Riverlea Theatre is proud to present the New Zealand premiere of the smash hit The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!).
In an hilarious satire of musical theatre, one story becomes five delightful musicals, each written in the distinctive style of a different master of the form, from Rodgers and Hammersteinto Stephen Sondheim.
Each musical features four players who reprise similar archetypal melodrama roles in each.
They are the villain, Jiitter - the landlord figure of each musical who demands the rent be paid or another form of recompense offered; the hero, Billy - the leading man and romantic interest who, in the end, valiantly offers to pay the rent, whether he can or not; the ingenue, June - the leading lady who can't pay her rent; and the matron, Abby - the older woman to whom June turns for advice.
The variations are a Rodgers and Hammerstein version, set in Kansas in August, complete with a dream ballet; a Sondheim version, featuring the landlord as a tortured artistic genius who slashes the throats of his tenants in revenge for not appreciating his work; a Jerry Herman version, as a splashy star vehicle; an Andrew Lloyd Webber version, a rock musical with themes borrowed from Puccini; and a Kander and Ebb version, set in a speakeasy in Chicago.
