From Cambridge's own dramatic society comes a musical romp that falls short of a few theatrical hurdles but manages to entertain more than once.
In a play that pitches itself somewhere between Disney's Alladin and Hercules, Telephos, a failed trinket seller, travels to Hell and back searching for the meaning of heroism. Along the way he finds a lost love, dances with the devil and finds out that being a hero takes more than just muscles. I love a good cliché.
For an enjoyable cliché look no further than Johnny Kanagasooiam's shifty slave trader, Balaska. Drawn from somewhere in the Mahreb, he is adorned with a pan Eropean/Middle Eastern accent and even comes with his with his own politically incorrect song; 'I give you special price'. Ironic racism aside, Kanagasooiam is the strongest thing about this production, kicking the energy into gear every time he bursts onto stage, winking and nudging the audience into complicity. While the cast are plainly more singers than actors they do have an impressive display of vocals that, for some, would be usable in professional opera. Yet even the virtuoso singing can not mask the underwhelming and inconsistent musical composition. More often than not the singers vocal style clashed with the genre of music (the cadence of one style bumping into another); operatic vibrato jarred constantly with fast syncopated drum rhythms and circle of fifth melodies. Even Balaska's booming baritone seemed out of place and sometimes inaudible due to mispositioned sopranos and an over zealous drummer.
The stage design was practically diverse and managed to be the source of many of the laughs, brick walls coming apart at a touch. However, it was not enough to keep interest. Sadly the script fails to construct any strong character arcs and we leave feeling everything has been rapidly tied up. Not quite theatrical heroics.
