Call Girl : The Musical

Review by Kathryn Lynch

Call Girl : The Musical is the brain child of Tracey Harvey and is a hilarious home made piece of theatre from right here in Elwood, Melbourne. 

This special season is a preview to the brand new show that hopes to build a strong foundation on which the incredibly talented team can continue the journey that is Call Girl.

The story follows Jean Brown (Harvey), a compulsive volunteer who finds herself in need of a "real" job in the wake of her husband Geoffrey (Trevor Major) leaving her for the local pharmacist.

We follow her through her journey at "We Care Marketing", a customer contact centre run by career strong woman Samantha (Raelene Isbester).

It is here we come across many familiar and often stereotypical characters of the call centre. Courtney (Laura Burzacott) is a bubbly blonde on a quest to receive the title of "Best Telemarketer Of the Year", Frank (Alan Fletcher) is a super salesman and Anton (Jeremy Hopkins) is the team leader and Samanth's toy boy!

Jean Brown hooks a whopper donation, diverts the call centre relocation and finds true love with Frank... all in a day's work really.

Ironically, the show about volunteers was majorly run by volunteers, with the foyer buzzing during intermission with young helpers rushing around selling chocolates and wine.

As Jean Brown would say "Helping Helps Heaps!".

The clever and most often bluntly honest lyrics and music were all written by Tracey Harvey (a Melbourne comedienne who has an extensive background in the Melbourne theatre and television industry including stints on Denton, The Comedy Company, Hey Hey It's Saturday to name a few).

Her truly infectious smile and high energy had the audience cheering from the opening scene (in which Harvey flies onto stage like the superhero she seems to be) until well after the curtains closed.

Harvey led an excellent cast including TV soap veteran Alan Fletcher. To be honest, it was initially quite hard to see Fletcher as anything other than "Karl Kennedy from Neighbours", but then again it isn't very often we get to see Karl Kennedy dance around with a goofy grin on his face and sing show tunes like Super Salesman and Burnin.

That said, Fletcher has a unique and undeniably strong presence on stage, and while his vocal performance wasn't complete perfection ("Susan Kennedy", who was sitting behind me during this particular performance, seemed to thoroughly support her on screen hubby's musical talent) he certainly knows how to make an impression on an audience.

The supporting cast was also in fine form, with my personal favourites being the characters of Anton and Courtney (thanks to their bubbly and youthful enthusiasm).

Hopkins has a wonderful voice, highlighted by his Michael Buble-esque number Hot Chook Shop and duet with Burzacott in Sticky. These two young actors have a bright future ahead of them on Melbourne's stages and I look forward to seeing them grace the boards again soon.

There were also some welcome guest cameo's from TV legends Bert Newton and Steve Vizard which really injected some added excitement to proceedings, without ever overshadowing the core cast.

The Bollywood inspired song and dance number, India, was a real highlight for mine - featuring delicate and authentic costumes which added a touch a class and originality to the otherwise simple costumes that were on display throughout most of the show.

Also worth mentioning was the truly sensational set design which included oversized pink telephones, a giant iceberg (and at one stage an EXTRA oversized pink telephone) featuring a semi-naked Raelene Isbester on top (strategically covered in post-it notes, of course!).

The small cast of only six assisted each other with the straightforward (and humorously dorky) choreography, and while there are no real "show stoppers" or large chorus' to fill the stage, there is still a strong sense of fun (at times feeling more like a pantomime or cabaret show) which resonates throughout the audience. 

The show seems to have been taken into the bosom of the local Elwood community and has had a successful run at Phoenix Theatre. Despite the obvious feeling of a smaller budget than most shows and the amateur setting of a high school theatre, you really get the feeling that Call Girl : The Musical has the potential to just get bigger and better over the next few years once given the opportunity to shine and moved into the right city-based theatre.

Heres hoping that the show has a successful season ahead in Melbourne.

To all those that have ever received a phone call at dinner time while they are trying watch Neighbours, and to all those that ever found themselves out of work and desperately earning cash sitting on a phone in a customer care centre while the person on the other end tells you to "F**k Off"... then Call Girl : The Musical will definitely pull at the heart strings - or at the very least, make you feel a little more empathy for the Jean Browns of the world!

Overall, Call Girl : The Musical is high on energy, big on laughs, and very, very pink!

3 out of 5

Call Girl : The Musical
Director: Bryce Ives
Written By: Tracey Harvey with Doug Macloed
Musical Director: Jack Howard
Choreographer: Dave Harford
Official Website: Call Girl : The Musical