One man’s charming celebration of the joy of musicals
Hughes pays tribute to Garland and others who inspired him to become a performer
For Michael Hughes, life is a musical.
The overture for Hughes’ personal musical began when he was a child in Toronto and watched the Judy Garland classic The Wizard of Oz with his family.
How that musical and Garland herself ended up guiding his life is the subject of Hughes’ utterly engaging solo show Mickey & Judy, running at Lunchbox Theatre until Oct. 6.
Because Mickey & Judy is a cabaret act, show designer JP Thibodeau has turned the theatre space into a mini-cabaret with tables adorned with tiny candles and pictures of Garland and Mickey Rooney, along with other musical theatre memorabilia. There are bleacher seats backing the tables. Hughes is a charismatic performer whose beaming smile lights up the Lunchbox space every bit as much as the dangling tea lights and Thibodeau’s subtle area lighting.
The stage is a clutter of steamer trunks and features a prominent picture of Garland.
To illustrate how important Garland was to his formation as a performer, Hughes sings his version of Garland’s 1938 ode to Clark Gable, Dear Mr. Gable You Made Me Love You, substituting his matinee idol Garland for Gable.
It’s the first of 16 songs Hughes uses to underscore his journey from an enraptured child who loved dressing up in women’s clothes and would entertain anyone who’d pause to watch.
That included doctors at Toronto’s Clark Institute of Psy- chiatry where Hughes’ parents eventually took him for guidance on how to deal with their exceptional child at a time in history when “exceptional” meant “different.”
The remarkable thing about Hughes’ trip down memory lane is he doesn’t use his show or songs to demonize or demean anyone. He portrays his parents as loving, comforting and concerned.
He has a great recollection about confessing to his father about being bullied at school. With obvious compassion, his father says he, too, was bullied and that his strategy was to become a bit of a jokester, which prompts Hughes to sing the Donald O’Connor classic Make ’Em Laugh from Singing in the Rain.
There is a great punchline to that bullying story which would be cruel to leak out, but suffice to say, all of Hughes’ memories are accompanied by quips, witticisms, dandy punchlines and his trademark mischievous smile.
Hughes is as much a comedian as he is a performer and it’s his carefree charm that makes the show so accessible.
Mickey & Judy gives its audiences a glimpse into Hughes’ singing and acting abilities, but it doesn’t let him cut loose to show his skills as a dancer — something I think would make the show even more captivating.
Hughes uses a microphone presumably because it’s part of the act, since he hardly needs amplification. His quiet rendition of Over the Rainbow is beautifully heartfelt, as are several earlier moments in the show.
Hughes is accompanied by Calgary’s master maestro, Joe Slabe.
Hughes has wowed audiences and won accolades for this show in Edinburgh, London and New York and now it’s Calgary’s turn to be entertained.