Mills and Lehpamer are old pros who can take the sketch of a character and make a watercolour, if not quite an oil painting – and do this despite the songs they’re obliged to sing. Similarly, Casey Donovan makes a living, breathing character out of Angelique (Juliet’s nurse) and, as ever, sings her socks off.
Teetering as it does on such a flimsy frame, there would be no show without a charismatic Juliet, and Lorinda May Merrypor provides that with her winning smile, belting voice and vast dark eyes. Hayden Tee plays Lance, the father of Juliet’s new love interest, Francois (Yashith Fernando), with the most outrageous French accent since John Cleese was atop a battlement. Blake Appelqvist (Romeo) and Jesse Dutlow (May) complete the leads.
With the songs so singularly lacking in variation, Soutra Gilmour tries valiantly to compensate with her scenic design, in this Australian iteration of the West End production. Directed by Luke Sheppard and dazzlingly lit by Howard Hudson, it’s routinely staged like a video clip, with choreography (Jennifer Weber) to match. But there’s some saying about a silk purse and a sow’s ear. How does it go again?
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