Mixed reception to N.Z. musical in Sydney

Press, 4 April 1985, Page 36

Mixed reception to N.Z. musical in Sydney

NZPA Sydney The New Zealand musical, “Footrot Flats,” has opened its Sydney season to a love-hate reaction from the reviewers. The show, which is based on the New Zealand comic strip by Murray Ball and turned into a musical by the playwright, Roger Hall, has completed sell-out tours of Western Australia and South Australia before opening during the week-end in Sydney. However, the “Sydney Morning Herald” hated it, declaring: “Footrot Flats — the musical is not an entertainment, it’s an embarrassment.” It said fans of the cartoon strip would find the show bitterly disappointing, the

characters exhibited none of the vivacity of the comic strip, the writing had none of its bucolic charm, the choreography was simplistic, the show was not well directed, and the lyrics bogged down in banality. “The musical fails utterly on its own terms — not simply because it is a poorly animated version of a cartoon,” the “Herald” said. It described the script as "diabolical” and containing a mish-mash of cliches, and said that on several occasions the music, lyrics, and dance “descended to a truly fundamental level of gross vulgarity which was totally unfunny.” However, both the “Australian” and the “Telegraph” came to the show’s

defence, saying the musical was a farmyard frolic with no pretensions, was unsophisticated and undemanding, and was built for fun at “the most accessible end of the theatrical spectrum.” The “Telegraph” said yesterday: “It has no pretensions to be anything more than it is, a naive musical play which is not recommended for intellectual snobs or self-appointed sophisticates.” In spite of being a slow starter, it was worth watching “if you can hang on to see the second act.” The “Australian” described it as “pantomime for adults” and said that while it was not in the Rogers and Kammerstein class, nobody said it would be.