Jerry Springer the Opera and Keating the Opera/Musical seemed to have spored a plethora of shows taking the “(Insert name here) the Musical” tack, both here and in the UK in recent years. Hospitality the Musical, however, deviates from this formula in one crucial way. It’s not actually a musical.
This ‘musical’ anomaly aside, Hospitality the Musical is a potentially interesting idea. The show is set in a café, in which, over the course of a day, the various staff members deal with a series of crises, some common place and others a little more unusual. Staged in an actual café, Aqum, the show is played out amongst the audience as they dine, interacting with the space as if it were the fictional café in the story.
This show takes a while to get going and, unfortunately, when it does the flow is still fairly patchy. The cast really don’t ever capture the frenetic, unrelenting pace of a café environment, nor does the script manage to find a focus. This is more like a series of anecdotes, illustrated theatrically, rather than a unified story.
The cast did a competent job throughout, however Laura Bray was the stand out, displaying an intuitive grasp of comic performance. There are many nice moments in this show, with running gags about Shakespeare, the coffee machine hierarchy and others getting the biggest chuckles from the audience.
Overall though, Hospitality the Musical lacks the singular intent it needs to draw it together. At an hour and a quarter it’s a bit over long and it would profit from a nip and a tuck. That being said, it is an enjoyable enough romp which would probably appeal more to those working in the industry.
For further details and booking information, see “the festival website”:http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/season/2007/show/36/