Photos – Robert Catto
Nick Hornby’s novel, High Fidelity, first morphed into a Stephen Frears film, then into a Broadway musical, ten years after its publication. It’s taken a further decade to grace the Hayes Theatre with a rollicking, rocking boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy reflects on his previous break-ups, and sings and dances us to a happy ending.
For those who missed the phenomenon of the book or the film, High Fidelity is about Rob who runs a record store that makes no money. He and a bunch of like-minded lads spend their days talking about music, composing mixed tapes and making top five lists.
Rob’s girlfriend, Laura, has just left him and Rob makes a list of top five breakups, leaving Laura off the list in a fit of spite. These past girlfriends are fantasies of a commitment-phobic, and make up an entertaining and insightful chorus of pointing out Rob’s high infidelity.
Rob’s loss of Laura strikes wounded male ego and raging jealousy when she takes up with Ian, a pseudo guru.
Toby Francis is a rousing Rob, doing dual duty as assistant costume designer, while Teagan Wouters is lyrically lustrous as Laura. Zoe Gertz as Liz, Laura’s bestie is a force majeure, gutsy, feisty and sincere. As Rob's phonographic friends, Dash Kruck as Dick plays the pathos to perfection while Joe Kosky as Barry comes into his musical own when he belts out the show’s finale, Turn The World Off (And Turn You On).
Nicholas Christo as Ian, a ludicrous lentil as anything lost in Dali Lama La La land is a comic sensation as is Matthew Preday as The Most Pathetic Man in the World, showing he is far from pathetic in the comedy timing stakes.
Jenni Little, Erin Clare, Madison Hegarty, Denise Devlin and Bronte Florian as the top five breakups provide kick ass chorus and choreography.
Musical director Andrew Worboys whips up a thundering good rock band revealed behind a roller door – garage band indeed!
Directed by Neil Gooding, High Fidelity has a greater fidelity to the movie that Hornby’s novel, with lyrics by Amanda Green, Music by Tom Kitt and a book by David Lindsay-Abaire that sets it squarely in America, rather than London.
Neil Gooding Productions and Highway Run Productions in association with Hayes Theatre Co presents
High Fidelity
Lyrics by Amanda Green, Music by Tom Kitt, Book by David Lindsay-Abaire
Directed by Neil Gooding
Venue: Hayes Theatre Co | 19 Greenknowe Ave, Potts Point
Dates: 18 November – 17 December 2017
Tickets: $64 – $59
Bookings: hayestheatre.com.au | (02) 8065 7337
