Annual variety spectacular

Article appeared in the Chronicle Entertainer, Tuesday 8 June 2010

By Katina Curtis

ONCE again Canberra Repertory is set to heat things up during winter with the second annual Jazz Garters.

The show continues the theatre company's long tradition of putting on a variety production in Canberra's colder months.

Director Jim McMullen promised audiences could "expect the unexpected" with the mixture of music, dance, skits and even magic tricks.

"What might start out as being one thing will turn into something totally unexpected in the middle," he said.

"I think people will really enjoy the magic and I really like the big production numbers, I love the spectacle of them."

He also said that as a big Monty Python fan, he had managed to sneak "a few Python" bits into the show which entertained him every time.

He believed the most important thing was to give audiences a big variety of entertainment.

"It's much harder than doing a scripted show," he said.

"First of all you've got to have some concept in your head and then you've got to cast people and find material that suits the people you've cast.

"You have got to find a balance and work out the order.

"I've made a conscious effort this year to do more group things than individual things because I wanted to make it different to last year."

This time around Jazz Garters has a cast of 24^[sic] which includes many stalwarts of Canberra's theatre scene, and several Canberra Area Theatre Award winners.

McMullen himself can be included among these stalwarts, having worked with the Canberra Repertory Society since the early 1980s.

The all singing, all dancing cast are accompanied by an orchestra of eight, with McMullan^[sic] also as the musical director.

The show was devised by McMullen with Peter J Casey, Lisa Buckley and Nick Griffin.

They have brought together more than 20 acts in a wide range of styles including comedy, cabaret, jazz, broadway, vaudeville, spectacular production numbers and even magic.

McMullen said Casey had helped him choose which musical numbers should go in the show, and arranged pieces as well as wrote a few songs.

"Each year he's taken stuff and adapted it for us, particularly the opener and closer," McMullen said.

Last year's production of Jazz Garters sold out and McMullen urged people to book early to avoid missing out on this year's spectacle.

JAZZ GARTERS
WHERE: Theatre 3, Acton
WHEN: June 18 to July 10 - Thursday to Saturday 8pm, Saturday matinees 2pm, and twilight shows at 4pm on June 27 and July 4
TICKETS: $35 full, $27 concession, all matinee/twilight sessions $27
BOOKINGS: 6257 1950 or www.canberrarep.org.au

_{Image caption: Last year's Jazz Garters was sold out and the production this year is set to be just as hot. Picture: Ross Gould}