Union Theatre, Southwark (studio)
27 October 2016 (released)
30 October 2016
Producer Andrew Wright brings 'Moby Dick! the musical', not seen in London since 1992, to the charming Union Theatre in Southwark this week. On arrival the audience are handed a programme for the 'St Godley’s Academy production', in which we are told that the Academy is “overWHALEmingly happy to have you here”. The threat of Ofsted withdrawing a school’s funding can drive its staff and students to ingenuity and the solution devised by the headmistress of St Godley’s Academy for Girls is the mounting of a musical adaptation of Herman Melville’s famous novel. So begins this story within a story, with an irreverent and burlesque dramatisation of Melville’s novel at the centre.
Within moments of the band revving up under the lively direction of Lee Freeman, paper aeroplanes start to fly at the audience, and the headmistress (played in drag by Anton Stephans (a one-time X Factor finalist)) emerges to explain her school’s predicament. The Academy’s musical adaptation is written by a student, Miss Dinah Sores (played by Rachel Anne Rayham), who plays Ishmael. The headmistress stars as Ahab, while Miss Mona Lott (played Brenda Edwards (also a one-time X Factor finalist)) plays Esta.
The events broadly follow the book, with a few omissions, modifications, and interpolations. They start with Ishmael’s arrival in Nantucket Harbour and his sharing of a bed in a crowded inn with Queequeg, a cannibal played with conviction by Perola Congo. The story then turns to Captain Ahab and Pip’s travels, and the ominous revelation that Ahab lost his leg to a large white whale called Moby Dick. After Ahab curses her, Esta dies in dramatic fashion; this is followed by the emergence of students wearing masks of Boris Johnson, Simon Cowell, and Esta herself. The paths of Ishmael and Ahab then converge when Ishmael and Queequeg get on a ship captained by Ahab (The Pequod, a paper-hat version of which was placed on the head of a member of the audience brought onto the stage for this purpose).
The rest of the musical tracks Ahab’s descent into mad obsession and the deterioration of the relationships between those on board. Pip sadly dies, and Moby Dick attacks, making for a sad end to St Godley’s Academy’s musical. Fortunately for the Academy, the musical is a success for the school and the ending of Moby Dick!
The great strength of the Union Theatre production is that it suits the score and style of the musical (written in 1991). When Cameron Mackintosh unsuccessfully brought it to the West End, it was produced on a grander scale than its original model of about a dozen cast members and a piano. One of the jokes in this new production pokes fun at the vast sums of money spent in vain by Cameron Mackintosh.
The musical is well suited to the smaller stage of the Union Theatre, on which the bright voices and talents of the cast shine. All members of the cast, from Pip (ably played by Glen Facey, a talented dancer) to the more minor role of Coffin (sung well by Sam Barrett), had strong voices and boundless energy.
Highlights included Edwards’ superb voice in her glamorous presentation of Esta as an imposing prima donna with fairy wings and a halo, and also the darkness that Stephans brought to the tormented Ahab’s song “Can’t Keep Out the Night”. Just one example of the supporting characters’ excellent contributions was the brilliant second-Act solo of Starbuck (played by Laura Mansell).
The show at times had the feeling of a pantomime, albeit one for adults because of the explicit nature of many of the jokes. Overall it was an entertaining piece of theatre and an opportunity to see a musical that is not often performed. If you don't mind getting squirted with water pistols, Moby Dick! The Musical is highly recommended.
