*** NZ Premiere ***
27 November - 20 December 2008
Director - Steve Sayer
Choreographer - Val Bolter
Musical Director - Graham Johnston
ALL SHOOK UP mixes a little bit of Shakespeare with a whole lot of The King, and guarantees that your entire family will be jumpin’ out of their blue suede shoes! The book by Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change) sets the action in Smalltown, USA circa 1955. When “a rolling roustabout with a song in his soul and an eye for the ladies” rambles into town on his motorcycle, guitar slung over the leather jacket on his back, everyone eventually responds with new attitudes and welcome results.
Just as in Shakespeare’s lighthearted comedies, everyone falls under love’s spell, but with the “wrong” person. Dennis, the town nerd, loves grease monkey Natalie, who loves the roustabout, Chad, who’s fallen for the museum curator Miss Sandra, who’s a sucker for men bearing poetry, but not for Jim, the man who pines for her. It gets even more complicated, however, because - just like in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night - there’s a character who undergoes some gender-bending in order to get close to the one she loves. Add to all that the changing cultural climate of 1950s America and you get “The best retro rock show since Grease” (NBC).
ALL SHOOK UP is not a show about Elvis, but definitely is a tribute to his legend and his music, and uses the songs he made famous to give insight into the madness of falling in love. The show features 24 classic Elvis Presley hits including “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Burning Love,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “It’s Now or Never,” “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” and “Don’t Be Cruel.”
CAST/PRODUCTION PERSONNEL - click here
REVIEWS
Infectious Fun a Treat to Watch
Reviewed by David Collins
Combining the gender-switching shenanigans of Twelfth Night, with a mighty swag of Elvis tunes, All Shook Up is a production that, like The King himself during his glory days, is a phenomenon, exceptional and electrifying.
Set in Smalltown, USA, people's humdrum existences are rocked by the arrival of roustabout Chad. From the moment he arrives on his motorcycle - a beautiful two-dimensional homage to Brando from The Wild One - Chad begins to shake things up.
He's a man who follows his hips wherever they lead, never getting attached, moving from town to town.
Natalie, daughter of the local mechanic, instantly falls for Chad, kicking off a chain of funny and sweet unrequited loves. Lik colour spreading in the monochromatic world of the film Pleasantville, blue suede begins to spread until most characters are wearing blue suede shoes, boots or heels.
Natalie loves Chad, Dennis loves Natalie, Chad loves Miss Sandra, Jim loves her too but Sylvia loves him. Dean and Lorraine love each other, but unfortunately Dean's mother is the town mayor, who would love nothing more than to see Chad run out of town for good. While the promotional material quotes comparisons to Grease, All Shook Up - with its humour style, and winks to the audience - clearly takes its lead from the lesser-known Cry Baby.
In frontorf a backdrop that shuffled like a deck of cards, there were plenty of great performances. Liam Taylor was fantastic as poindexter Dennis, stealing the show from his first lines. Despite the music drowningout her voice in places, Edan Hunt was stellar as Natalie, sharing some great chemistry with Andrew Jamieson as Chad (disturbingly more so when disguised as a man). Jamieson was a first-rate Elvis-bot, inhabiting the role as the roustabout with great enthusiasm.
While there was a good balance between story and song - with numbers ranging from the well-known to the obscure - unfortunately the music was often too loud with too many lyrics and dialogue getting lost underneath the mix. Backed by a smoking-hot ensemble - from nerd to grease-monkey, rebel or puritan - all had a rousing time on stage.
This was a real treat to watch, infectious and fun that has me singing the title song still.
A Night of Fun
Reviewed by Bobbie Nicholls
Audiences at pre-Christmas shows at the Abbey Theatre know what to expect - lots of catchy songs and dances, loosely connected to an American storyline and performed by a talented young cast who give their all.
With 26 Elvis Presley songs a very talented cast and more story than most, with all the twists and turns of a Shakespearean comedy, All Shook Up has ll the potential to be the show audiences look for at this time of the year. The sets were particularly good, with clever changes using sliding screens.
The story is set circa 1960 in a small town in middle America where the mayor tries to inflict a strong moral code that is shattered when a motorcycle-riding roustabout "with a song in his soul and an eye for the ladies" rolls into town.
AJ is every inch the pelvis-rolling King himself as he gives the Elvis songs plenty of style.
The female lead is Edan Hunt who plays a believable young woman mechanic who yearns to leave town. She has a strong voice and plenty of stage character to carry her role.
Dennis, the town nerd, is in love with Natalie, who falls in love with Chad, who only has eyes for Miss Sandra, the librarian, etc. etc.
To confuse matters, Natalie disguises herself as Ed, andher father only has eyes for Miss Sandra and cannot see his future with his old friend Sylvia, the cafe owner.
Liam Taylor makes a wonderful future dentist and he has a pleasant voice. He contrasts well with Edan Hunt's beautiful tomboy and with Lorna Beauchamp, whose role changes from starchy to raunchy.
Kudos must go to all the secondary role leads, particularly Bradford Meurk and Carrie
Green whose duet It's Now or Never got huge applause from the first night audience.
