Let’s face it. A musical about circus superstar PT Barnum will always have an uphill battle in the shadow on one of the greatest movies in recent years Barnum starring Hugh Jackman. The musical star Todd McKenney will be compared to Jackman’s performance and the music to the Grammy winning movie soundtrack. When you compare those two, of course the movie wins.
However set that aside and think of Barnum the Musical as a standalone theatre production. Todd McKenney makes a great choice as Barnum, giving the character a pantomime edge with his occasional jabs at the audience.
The Barnum story is simply a good story. It overlaps with the movie story (obviously) but also offers deeper insights to the Barnum character, especially with his political ambitions. McKenney’s Barnum is also a more slippery character than Jackman’s.
McKenney plays alongside Rachael Beck who portrays a stronger and more influential partner character than Michelle Williams did in the movie. Suzie Mathers’ Jenny Lind, however, doesn’t go as deep as they did with the character in the motion picture.
Some of the props leave too much to the imagination. This production cast the world’s tallest Tom Thumb and the world’s smallest Jumbo the Elephant. The acrobats did an excellent job of recreating the circus mode of the storyline. McKenney also does well with a few personally played stunts, including the tightrope walk where you just think he is going to fall. If he can do this every show without failure he deserves a Helpmann just for that.
Musically the show lacks that killer song. It doesn’t have the memorable musical moment such as ‘Memory’ in Cats or ‘I Don’t Know How To Love Me’ in Jesus Christ Superstar or ‘One Night In Bangkok’ from Chess.
Director Tyran Parke does a remarkable job minus the big budget productions we are used to seeing in a lot of Melbourne productions and has brought a great story to the stage at a fraction of the cost.
Barnum is a turning point in Parke’s career. Looking back we will most likely see this as his stepping stone to that so far illusive big budget production.
Barnum The Musical is on until 2 June 2019 at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne.
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