MUGSS is the abbreviation for Manchester University Gilbert And Sullivan Society, and are a bunch of merry folk who are all students of the university, and come together every now and then to perform English culture and musical heritage in the form of England's foremost Musical satirists, Gilbert and Sullivan. This production of Zanna, Don't! then, was a rather big departure from their staple.
Zanna, Don't!, as you may already have guessed by the title ( a 'pun' on Xanadu ) is a quirky American Musical belonging to the 'Off-Broadway' category of Musicals. [Thus categorised because these Musicals have never had a Broadway run, and are much more popular and relevant to and in American popular culture than they are this side of the pond].
In this Musical, subtitled, A Musical Fairy Tale, we are transported to a parallel universe somewhere in middle America where homosexuality is the norm, and heterosexuality, although not illegal, is certainly thought of as dirty and wrong. ('apparently in San Francisco there are some heterosexuals there!')
It is 'High School Musical' for the LGBT community. The action is set in a High School, in the town of Heartsville and Zanna, the resident school 'matchmaker' waves his magic wand and brings people together in love. And although he does meddle and cannot help interfering a little in other peoples' private lives, he is basically a do-gooder and is loved and admired by the rest of the school. A new kid arrives in town and plays quarterback for the school's football team, and from there things don't really go as planned. He finds true love with - wait for it - yes, a girl! (actually the Captain of the all-girl mechanical bull riding team!), and as if that wasn't bad enough, Zanna himself also falls hopelessly in love with him too. How will he cope now? The matchmaker is no longer in control...!
This is an extremely tongue-in-cheek, please-don't-take-me-seriously, fell-good, show. There are many little hat-nods in the script to other shows, Gay icons or US popular culture in general. I am sure I must have missed 90 per cent of them, but I did get the Grease parody, the High School Musical and Village Peoples' references. Again, these 'jokes' are things which would undoubtedly work better on an American audience.
That being said however, MUGGS did a lovely job at bringing this show to life. Zanna, played by John Clifford was a lovely role, and Clifford made the absolute most of it singing, dancing and prancing around with his wand. Loughlan Shaw played Steve, the love interest. He is first swept off his feet by the school sex symbol and Chess champion Mike, and then truly falls in love with Kate, and has Zanna's unrequited love too. Shy, awkward, and not quite fitting in, seemed rather appropriate for this character who became more and more likeable as the Musical progressed.
Kate was played by Freya Turton, and although didn't really look butch enough to ride a bull, she had a lovely stage presence and a beautiful singing voice. Mike, played by Tom Kuznar, was also very well cast. Tall, good looking and self-effacing, he played his part with truth and also had a nice singing voice too.
I enjoyed the set greatly. A bare stage with a row of school lockers - the type you see adorning the corridors in all US High Schools - only these were painted in the colours of the rainbow. They also hid parts of the set which either came out completely like the bed, or were hinged and opened up to make the cafeteria etc. This worked really well. The addition of a couple of rainbow painted steps also worked well. What I would suggest however is that if the Stage Management team are required to move the set mid-acting or mid song, as they did here, maybe they should be given a character and make a feature out of it.
The Music was catchy, mostly up-beat, and very American, but credit to Musical Director Sam Cobb, the music was never allowed to get too loud and overpower the singers - although the singers would definitely have benefited from mics. I was on the front row, not sure if their voices would have carried to the back.
All in all though, this was a lovely introduction for me to both a Musical I had never come across before and MUGSS, and there is most obviously a highly energetic, dedicated and creative pulse running through this young company.
I look forward to what your next production will be... back to grass roots again I wonder, or another departure from your title? I don't know yet, but am keen to find out and come along to support.
Reviewer: Mark Dee
Reviewed: 25th November 2016
