2026: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Youth Cabaret

 

 

The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals – Book by Nick & Matt Lang; Music & Lyrics by Jeff Blim.  Youth Cabaret at The Mill, Dairy Road, Canberra. October 8–11 and October 15–17, 2026

As produced by StarKid Productions, University of Michigan USA 2018

Reviewed by Frank McKone
Oct 8

Directed by Krys Pendrich; Co-Directed by Florian Kai
Choreography by Allura-Jane Haunting

Cast:
Paul – Mars Que (They, Them)
Emma / Donna – Honey Boom (She, They)
Bill – Ostin Gerhadt (He, Him)
Charlotte / Deb / Colonel Schaffer – Allura-Jane Haunting
Ted / Homeless Man / Dan – Freddy Hickey (He, Him)
Sam / Coffee Jerk / Mr Davidson – Lex Maddox (She, Her)
Professor Hidgens / Rod / Obnoxious Teen – Jay Lee Jnr (He, Him)
Nora/Melissa/Cop 1/Nurse/Smoke Club Kid/General John Macnamara – Stephanie Steer (She, Her)
Zoey / Alice / Cop 2 – Krys Pendrich (They, Them)

Crew:
Art Director / Merch Consultant / Graphic Designer – Mars Que
Choreographer / Social Media – Allura-Jane Haunting
Photographer – Steph Benassi
Stage Hand / Social Media (Facebook) – Florian Kai
Backstage Manager – Reese Kai
Stage Hand / Front of House – Steven Pendrich
Stage Hand / Understudy – Ruby Laing
Backstage / Understudy – Olivia Cullen
Set Assistant – Quinton Randall
Assistant Backstage Manager – Ebony Cooper
Set Design – Connor Harris; Backstage – Xaith Cooper
Lighting Technician – Punko Regarto; Backstage – Aiden Cooper
Sound Technician – Paige MacDonald

Welcome to Hatchetfield, USA

Youth Cabaret is a newly established community theatre organisation in Canberra focused on engaging neurodiverse, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ young people.  As a group they must surely take a critical view of the society around them, so it’s not surprising that they have chosen to perform a show about someone who doesn’t fit the ‘norm’.

I have to say though, that to some degree I’m with Paul.  I appreciate the awful irony of presenting a musical in which the guy who hates musicals is the central character.  

In the first half, the show presents an enthusiastic satirical view of society – specifically American – where absurdity rules as everyone must dance and sing at every opportunity (and even when there’s no opportunity) to fulfill the expectations of whatever role they may have.

The simplest example is Emma, who must sing as she makes Paul’s coffee, which he needs to escape his sing-song office.  Why?  Well of course, because her employer insists she must sing to her customers because then they will buy more coffee! 

Of course, since we are in the world of musicals, working-class Emma and middle-class white collar Paul become a loving couple.  How they try to cope when everybody sings and dances – even the police, financial managers and academics – is often funny, yet also often suspiciously threatening disaster.

As in the best of musicals, that possibility comes to fruition in the second half, when a meteor crashes to earth and kills everyone in Hatchetfield – except of course, Emma.

But a musical cannot end as a genuinely felt tragedy.  Emma is amazed as Paul reappears.  Is he really alive – or really dead?  No matter – Emma loves Paul, so they hug and kiss as love conquers all.

The quality of the singing and the complexity of the choreography, so often a spoof of musical convention, make the show engaging – even when it’s often difficult to have any idea of what’s going on.

Maybe in the world of the young today, that’s the daily truth.

The original was written in 2018, but perhaps even more appropriately today, as the Democrat Obama has become a fading light, it is President Trump who is the meteor from somewhere weird in the universe which is destroying all the Americans.  Or us.

Emma and Paul’s love is the only hope.

That’s the value of art, even in the form of an absurdist musical.

