herman, Stephen Sondheim, and Kander and Ebb – in a way that demands a broad knowledge of all of their work. If you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the refrain from “Some Enchanted Evening” and the ‘creation of art’ leitmotif from Sunday in the Park with George, this may not be the show for you (indeed, there are some jokes and references even the audience on opening night don’t get).

All parody walks a fine line between intelligent critique of beloved material and simple mimicry, and sometimes Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart’s script doesn’t quite find the balance. The Rodgers and Hammerstein segment, for example, reads as a watered down version of Oklahoma! rather than an attempt to probe any of the oddities of Golden Age musical theatre more deeply (as the tragically cancelled TV musical comedy Schmigadoon! did), and lacks the satirical bite of, say, the parody of Lloyd Webber’s reliance on commercially friendly spectacle.

At its best, though, Musical of Musicals has something to say about the theatre world more broadly, its relentless pushes to stay relevant and unhealthy dependence on classic revivals. Even though these parody songs were written over two decades ago, this production (directed and choreographed by Matty Hurst) has made attempts to incorporate more current references: shots are taken at Jamie Lloyd’s recent, gritty version of Sunset Boulevard, and at the obsequious reverence towards Sondheim’s final musical Here We Are (currently playing at The National Theatre). The pessimistic note on which the show ends (yet another parody, this time of A Chorus Line) sadly feels even more relevant now than in 2003.

This format also demands a lot from the exuberant cast, who shift into subtle variants on their stock types (the boyfriend, the ingenue, inter alia) to meet the needs of each parody. A particular highlight is Jennifer Harraghy as Abby, a kind of ode to the diversity of older women in musical theatre – she’s totally believable as the kindly mother figure, the gay icon who can’t really sing, the seen-it-all Sondheim diva waving her martini around. Renan Teodoro, who plays villains and antiheroes inspired by such characters as the Phantom and Sweeney Todd, also doubles as the emcee figure, and deftly carries the wink-wink-nudge-nudge moments without slipping too far into self-indulgence.

In one of many self-aware moments, Musical of Musicals defines itself as “music and dance, for folks in the know”. They certainly know their audience: this is one for the aficionados, a place for musical theatre lovers’ obnoxiousness, frustration, and ultimately joy.

The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) runs at the Phoenix Arts Club until 21 May