A world-weary private eye is swept up in the seedy underbelly of ’40s Hollywood as he searches for a missing girl, a danger-laden case he knew he never should have taken. Meanwhile, a young screenwriter wrestles with the brutish ego of an influential producer/director as he attempts to rewrite his crime novel for the silver screen. And no, nothing is quite what it seems at all.
Some of the most delightful experiences you can have with musical theatre are not always about ticking off the hottest new show with the biggest hype, or one of those obligatory all-time-classic blockbusters. Rather, there’s just something you can’t beat in the unexpected joy of seeing a forgotten gem brought to vivid life by a strong company.
Enter, City of Angels. Not that this musical hasn’t received due recognition – in 1990 it won the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, amongst a slew of others – but I’d hazard to guess that it wouldn’t be one of the first musicals to come to mind for a lot of people, and it has never had a Sydney season before now.
City of Angels manages to hilariously satirise film noir while serving as a loving tribute to the genre
Joshua Robson Productions’ (Bonnie & Clyde) Sydney premiere season of this film-noir-inspired satirical masterpiece – in association with Sydney’s beating heart of musical theatre, the cosy Hayes Theatre Co – is simply a great night out at the theatre. The effervescent cast (many of whom are doing double-time in multiple roles) eat up the clever script and leave no crumbs; watching them weave between laugh-out-loud camp humour and earnest and heartfelt ballads is nothing short of a pleasure.
With a liberal touch of femme fatale and tongue-in-cheek comedy, City of Angels weaves together two plots unfolding at once: the “real” world of New York ‘hack’ novelist Stine (Glenn Hill), and his fictional alter-ego in the “reel” world, private eye Stone (Aaron Tsindos). Stine is lured to Los Angeles with the promise of turning his crime novel City of Angels into a Hollywood blockbuster, while struggling to balance his relationship with his wife Gabby (Mia Morrissey) and his overbearing producer Buddy Fidler (Paul Hanlon).
It's a difficult task to overshadow Aaron Tsindos’s perfectly ribald, wisecracking and satire-skating performance as Stone (his slew of acting credits more recently includes Clyde’s at Ensemble Theatre and the Hayes’ Dubbo Championship Wrestling). But the female leads are more than up to the task. As Alaura Kingsley, Penny McNamee (seen as Nessarose in the original Australian production of Wicked) perfectly embodies the femme fatale trophy wife, reminiscent of Joan Cusack’s performance as Debbie in Addams Family Values. As both Stine’s wife Gabby and Stone’s lost love Bobbi, Mia Morrissey (seen in the series Totally Completely Fine and Deadloch) expertly oscillates between relatable, grounded realism and ensnaring, tragic love interest. Shannen Alyce Quan (the star of the Hayes and Little Egg Collective’s Metropolis) is disarming as Oolie, Stone's loyal Girl Friday, and Donna, Buddy's secretary and Stine’s distraction – really driving it home with their performance of ‘You Can Always Count On Me’ in Act Two.
Gabby and Oolie’s Act One duet, ‘What You Don’t Know About Women’, is a perfect example of how this musical manages to inject great songs and richly emotional and relevant reflections amongst all the silliness. Another stand-out number is Stine and Stone’s Act One closer ‘You’re Nothing Without Me’, which illustrates the way that Stine shields himself behind the fictional character he created and, amusingly, Stone’s frustrations with how Hollywood is messing with his story.
With each movie scene that Stine writes coming to life on stage, the interplay between the two worlds and different genres is effective and entertaining. The costuming and visual distinctions between the ‘black and white’ movie world and the ‘real’ world could stand to be more distinct, but, overall, it doesn’t take too much away from the performance.
City of Angels manages to hilariously satirise film noir while serving as a loving tribute to the genre. Potentially problematic elements like the genre’s inherent sexism are played up satirically with a burlesque-y wink – such as moments where a pervy man will pause a conversation to cast his gaze back to the swaying ass of the woman walking out of the room, or lines like “the only thing that stopped her legs from going on forever was the floor” delivered deadpan. Larry Gelbart’s book even includes some interesting social commentary, with Stine fighting with Buddy to keep a racial element to the plotline about the relationship between Stone and his rival, Detective Muñoz (played brilliantly by Marcus Rivera).
Simon Greer’s set design is simplistic but striking, taking cues from classic cinema reels and film noir motifs (the incorporation of horizontal blinds is a real chef’s kiss moment). Under the musical direction of Abi McCunn and Damon Wade, the orchestra surrounds the circular centrepoint of the stage in a semicircle, with the playfully menacing ‘Angel City Four’ chorus serving as a conduit between the theatrical elements and the engrossing plot. Lighting designer James Wallis’s orchestration of warm and cool lighting is a brilliant indicator of time and place, and the more playful lighting techniques really draw us into the world of the movie.
At almost three hours long, this show has a lengthy runtime. However the pacing of the writing combined with Sam Hooper’s (Bonnie & Clyde) deft work on the direction and choreography keeps the action moving along at an entertaining pace. The abrupt ending of the show sort of comes as a surprise, and this reviewer was waiting with bated breath for a record-scratch rewind moment that never came. But overall, this is a really well structured work of theatre that showcases some amazing talents. And, like any good crime mystery, any inconsistencies make for enjoyable conversation as you detangle alibis with your theatre buddies.
City of Angels plays at Hayes Theatre Company, Potts Point, until July 23, 2023. Tickets are $85 (concession $79, groups of 8+ $75) and you can snap yours up over here.
