Score Reloaded – Danny Katz, Russell Fletcher, Scared Weird Little Guys + the Melbourne Youth Orchestra and Vox Synergy Choir
Musical comedy is Soooo fashionable darlings, everybody is doing it! Do you want to see some musical comedy? Just to prove how diverse this trend for musical comedy can be, from political cabaret, to indy & commercial pop and jazz, here is music comedy for classical music fans! I actually performed in the original Score as a member of Melbourne University Choral Society, who sat in the top side balconies of Hamer Hall pretending to be audience members for the first half of the show and then suddenly two hundred people stood and sang to the gasps and then cheers of the audience. Vox Synergy Choir numbered only twenty and thus had a bit less impact when they turned up after the 1st piece – ‘Symphony No 3 for three vacuum cleaners, floor polisher and shotgun’ – pretending to be late coming audience members whose punishment was to sing. They sang “Who Had the Last Laugh Now” beautifully and then hung around till the sing-along with the Scardies at the end. I love choir music and was rather disappointed that their talents weren’t used more.
I am a fan of Danny Katz (writer for The Age) and he made a witty and enthusiastic host for the evening. He and the fabulous Russell Fletcher did a hilarious, if occasionally drowned out sports commentary over the orchestra playing Beethoven’s 5th symphony, where the main motif (da, da, da, da) became the ball tossed around between the instruments and the players’ prowess was criticised as if they were sportsmen. Then Russell got to do all of Danny Kaye’s “Tubby the Tuba” as Danny Kaye. He had only done a slice of it during his Melbourne Fringe Festival Show about Danny Kaye, it must have been a dream for him to do the whole piece with a full orchestra and I was pretty thrilled too, having not heard it all before. It was a wonderful introduction to classical instruments for children. Naming each one as they played and giving them personalities and a story. Russell also did the Vessel with the Pestle bit from Danny Kaye’s “The Court Jester” and it got big cheers. I don’t know if the next piece, Alphorn Concerto on Hosepipe played by Genevieve Clifford worked for me. Most of it just sounded horribly out of tune and not very funny.
Finally the last half hour of the ninety minute show was taken over by the Scared Weird Little Guys who came on to the orchestra playing the theme from Star Trek. They did their classic, telephone book, the wonderful Typewriter tune (though it must be getting harder to get a working typewriter to use as a musical instrument in this piece), they’ve worked on and improved their Whistle Pop song and finally the audience sing-along song about current affairs “Rule Victoria” which was sung to the tune of ‘Rule Britannia’. It was funny how the original version in the 1st Score had a lot to do with Jeff Kennett, and they were able to add a verse about him this time because he was in the news again as a potential leader. The Orchestra closed the show with John William’s “Star Wars – The Phantom Menace” a dynamic piece that requires jungle type vocals from the orchestra and kazoos, it was played well but sadly just reminds me of a very disappointing and boring cinema experience. If Score returns to The Melbourne Comedy Festival next year and you love the idea of a playful and funny classical musical experience for the whole family, make sure you put it on your list of must – sees.