Paul – Mars Que and Emma – Honey Boom

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Youth Cabaret 2026 

©Frank McKone, Canberra

2026: Face to Face by David Williamson

 

 

 Face to Face by David Williamson.  Mockingbird Theatrics at Belconnen Arts Centre October 7-17 2026

Reviewed by Frank McKone
October 7

Cast: 

Jack Manning – Sachin Nayak; Glen Tregaskis – Joshua Nicholls

Greg Baldoni – Terry Johnson; Maureen Tregaskis – Anna Hemmings

Claire Baldoni – Victoria Tyrell Dixon; Barry McLean – Zade Fainstein

Julie Rossiter – Chloe Smith; Luka Mitrovic – Ryan Hedley

Richard Halligan – David Yates; Therese Martin – Sophia Castello


Production Team:

Director/Designer – Céline Oudin; Assistant Director – Io Hogan
Stage Manager & Lighting/Sound Operator – Aoife McFoley
Lighting Design – Rhiley Winnett and Céline Oudin
Set Design/Concept – Chris Baldock; 
Sound Design - Céline Oudin and cast
Costumes & Props - Céline Oudin, cast and Production Team



Face to Face doesn’t feel like a play being acted out.  It seems simply to be real, as the convenor of this example of diversionary conferencing explains to the young adult, Glen, what will happen if he refuses to take part seriously.  It will mean going to court, being found guilty and being sent to jail.  And you will never get your job back.

At the successful conclusion of the conference of eight of the people affected by Glen’s angry violent behaviour, who have agreed to take part – you will need to see how it works out over the 80 minutes with no interval –  being reminded by his mother, Glen comes back to say thanks to the convenor.

Jack Manning advises Glen, one to one, that if he feels about to do something like that again, Glen should “Remember your mother”.  

Glen turns back to Manning, saying thanks again for that “best advice”, as he leaves to join others off stage – leaving Jack Manning satisfied that he has done his management job well, finally able to leave this conference room ready, perhaps, to take on another.

Williamson’s writing of these ten diverse characters’ revealed inter-relationships is simply extraordinary.  He leaves us seriously concerned for Glen’s future.  Can he overcome his aggressive feelings?  Is he capable intellectually to resolve conflicts at work?  Will he survive a year on probation back in his same workplace – and have the people there learned to change their ways?

When I saw the original production of this work in March 2000, I was keen to know if the new idea of diversionary conferencing, keeping young people especially out of the court system, would become more commonly used – and would it be more successful than “justice” resulting from combat between lawyers.

Mockingbird’s decision to mount Face to Face is an important contribution, as a little AI research will show, in summary:

Diversionary conferencing—predominantly known as Youth Justice Conferencing or Group Conferencing—is an highly successful mechanism used thousands of times annually across Australia and New Zealand to resolve criminal matters outside of a standard, adversarial court hearing. When a conference is completed successfully, the matter is resolved without a formal conviction or further court action, meaning it is nearly 90% to 99% successful at helping participants avoid traditional court sentencing once a referral is accepted.

How Often is it Used?

Conferencing is widely integrated across Australian juvenile and summary justice systems, functioning at both the pre-court stage (referred directly by police) and the court-referred stage (referred by a magistrate before sentencing).
[ https://www.nsw.gov.au/legal-and-justice/youth-justice/about/statistics/conferencing ]

Plan Agreement Rate    99.3% – 99.8% (e.g., NSW Data)    Overwhelmingly avoids trial breakdown; almost all conferences result in a mutually agreed solution instead of a contested hearing.

Successful Completion    91% – 94% (National Average)    Once the youth completes the plan, the Children's Court takes no further action and the case is closed.

Recidivism Reduction  21% vs 40% (5-year reoffending)    Diversion participants are roughly half as likely to return to the court system compared to individuals given standard court outcomes. Swinburne University research notes a 24% to 40% drop in repeating offenses.

Cost Efficiency    ~43% cheaper than court    Financial data from agencies like the Australian Institute of Criminology reveals conferencing averages roughly $1,300 per case, compared to over $2,200 for a traditional court trial.

The quality of Mockingbird’s presentation is also remarkable, even down to highly appropriate casting, in terms of physical features and voices, as well as in details of costuming; and how Céline Oudin’s directing has worked to make every actor’s characterisation equally true to reality.

The standard of this production matches, in my view, the original Ensemble Theatre production, directed by Sandra Bates.  

She, I was told by actor Amos Szeps, “gave the cast freedom to develop their characters” and then Bates herself explained she “rehearsed the play as if it were a real conference.  Geoff Cartwright, playing the convenor as it really happens, separately interviewed each actor in role before full rehearsals began, to get their agreement to attend the conference.  So he knows things about each character that the other actors don’t know he knows.  This gives him the power to challenge each character/actor differently in each performance to create the spark of reality which this issue needs.”

I remarked “It certainly worked in the 104th performance” that I reviewed then.  I haven’t asked Céline Oudin about her rehearsal method on this occasion, but I’m sure it has been just as effective.

Definitely, not to be missed.

©Frank McKone, Canberra