Not feeling the Christmas vibe? This show will fix all that

THEATRE
IRVING BERLIN’S HOLIDAY INN
Riverside Theatres Parramatta, December 6
Until December 14
Reviewed by KATE PRENDERGAST
★★★★

In the 1940s, the legendary Irving Berlin (who was, ironically, Jewish) dreamt of a little number called White Christmas. At Riverside Theatres, audiences dreamt of a Christmas that doesn’t sweat their entrails out, while being razzle-dazzled to distraction by the stage adaptation of Holiday Inn, a two-hour affair featuring a live band, a dizzying array of sparkle-heavy costumes, old-world charm and some vigorously inventive original choreography by Veronica Beattie George.

If you haven’t seen a tap-dancing ensemble perform synchronised jump-rope with green tinsel, are you even in the silly season?

The show features a dizzying array of sparkle-heavy costumes.Credit: Robert Catto

Holiday Inn is the film that launched the world’s best-selling single, which also starred musical history’s most dapper dynamic duo: Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby. Filling those enormous singin’ and dancin’ shoes just fine in this Well Done Creative production are Rob Mallet as Jim Hardy and Max Patterson as Ted Hanover – showbiz characters whose long friendship is put to the test when Jim’s domestic impulses and anxious sentimentality clash with Ted’s big-time ambitions. To put it another way: narrative conflict, thy name is woman.

First it’s Lila (Pamela Renouf is a sensation and a hoot as the squawking, mega-talented, self-obsessed starlet). Then it’s Linda (Mary McCorry, of classically beautiful looks and ravishing vocals), an independent-minded schoolteacher who sold Jim the Mason Farm in Connecticut, where he hopes to start a new chapter away from the insanity of “the lifestyle”.

Max Patterson as Ted Hanover and Rob Mallet as Jim Hardy. Credit: Robert Catto

Life in the country bumpkin seat, however, turns out to be laborious, lonesome and financially challenging. With some sneaky manoeuvring from plucky farmhand Louise (Paige Fallu), he and his New York friends cook up a creative money-making ruse: to transform the property into a “Holiday Inn”, hosting extravagant ticketed shows (also charging guests for board) only on holidays. Cue Shaking the Blues Away!

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There are some interesting (and essential) variations from the film. No blackface is one. There are also significant differences in narrative structure and character motivations (with Ted spared the moral grubbiness of “stealing the girl” romantically). Some songs are shuffled about to take on new meaning (a memorable moment comes when the otherwise silent drummer pipes up with his Cinderella plea to Ted: “I’m easy to dance with!” ), with the best comic moments still when Jim lets jealousy undermine his own show.

As with so many crowd-pleasing productions, this one would benefit from being more snappy, with less stuffing. Some added Berlin hits feel interstitial, and the invigorating theatrical bombast under director Sally Dashwood loses a little pizzazz in the second half.

That’s not to say there isn’t a lot to be enjoyed, particularly given the robust technical skills of the actors, which are geared for delight and well-balanced with their acting chops. There’s a worthy takeaway, too, about freedom and autonomy. A line from French poet Guillaume Apollinaire that bookends the show reminds us what holidays are all about: “Now and then, it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.”

THEATRE
BEAUTIFUL THING
Qtopia Sydney, December 5
Until December 13
Reviewed by KATE PRENDERGAST
★★★½

It’s a seasonally fitting, welcome thing to hear happy squeals and warm laughter in response to a queer drama told on stage. Often (unless it’s part cabaret), the audience’s reaction is grim, choked silence – trauma the legitimate yet scarifying seam from which a lot of LGBT+ stories are mined.

Allowing a gay “coming-of-age” love story to have a relatively untroubled trajectory and happy ending was what made Liverpudlian dramatist Jonathan Harvey want to write Beautiful Thing.

Opening in London in 1993, it went on to win a John Whiting Award, was adapted into a popular film, and had its Australian premiere at the 1998 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. This CODA production brings it back with a uniformly excellent cast, with Finn Stannard making an impressive directorial debut to close Qtopia’s 2025 program.

Jamie (Jake Walker) and Ste (Max Dykstra).  Credit: Yingying Zhang

Harvey would go on to write for Coronation Street for two decades and counting, and there’s a lot of this and other British soaps’ recognisable tones and touchpoints here: a character-driven plot and working-class realism; young and old battling a hard-luck system with whatever’s at hand (in this story, the music of Mama Cass); a matter-of-factness about the realities they’re up against; violence acknowledged if not given too-graphic treatment; neighbours getting all up in each other’s business; and animated dialogue that plumbs its humour from cheek, colourful patois and bluntness.

Willa King as tough-love mum and worn-down barwoman Sandra steals the show on that last one (though her relentless shaming of heroically impudent expelled schoolgirl Leah as “slag” might be a bit dated).

Set in a South London council estate, an environment summed up by three sky-blue doors on a grey tenement wall, the “beautiful thing” in question is the tender relationship that forms between Hello! magazine-reading Jamie (Jake Walker) and much more athletic Ste (Max Dykstra), which begins when Ste takes refuge from an abusive father in his neighbour’s bedroom.

It’s also how frowsy queen Sandra, her new boyfriend Tony (Michael Hogg) and “lost cause” Leah (Poppy Cozens) react. It’s not a big spoiler to say: pretty well! When Tony, a stand-in father figure, wraps trembling Jamie in a bear hug and says with a smiling reassurance “it’s OK” after the boy comes out to his mum, a widespread corneal leakage event was seen in the audience.

It is interesting to follow Tony through the play. He develops into something of a wish-fulfilment vehicle – a fantasy of the even-tempered, open-minded and gently loving guardian we all deserve. A handyman and artist, cheerily chill and twinkle-eyed, he worships Sandra, shares a joint with Jamie, and knows exactly what to do when Leah is tripping Mama Cass Fantastic.

The final scene seems to try to negate the “magical straight saviour” role he may otherwise have slipped into – not wholly satisfyingly, though.

Beautiful Thing might not be cutting-edge queer, but it’s a lovely little slice-of-life story, full of endearing performances, humour and heart.

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