All Het Up, John & Fiona Thorn, July 17, 2003

Music by John Thorn,  Fiona Thorn  
Story & lyrics by Guy Rundle  John Thorn, Fiona Thorn

Chapel off Chapel, July 17 to until August 3, 2003 

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

If you have ever been hyped up about a new love affair - and let's face it, who hasn't? - All Het Up will be a very entertaining night of song and humour for you.

Most of us have listened to songs that touch a chord or tell our own story, particularly when they are about love. We identify with the universal story of love requited and unrequited.

All Het Up is delightful identification music theatre. The audience relates to the relationship disasters and character foibles of the four protagonists.

Will  (Colin Lane) is an emotional jellyfish goes on a blind date to meet Kate,  (Fiona Thorn) a bit of a loony who talks marriage on the first date.

Kate's friend, Tash, (Jane Badler) is a one of those hippy fascists who demand everyone believe in their flaky ideas and is sexually adventurous. She meets Jack  (Jeremy Stanford) in a club. He is vain but groovy and good looking.

The love stories go awry when the two couples finally get together and their sexual histories slap them in the face.

The show is ninety minutes of original songs with some hilarious lyrics that rival Gilbert and Sullivan,  Cole Porter and Rogers and H.  for their cunning rhyme structures.

The songs cover a range of styles from perky forties tunes, Cha Cha , romantic ballads, duets, quartets and even one called Sex, the Madrigal - don't ask.

Titles include the Chat Up Cantata, sung by all four, What Goes on inside Their Brains, What About Those Pies  sung by the men trying to avoid talking abut being in love, Ring You Bastard  which most women will recognise.

Thanks for the Angst  is a peppy number followed by When the Bastard Becomes Tender Then I Melt. All are seamlessly linked by some smart and witty direction by Wayne Hope.  

The other linking factor is the café waiter, played by Patrick Cronin.  He is the chorus, the objective observer on the burgeoning relationships of the two couples.

John Thorn, Musical Director on piano, leads a small but exceptional ensemble of double bass, (Eli Firestone OK) drums (Jeremy Hopkins) and Patrick Cronin joins them on trumpet and percussion.

This show is clever, funny, musically delightful and a whole load of fun for anyone who ever fell in or out of love.

By Kate Herbert