OBSERVER: Forgotten Songbook
A wonderful new Australian musical, The Forgotten Songbook has been born at Chapel off Chapel, delighting packed houses during its too-short three-night premiere season.
Presented by McBurney and Hurley, this show is a sensational musical feast of varying genres and great lyrics, entwined with fascinating storytelling and director/choreographer Mikey Halcrow’s snappy dance moves.
Jazz musician/writer/composer Emerson Hurley, 23, has rescued the works of Broadway Golden Age composer Wilbur Weissman from obscurity, and with passion and mega talent, in collaboration with writer/producer Dylan McBurney, has crafted the material into a new musical – The Forgotten Songbook.
The theatre comes alive with Hurley’s first notes on the piano and then pow! performer Jonathan Guthrie-Jones hits the first song with gusto and straight into a marvellous vaudeville song and dance routine with co-star Karla Hillam.
It’s entertainment for the audience with a capital ‘E’ as Guthrie-Jones and Hillam showcase their triple-threat versatility and sparkling personalities, presenting the various styles from ballad to honky-tonk to jazz and varying moods of the narrative in masterly style.
Throughout the show, composer Emerson Hurley enthrals with his awesome toe-tapping musical accompaniment. An impressive achievement for a young composer.
The show zaps along at a great pace until ‘the breaking-up scene’ near the end, which could be worth reviewing for the future regarding maintaining momentum.
Congratulations to Emerson Hurley, Dylan McBurney, Mikey Halcrow, Jonathan Guthrie-Jones, Karla Hillam and all involved with this terrific new musical.
When The Forgotten Songbook returns to a Melbourne theatre in the near future – and hopefully it will – I strongly recommend that you don’t miss it.
A memorable theatre experience.
Review by Cheryl Threadgold
Pictured: Jonathan Guthrie-Jones and Karla Hillam in The Forgotten Songbook.
Photo: Kristopher Wardhana