It's not often a part has been written for Bruce Sinclir, complete with beard, but as Natalie's widowed father, he is in his element. Partnered with Erica Ward as Sylvia, the lonely cafe owner, who has a great voice, they make a great combination.
Much of the dialogue is cheesy, the story predictable and 26 songs is probably too many. A 30 minute interval felt unnecessary with another 55 minutes of the show to come, but it was an entertaining night out.
Fifties Flavoured Fun and Frivolity
Reviewed by Richard Mays
Deliciously cheesy, 2005's All Shook Up would meet Sam G's (The G in movie company MGM) approval. Goldwyn, a Polish immigrant to the USA, was famous for mangling English idiom. When he gropwled, "What we need are some new cliches", this piece of frivolity probably wasn't what he had in mind - but close.
In a plot loosely (very!) derived from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, a leather-clad, motorcycle-riding, rock 'n' rollin' roustabout turns up in a small hick town, and to the music of Elvis Presley, turns things inside out.
Chad, played by Andrew Jamieson, combines The fonz from Happy Days and Danny from Grease, setting local female hearts a-flutter, including that of tomboy mechanic, Natalie Haller, played by Edan Hunt.
But Chad, along with Natalie's father Jim, becomes infatuated with art museum curator Miss Sandra. To complicate matters, sharp-tongued Sylvia carries a torch for Jim. Her daughter Lorraine has her sights set on Dean, son of Matilda, the uptight, fun-killing mayor, while nerdy Dennis harbours a passion for Natalie. Oh, the tangled web of emotion!
To get close to Chad, Natalie dresses as Ed, another bike-riding greaser. Reluctantly, on Chad's behalf, she delivers a Shakespearean sonnet to
Miss Sandra, who promptly falls in love with the messenger. What on earth is in the water?
All Shook Up doesn't take things too seriously, delightfully sending itself up - along with the wider musical theatre genre - accompanied by artfully arranged and placed Elvis songs, and nifty choreography. The only line missing was, "Where did that music come from"? as the characters break into yet another stylish song and dance routine from the Presley canon. The loud pre-recorded backing music itself was hard to miss, at times clamouring other vocals and portions of dialogue.
Chad is the sort of role Jamieson can do blindfolded, but while Hunt has a gorgeous voice and female presence, she's just a tad transparent as a bloke = needs a beard. Liam Taylor's lame-duck Dennis is perfectly pitched, and there is excellent support from Erica Ward as Sylvia, Bruce Sinclair's (ZZ Top refugee) Jim, and Carrie Green as Lorraine.
The decorative sliding door scene-setters are a clever feature of a well co-ordinated, effervescent, fun-filled production that should tighten considerably.
Toe-tapping, Rollicking Fun
Reviewed by Mervyn Dykes
Here’s a happy, rollicking end-of-year show that will set your feet tapping and keep your eyes glued to swirls of colour on stage.
While All Shook Up, directed by Steve Sayer, is not a musical about Elvis, it does feature his songs in seeking to recreate the atmosphere of small-town America in the mid 1950s.
This provides opportunities for some clever segues between action and music in a show that pays homage to both “The King” and Shakespeare.
There’s much ado about love when Chad (Andrew Jamieson), a roustabout with a song in his soul and an eye for the ladies, rumbles into town on his Harley and shakes things up.
Dennis, the town nerd, loves grease monkey Natalie, who loves Chad, who’s fallen for the museum curator, Miss Sandra, who’s a sucker for men spouting sonnets, but not for Jim, the man who pines for her. Then there’s Sylvia who has a thing for Jim. Oh, and don’t forget the puritanical Lady Mayor whose son has the effrontery to fall in love and the sheriff who also finds someone quite arresting.
The younger members of the cast include rising talents whose skills have been displayed recently in shows such as High School Musical and RENT – Bradford Meurk, Edan Hunt and Liam Taylor.
All again do fine work with Taylor as the town nerd with a secret crush on Natalie (Edan Hunt) turning in a particularly fine and endearing performance.
Their efforts were nicely balanced by performers such as Erica Ward (Sylvia), who brought the show alive in Act 1, and Bruce Sinclair, a veteran of Summer Shakespeare who turned in some fine harmonies with Chad and others.
Carrie Green, as Sylvia’s daughter Lorraine, turned in her now customary fine performance.
The role of Chad was well played by Andrew Jamieson who not only rocked, but impressed with Elvis’ slower, more romantic ballads. Another “star” was the excellent choreography of Val Bolter, which helped the cast shine.
As with most first nights though, there were things that needed tightening up. The length of some blackouts during scene changes in Act 1 was almost as annoying as the commercials that break up the action during television movies.
Sight lines from some of the front seats allow views into the wings at stage left. The sound levels for the recorded music were a problem, too, although this might have depended on proximity to the speakers. While the volume was spot-on for ensemble numbers, in the solos and softer mood pieces it crashed out at the same level and threatened to overpower the singers.
Then there were those pack-em-in trestle tables almost end-on to the stage, which tend to strain necks and don’t always offer the best of views.
But, all in all, All Shook Up is a great show that will only get better in its season that runs to December 20.
