‘All Shook Up’ is a hunk, a hunk of burnin’ love.
This is a jukebox musical in that it takes songs from a particular singer and fits a story loosely around them
Not an Elvis impersonator in sight as Jack Cunningham delivers a top class night of '50s entertainment with a storyline based around Elvis songs and some elements of 'Twelfth Night' by Shakespeare.
Elvis and the Bard is not your usual combination.
On the style of Mamma Mia, this is a jukebox musical in that it takes songs from a particular singer and fits a story loosely around them.
Sometimes the dialogue is no more than an excuse to belt out another Elvis classic; but, hey, if you’re an Elvis fan, you won’t mind…and everyone in the Royal seems to love The King.
Of course the show opens with Chad, played with great delight with winning smile and six-pack appeal by Green Room Award winner Jordan Bass, belting out Jailhouse Rock (one of the first truly gay numbers; only no one told Elvis) as he prepares to leave jail. Jordan never takes his foot off the pedal in an over-the-top performance that sends all the teens in the audience into a frenzy – especially when he takes his top off!
A Roustabout with the libido of an entire Italian soccer team, he moves onto a mid-American '50s small town that is governed by strict laws of moral behaviour on a mission to ‘spread my lovin’ at the Heartbreak Hotel.
Of course he meets Natalie who immediately falls in love with him, and he with her, although he doesn’t know it yet.
The excellent Jenna Dunphy, who plays motorbike mechanic Natalie, is a singing and acting delight with an infectious sense of fun and a belt soprano to die for.
Just as in Twelfth Night, she comes to Chad, disguised as Ed the mechanic, and they ultimately fall in love; but not before complications arise…this is where all the Shakespearean twists occur.
Natalie is also loved by wannabe student dentist Dennis, who is played brilliantly throughout by gauche and geeky Timmy Maloney whose comic timing and innocent sincerity is a masterclass of acting.
Natalie, as Ed, is also loved by the local museum curator Sandra, played by a feisty Carrie Mullane, who also turns in an excellent performance.
Although this seems a slight vehicle, this show demands good voices.
The wonderful thing about Jack’s cast is that everyone of them can sing, act and dance and they bring joy to their every moment on stage. Their energy is infectious and the feel good vibe of the evening never sags.
Fionnan ‘Fatz’ Dunphy is a sympathetic father to Natalie on stage (and in a delightful metatheatrical twist, her dad in real life) who also duets with Chad in 'Blue Suede Shoes'. His love interest begins with Sylvia (the excellent Lynsey Penkert), the owner of the Diner who deliveres a very soulful ‘There’s Always Me’.
Did they marry? Don’t ask!
This is a show that also demands strong comic turns. All the main principles require good comic timing and Mayor Matilda (Anne-Marie Collins) and her long suffering love interest Jackie Gleeson-style Sherriff Earl (Jonathan Kelly) are a hoot. And…yes…of course they also marry in the wind-up!
Young lovers Lorraine and Dean, played by Ella Fewer and Liam Steenson, provide the teenage angst of separated lovers and their ‘It’s Now or Never’ duet is a delight. They don’t marry….yet!
Jack Cunningham’s production footprint is all over this production.
His '50s costume design is a visual treat and his choreography is a non-stop swirl of invention.
Mini choruses in clever groupings enter and exit constantly so that the stage picture always changes and the dance routines are endless inventions of colour and energy and song.
Despite the paper-thin plot and the twenty-six Elvis numbers to get through, the sometimes complex storyline of just who loves who always comes through.
Lighting throughout was excellent with imaginative blues and purples adding atmosphere and a honky-tonk quality to the show.
Andrew Lane’s musical direction and his live band booms across the footlights with thumpin’ rock and roll numbers, huge ballads and superb stand-alone choral singing that is a musical treat.
In the end everyone marries everyone else to the satisfaction of all, with more weddings than the Moonies could muster on a good weekend, and all live happily ever after, just as they did in Twelfth Night as Shakespeare intended.
‘All Shook Up’ is a hunka, hunka hunk of burnin’ love.
