Sunny Ray and the Magnificent Moon
Comedy Festival
The Famous Spiegeltent at Arts Centre
Melbourne
Directed by Christian Leavesley
Dramaturgy by Casey Bennetto
11am shows until Sunday 10 April
As consummate, flexible performers Claire
Bartholomew and Daniel Tobias present two well-rounded personas - Sunny Ray and
Magnificent Moon, respectively.
This show is great entertainment for - four
to eight year olds and their parents and anyone who can be a big kid at heart
when watching fun performances.
Sunny Ray is a round and lively Sun. She is very cute; in fact she perfectly pulls
off the lovely innocent persona of a three year old. Her wide-eyed innocence is charming and basic
sincerity is very appealing to her audience.
She is a comforting creature of habits the perfect character for younger
audience members to connect with. And
she blows bubbles to enhance the world’s atmosphere.
Magnificent Moon is the total narcissist
who lives in a ‘cool atmosphere hanging out with the stars.’ His songs amuse and delight as he swivels his
hips, a bit like Elvis. With his smooth
mellow vocals Magnificent Moon is a hit with older kids and Mums alike. Quite obviously he knows all about
naughtiness!
The theme and story is simple and
clear. It is basically about Sunny Ray
wanting to stay up late and party – party all night. Not such a great idea as it turns out but a
perfect story for the age group. There
is lovely audience interaction through questioning from the performers.
The show contains a number of fun and funny
songs boppy songs and a couple of great kids jokes.
The children in the audience, when I
attended, seem to be having fun particularly a number of real littlies who were
entranced and grooving along with the great music.
Another really satisfying work from Arena
Theatre Company that will hopefully be around and touring for a while, so keep
an eye out for it if you have missed this short season.
Suzanne Sandow
(For Stage Whispers)
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