Cabaret Festival. Millicent Sarre and Joseph Simons. Banquet Room. 12 Jun 2025
Could a music theatre work in progress about TV game shows go off? Yep!
Basic outline: It’s the 40th anniversary of hit game show ‘Race Against The Clock’. To celebrate, a special episode uniting all former game show prize girls, along with the current beauty Stacey, is planned. There’s a scandal hidden in the history, What’s going to happen?
This ‘reading’ of a work in progress got a standing ovation. That never happens. In this case however it was for a wonderfully engaging, exciting good reason.
Primetime has been developing for longer than the year we’re told. This so called ‘reading’ was actually a blast of tightly structured writing. A brilliant mix of vocal/character casting with score for piano played live by Josh Van Konkeleberg, getting its hooks into the audience, only releasing them at the end.
Primetime is biting-as-all-hell pretty, and savage satire. Pleasing to the ear, it gains laughs while clawing at the mind. Ripping sexist commercial conventions of TV out of the TV screen and plonking them right in front of a live audience. That’s a tad uncomfortable. It should be. With the right amount of cheesy glam, sleaze and nostalgia balanced against wake up and smell the coffee moments. Seriously, did Australia think dinner time game show telly was all nice and wonderful? It’s a Brecht alienation kind of thing the creatives are pulling off here, that is also very Kabaret.
A highlight song, which totally nails what Sarre’s music/lyrics and Simons’ book/lyrics are getting at, is Sarre’s rendition of Dum de Dum, performed as Michelle, the latest prize model dumped at age 30. Sarre delivers a delightful, dark, blow by blow history of Michelle’s show life, in a strumming candy-cute voice as show host, Frank (Rod Schulz) delivers his show lines.
It’s a harmony of submission to control, gorgeous in delivery, powerful in illustration.
The cast is overflowing with diverse skills from music theatre, cabaret, and opera. It all gets used, making the show even richer in appeal. Sarre and Simon’s casting ensures this work not only holds its power, but rises above standard approaches that effectively engage an audience. Rosie Hocking, Jelena Nicdao, Michaela Burger, Dee Farrrell and Rod Schuz are a stand out mix of the out and over players in a game where Frank, as host, seems the only winner. Or is he?
Not here to offer spoilers, The one night audience knows where the two acts are going. Yet it was clear to all that Primetime is a winner. A new Australian musical that’s topical and totally relevant in addressing a myriad of issues in the most entertaining way possible. It must move to full production.
David O’Brien
When: June 12
Where: Banquet Room
Bookings: Closed
