I Should Be So Lucky, by David Knox, Jan 18, 2002

I Should Be So Lucky by David Knox 

Chapel off Chapel  until February 3, 2002

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on Jan 18, 2002

Blend a heap of Kylie  songs with a gay relationships self-help book and you get this show.David Knox's sell-out new musical, I Should Be So Lucky, is as camp as the genre gets.

Scott, (Damien Aylward) a young gay guy, searches for love - or at least a lover that stays more than 24 hours. Scott falls for Danny,  (Frank Raco) the evidently heterosexual bouncer. The problem is, so do his fag-hag girlfriend, Charlene  (Wendy Mooney) and his potentially long-term lover, Jason.  (Paul Ross) Oh, what a tangled web.

This peppy musical confection is entertaining - especially if you're young, gay, male and not expecting intellectual stimulation. Serious issues arise but are dismissed summarily. Scott is a victim of a doping and rape. He remembers little. This is chillingly reminiscent of a current trend for this kind of abuse of gay men.

The words Kylie and gay boys are often found in the same sentence so the Midsumma Festival crowd loved the songs and the gay lifestyle gags.

Knox creates several likeable and recognisable characters. However, his dialogue needs an edit. It is overwritten, expository, often preachy or simply too obvious.

The plot is thin. Dramatic action is avoided for the first half, contrived in the second and there is absolutely no sub-text.

But, hey! It's a pop musical so musician, Jonathan Densem keeps the songs coming thick and fast. The actors have a hoot belting out songs and dancing their bottoms off with video clip choreography by Kelly Aykers.

Their voices are competent although there are a few missed notes here and there and the microphones are unnecessary in such a small space.

The strongest and most believable performance is Paul Ross as the composed, sensible and loving Jason.

Knox's use of Kylie's lyrics as dialogue is clever. The two couples bouncing lustily under sheets singing, I Like It Like That, is a hoot.

The most satisfying musical and dramatic scene was the blending of two songs (Spinning Around and Finer Feelings),  into a four part harmony, a capella ending.

More of that quality would kick this project into the next level. But this is entertaining Midsumma fare.

By Kate Herbert