Oh my (unquantifiable essence) God! Kate Miller-Heidke and partner Keir Nuttall’s new musical BANANALAND is hilarious and moving and smart and it absolutely blew the audience in the Playhouse at QPAC away on opening night. Me too and I’m not always good with musicals. The beauty is that it actually didn’t seem like one … not until the second half at least.
That’s when, very occasionally, it sounded like Frozen. That’s a minor quibble (it wouldn’t concern many of you) because this show held me in the palm of its hand right the way through.
It’s a co-production between Brisbane Festival and QPAC and from the moment we all first heard about it we thought it was going to be good. Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall are, after all, insanely talented and director Simon Phillips (you can see his flourishes throughout) is a master who can balance art and accessibility so beautifully.
Brisbane Festival artistic director Louise Bezzina backed this show to the hilt and she must be just so thrilled with the outcome.
It’s about a band called Kitty Litter which is not so much a band as an Onstage Conceptual Art Slash Music Oriented Happening. LOL.
When we meet them, they are on the road to Goondiwindi where they end up playing to just a few disinterested punters. But they have a song called Bananaland which is actually a critique of Clive Palmer’s foray into federal politics but is mistaken for a kid’s song and it is going gangbusters in the charts.
On the back of that and with the lack of success of Kitty Litter they turn into a new version of The Wiggles, the Wikki Wikki Wah Wahs. Of course, before The Wiggles were The Wiggles, they were The Cockroaches so you can see the parallels.
It’s not taking the mickey out of The Wiggles though, it’s more in the line of an homage.
Miller-Heidke and Nuttall collaborated on this show and they are well read, intelligent and warm-hearted people and it shows. There are nods to literature and even scripture and they have a brilliant satirical bent. There is some very funny political and social commentary which is reflected in some of Kitty Litter’s songs such as the catchily titled Requiem for The Patriarchy in D Minor. Hey, that’s my song!
They pray before shows even though they don’t believe in “God” … but instead to that “unquantifiable entity” I mentioned earlier. Hilarious.
The lead singer of the band is Ruby Semblance played by Max McKenna who is utterly incredible. What a voice! I love that Yoko Ono is one of her role models and there is a poster of Yoko on stage. Of course, Yoko Ono was the mother of happenings.
Georgina Hopson is a revelation as another band member, Karen Semblance, Ruby’s sister. Hopson is an opera singer who is also a talented musical theatre star and she really cuts loose in this show. She has such a great stage presence.
The other band members are the gym junkie Seb Kale played by Joe Kalou who is so good although we nearly saw a bit too much of him at one point.
Maxwell Simon is the over-enthusiastic Ex. His energy is astounding.
Dave Eastgate plays Ron Delbridge the Goondiwindi gig organizer who, in an unlikely twist, ends up joining the band in its new incarnation. Delbridge is like a character from The Paul Hogan Show and is side-splittingly funny. Chris Ryan plays a few characters including a rather intriguing one dubbed Stephen King (not his real name) and he is a character so beautifully drawn – a sad, lonely but sincere fan who has followed them around for years. But every fan has their limits.
He sings a song about his loneliness and weirdness and all I could think of was Gilbert O’Sullivan’s poignant classic Alone Again, Naturally.
Amber McMahon plays a few characters including a theatrical type named Mimsi Borogroves and being a Lewis Carroll fan, I immediately got the joke. If you didn’t look up his famous poem Jabberwocky.
In the background are the musos Terry and Terry in black skivvies and sunglasses – a nod to the Brewsters of The Angels fame? I also thought of The Bob Newhart Show which featured two brothers, both called Darryl.
As well as riffing on The Wiggles the show also takes tilts at the music industry, politics, progressiveness, spirituality and just about anything else you care to mention. There is intellectual rigor at the heart of it which is, I think, unusual for a musical.
The first half of the show is particularly clever while the second half becomes more of an actual musical but that’s okay.
The fun never stops and being someone who is usually keen to decamp as soon as possible after witnessing a musical, I really appreciated the ending and the final admonition.
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You’ll see what I mean when you go along and … YOU MUST! This is the world premiere season of a new Aussie classic by two of the most talented people in the country who have got together with a bunch of other talented people to create absolute magic on stage. Tell them I sent you.
BANANALAND is on at the Playhouse, QPAC until October 1
qpac.com.au
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