REVIEW: ELEVATED THE MUSICAL

3 out of 5 stars

Join four millennials as they sing their way through lasting trauma- being stuck in an elevator for a very long time. Claire is growing into the woman she always dreamt of. Jason is on his way to saving his brother’s… finger, Meg is avoiding eye contact and commitment, and Louis is going to confess his feelings for the woman he loves and has been following.

The Dizzy Bizz have put together a short, sharp fun night of theatre with Elevated the Musical, with comedy and relatable stories, while also being a little ridiculous and kooky. Its camp, its a bit lewd and naughty, and filled with the lives of really random people and really random social interactions, exploring what happens to them, and to people as a whole when thrown in a situation like this. A stalker, a paralegal, a ‘polyamorous nomad’ and a guy who cut off his brother’s finger in a fit of rage are a more random bunch than you can imagine, and they all begin to get to know each other, interact, share stories of relationships and their sex lives, and bond over being trapped in a lift.  It’s about how people bond and interact when forced to, but without being too serious and trying to force you to learn too much about other people.

The harmonies are good and the original songs are catchy (Stuck in a Lift and Stuck in Our Lives is still Stuck in my head), but occasionally the performers compete against the piano, but for the most part this is well managed. While performers don’t often use mics in the Butterfly Club space, using them may have made the sound too overpowering, so this is well navigated. Piano is bright and bubbly, creating a driving pace to the catchy, poppy songs of the musical, a little bit like something out of Netflix show “Crazy Ex Girlfriend”.  The songs are well sung, if a little pitchy but this may just be because of the space, or opening night nerves, but the performers Josh Gardiner, Jordan Barr, Imogen Moore and Sam Bennet are all great singers and move around the space with confidence and create strong, quirky but relatable characters.

Some opening night difficulties are present, like when the lights don’t come back up ( but would they if you were stuck in a lift?) and not being able to find props or quite knowing the space, but these are dealt with well and with grace, with the performers taking a short break during the lights being off. This wasn’t even noticed by the audience until the cast drew our attention to it, as they had run out of things to ad lib about.

Playing until Sunday 2nd April, add Elevate! The musical to your Melbourne International Comedy Festival schedule – it starts at 5.30pm at the Butterfly Club and is a great, easy going way to kick off a night off laughs. Tickets and more info available at: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2017/shows/elevated

This article first appeared at: http://www.theatrepeople.com.au/elevated-the-musical/ on April 3 2017.