Monday 3 March 2008

Inspiring Entertainment

Last Friday night I went to see the latest show by new Melbourne theatre company PEP Productions. This is the third show of theirs that I have seen (well, actually, it's their third show :) ) and yet again they hit a home run, in my opinion. As someone who also performs in Musical Theatre, I can be a critical audience member. I notice the details like performers who pull your attention, people who don't hold a freeze, errors with lyrics or dance steps etc. I just cant help myself.
Having said that, I must go on to say that very little of that nature caught my attention. In fact, I would go as far as to say it was one of the best amateur shows I have ever seen. Overall, the cast performed in a very professional way, and while there will always be variances in the quality of individual performances, I was consistently impressed by the energy, enthusiasm and attention to detail of the entire cast. The sound quality was excellent - both in the vocal performances, and the technical quality.
While I personally enjoy performing in concert/cabaret style shows as much as full musicals, I know that it can often be difficult to fully express a character when a song is taken out of context. That is one of the areas that I found PEP performed extremely well. In every number, the cast was committed to the current character and performing with 100% of their energy.
Whilst there were some numbers that did not personally appeal to my taste, I was not disappointed in the performance quality of any of them.
Thanks to the cast of 'A PEP Perspective' for helping me spend a highly entertaining evening (and forgetting a very stressful day).