Who knew the old trope of the hard-boiled detective paired with eager up-and-coming youth set to solve crime and make safe the streets could be so smoothly re-imagined as a musical? An utterly hilarious musical at that! Ian Ferrington, writer of “The Detective’s Handbook” sure did.
For hilarious it is. The audience could hardly save breath before the smart delivery of the next clever line has them all back in boisterous fits of laughter. Being very self aware it is not so proud as to even poke fun of it’s own pun-filled rhymes.
The story is a familiar favourite – weary veteran detective (Justin Smith) is paired with a overly eager newly promoted by-the-book youngster (Rob Johnson). Chaos ensues as they are both forced to work together on solving the murder of two fellow cops from their district. Along the way they encounter numerous female fatales of varying appearances, some polish sausages and a whole lot of differing opinions about matchboxes. It looks and sounds very much like an old school detective film, complete with jazzy bar stool vibes. Its mix of the genre and corny comedy reminds me very much of The Naked Gun films.
There are also a couple of rather brilliant, rather sporadic, outbursts of tap dance led by founding member of the Tap Dogs Christopher Horsey.
The leading members of this particular production though, are the youngsters of the group – Rob Johnson and Sheridan Harbridge. Johnson’s energetic deliveries of his fabulously witty lines are spot on- clearly a nod to his background in improv, comedy and theatresports. Harbridge is outstanding, switching between three leading female roles and carrying each with a distinct accent and vocal style. Her voice soars amongst the production and carries with it the real weight of the musical side of things.
Overall the musical is a little less musical, more spoken lines of rhymes with momentary lapses into song. Aside from Harbridge’s characters, most are not given the opportunity to really give their vocals a workout, which is slightly disappointing but understandable given the emphasis on the book and its desire to not pull the characters too far from the story (that an impromptu song sometimes has want to do).
I haven’t laughed so much during a production since I saw Squabbalogic’s Triassic Parq last year. Coincidently that production also had Rob Johnson in a lead role. It was clear that the whole audience had just as much of an enjoyable time as I had as everyone seemed to leave the theatre with very wide grins. Nothing better than cleverly written humour with a bit of music I say! A yay for new Australian musical theatre work.
Chalk the chalk with The Detective’s Handbook, playing at the Hayes Theatre Co till the 7th May. For more information and to book visit www.hayestheatre.com.au
———-
