Jingles The Musical
Written and Directed by Dean Hewison
Produced by Out of Bounds
Choreography by Brigid Costello
Lighting Design by Zach Howells
At The Basement Theatre
From Tuesday 06 June, 2017 to Saturday 17 June, 2017 at 8.00pm
On Tuesday my spouse and I attended the King’s College ‘Marsden Musicale’ where the young men of Marsden House took the opportunity to display their considerable musical talents in an evening organised entirely by themselves. There was music from Wolfmother, Iron Maiden, The Strypes, Ed Sheeran, Rage Against the Machine, Andrew Lloyd Webber, a Piano Sonata composed by someone called Beethoven, and a couple of smart self-penned items. It was an extraordinary evening of fabulous guitar, excellent drumming, fine piano playing, top stand-up and exuberance to burn. I was seriously impressed. The finale was a song written by the students and set to a well-known tune. It was a showstopper and almost all the senior boys – and the House Master – got honourable, and sometimes hilarious, mention. Lines that included phrases such as ‘poos and wees’ (they’re teenage boys, after all), ‘get your Simp on (House Master reference), and ‘guava trees’ (no idea, but it cracked my son up) have stuck in my head, along with the catchy tune, ever since. It’s right there, right now, belting away in my head and even thinking of England doesn’t make it go away. The earworm, it would seem, has landed.
No surprise then that, when I fronted at The Basement to see ‘Jingles The Musical’ after first reviewing Julia Croft’s excellent ‘Power Ballad’, I was primed and seriously ready for Earworms 2.0.
Dean Hewison
As the title suggests ‘Jingles The Musical’ is a delightful opportunity to reacquaint Kiwi audiences with some classic advertising earworms of the past. There are plenty of them and many of the best, and most memorable, are included. McDonalds features often, Columbine legwear is there, the ‘Make it Click’ campaign, Tux ‘fit as a fiddle, sharp as a knife’, the definitive Wella hook ‘you can tell a Wella woman by the way she wears her hair’ and, of course, Ches and Dale from down on the farm who ‘really know their cheese’ – how could we have a show of this magnitude without those lovable, old rascals.
Brigid Costello
To avoid the dilemma of the show seeming like a concert of 30sec jingle hooks there is a plot and it’s a good one. ‘Wella McDonald’, the advertising tells us ‘lives in the small farming community of Rainbow’s End. After learning that her birth mother is the head of TV3, she ventures up to the big city to try to win her mother’s respect – as a weather-presenter.’ She’s a natural at this weather stuff is Wella and, since we’re in ‘happy ever after’ country, everything works out astonishingly well but, as the memes often tell us, it’s the journey and not the destination that counts, and so it is with ‘Jingles’.
Jessie Lawrence
Seems really simple, and it is. Most great concepts are, and writer Dean Hewison (‘Conversations with my Penis’ and ‘Two Day Plays’) has hit on a winner. The narrative is fittingly odd but in an elusive, comic booky sort of way and, best of all, it allows the three highly skilled performers Jessie Lawrence, Paul Williams and Carrie Green to flash their consummate wares. Lawrence plays Wella splendidly throughout, Williams plays Wella’s step-Dad, a crazy German tourist and Bud, while Green plays everyone else including ‘Mother of the Nation’ Bernadette Hawkeshire – oh, and legless Jenny. See the production; you’ll understand what I mean.
Following a season in Wellington – and some cast changes, Lawrence and Williams are new – ‘Jingles The Musical’ has finally made it up the nightmare that is SH1, all the way home to the Big Smoke and the wonderful world of TV3 – or as it’s now called, ‘Three’.
The script doesn’t take itself too seriously which is probably the right approach with content like this but it’s also tight, performable and wildly entertaining. Clever too, because, while we love the ditties and the suitably kitsch choreography (Brigid Costello), we are equally engaged with the ever-evolving plot. As comedy writing goes, it’s very smart stuff.
Carrie Green
There’s not much point having a great script if you don’t have the performers to pull it off and, in this case, Hewison has three, all singing, all dancing, crackerjacks.
Jessie Lawrence’s Wella has a wonderful homespun, farm-girl naiveté about her but she’s super smart as well. Hers is a fine performance and she hits all her marks.
Paul Williams exudes a warm charm that enables him to slip from one character to another with seeming ease and his German tourist is a real hoot.
Carrie Green, the only survivor from the Wellington production, slips easily across the gender divide and is as at home with the sleazy, male news presenter Coca Cola as she is with the upmarket Dame Julie Christie clone Bernadette Hawkeshire. Green is often the candle around which Lawrence and Williams flit and it works out splendidly well.
Perhaps the most impressive feature of this work is the balance achieved between the show’s technical requirements, the text, the song, the excellent dance, and the actors themselves. It feels nigh on perfect, helped as it is by super talented artists who barely miss a step throughout the rip-snorting 60 minutes journey. Lawrence is especially good and it probably helps that it’s her narrative and she only plays the one character. That’s not to downplay Williams and Green who bring terrific variety to the fascinating tale.
Paul Williams
There’s a sense throughout that this is throw-away, fast-food stuff and the performers certainly play it with a vivacity and flair that makes it seem easy but it’s actually much more primal than that. The second night audience I was a part of certainly seemed to understand that these lightweight jingles and Dagg-like plot actually hit us unerringly right where we live, like a good, solid kick in the culture. They’re every bit as important as Dobbyn, Clarke, McCaw and Judy Bailey because they underpin who we are as a people and reference our daily lives in the most uniquely intimate of ways. This is why I say it’s clever and perceptive work – and marketable too as there are so many opportunities for sponsorship and future product placement. I can’t wait for ‘Jingles 2’ because there’s so much more material available and Hewison is more than capable of weaving what still remains into a suitably credible, madcap narrative for Round Two. These are, after all, the ways of our lives.
Recommended?
Yep.
If you don’t come, Monique will say you’re dumb.
dykiegirl 