City of Angels Review - Herald Sun
City of Angels Review
Reviewer, Kate Herbert
Herald Sun, Monday 11 December
"A film noir in musical form, City of Angels was set in the 1940s but written in the late '80s. It has a stellar pedigree of writers (Cy Coleman, Larry Gelbart, David Zippel), won six Tony Awards in 1990 and also took the Edgar Award for Best Play.
Coleman's score is steeped in the jazz of the '40s and is complemented by Zippel's complex lyrics that reflect the rhythms and rhymes of the period.
Gelbart constructs a cunning dual plotline.
Hero No.1 is Stine (Mark Doggett) writing a screenplay of his own detective novel for Buddy (Chris Watkins), the fast-talking Hollywood studio boss. Buddy controls both the script and Stine's career.
Meanwhile, Stine's characters come to life in a parallel tale inside the movie script.
Stine's hard-nosed gumshoe Stone (Tom Stringer), helped by loyal secretary Oolie (Nicolette Minster), struggles to solve the mystery of a missing girl, to resist the wily femme fatale Alaura (Jane Harber) and to avoid being beaten, shot and arrested.
The script is homage to Raymond Chandler. "She was a handful - maybe two if you played your cards right," quips Stone. The dialogue is colourful and witty, the twin stories woven together with characters having counterparts in each.
Commonly the movie scenes are played in black and white and the Hollywood writers scenes are in colour. This production uses a clever, cartoon-like noir backdrop (Sahr Willis) for both realities.
Doggett is compelling as Stine, with a rich, soaring voice. His rendition of Double Talk and of Stine's solo Funny were riveting.
His duo with Stringer, You're Nothing Without Me, was exhilarating and impassioned.
Stringer plays Stone with a laconic ease, though his character is more downbeat than suave and sexy.
Harber has a feline, seductive quality in her twin sex-kitten roles.
Minster sings the lament of the secretaries, You Can Always Count on Me, with great conviction.
There is a good support cast in Sarah Louise Younger, Paul Gartside, Margaret Paul and Jeremy Hopkins.
The Angel City Quartet, singing the chorus numbers, is to be commended for it's truth to the '40s style. The seven-piece band, under Adrian Portell, was tight and polished.
Though some of the acting was uneven, director Peter Mattessi has created a charming show."