Musical leaves the fans ‘all shook up’
ANIGHT of Rocking Around the Clock and A Little Less Conversation and A Little More Action were in store during the opening performance of All Shook Up at the Savoy Theatre last weekend.
The well-adapted version of the Broadway musical which uses Elvis Presley songs to carry through a narrative of “cross-dressing, mistaken identity and romance” was well received by a full theatre.
The PE Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s final 2015 season show captured the nuances of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night teleported to 1950s America, and had the audience tapping their feet and singing along to more than 20 of Elvis’s favourites including Blue Suede Shoes, Love Me Tender and Can’t Help Falling In Love.
Local theatre stalwart and musical aficionado Bennie Gerber captured the mood as lead character Chad, who arrives in a dreary little town in middle America on his motorbike and starts shaking things up.
What follows is a love story entwined with surprise twists and nuances of contemporary issues. The town is ruled by ironed-fisted Mayor Matilda – brilliantly played by Susan de Lauwere – who institutes a “decency act” which outlaws a variety of everyday activities.
With “a song in his heart and a thirst for lovin’” Chad meets mechanic Natalie (Anke Staphorst), who falls desperately in love with him, although she is the love obsession of long-time best friend, Dennis (Philip Cowie).
Chad in turn, falls for museum curator Miss Sandra (Melissa Leander), while the owner of the local tavern or Honky Tonk, Sylvia (Bronwen-Kay Swanepoel) has a soft-spot for Natalie’s father, Jim (Charl Vollgraaff) who is also in love with Miss Sandra.
What follows is a mash-up of Elvis’s best known hits sung by various cast members as they go through the ups and downs of Falling In Love.
In the end it all works out and everyone ends up with their true love – even Mayor Matilda gets her claws into someone.
The stage direction is well-executed by Rose Cowpar, who is also in the cast. The cast barely misses a step in this high energy musical with some well-choreographed moves by Amy Palmer assisted by good music direction by Richard Campbell.
The cabaret-style seating added to the enjoyment of the musical and the evening itself.
Glittering performances by Leander, Gerber, De Lauwere, Cowie and Swanepoel to name a few, received a well-deserved roar of applause at the end of the show.
All Shook Up will be at the Savoy Theatre in Adcockvale until October 3 with daily shows, except on Sunday and Monday evenings. There will be a 2pm matinee on Saturday.
Tickets are available from Computicket.
The Savoy theatre has a full service cash bar and coffee bar and patrons are welcome to bring their own picnic baskets.
A winning Affaire
THE four readers of The Herald who have each won double tickets to the Jazzy, Boozy Cheesy Affaire in the Sundays River Valley this weekend are: Philiswa Gawe, Megan Rudlin, Ntutuzeli Besile and Patrick May.