| Fast Food – The Musical! | Fast Food – The Musical! By Rob Alderton Performed by the Cygnature Theatre Trust Wycombe Swan Theatre 20-23 July 2005 Eves: 7.30pm Sat: 2.30 pm Box Office: 01494 512000 |
In his programme notes, Rob Alderton, the composer, lyricist and the man credited with the original concept of this brand new musical, likens much of today’s musical theatre with the concept of fast food. Both find a formula then mass produce it. They are both playing it safe and there is not much fresh or original in either. So, one of the main things that I took from the first ever night of this completely new piece, “Fast Food – The Musical!” performed by the Cygneture Theatre Trust, was that it was very refreshing not to merely be presented with a suspect plot held together with old pop tunes and Rob and his team should be applauded for that whatever!
 | | Rob Alderton |
And while the lines do become a little predictable when you realise what the piece is trying to say, the fact that they are saying it is great, and the music that punctuates the speech is really, really enjoyable. The story starts in 1950s California at the beginning of the fast food phenomenon and centres on Johnnie Goode (Alex Ruocco) and Dan Crawford (Simon Hutson), who combine to create Goodeburger. With Johnnie providing the cooking talent and Dan putting up the money, they turn Goodeburger into the biggest fast food chain on the planet. As the company grows, they (instigated by Dan) start to cut corners and their methods become more suspect. Love loss The two grow apart, both finding and losing love on the way of course, and eventually one of them sees the light ….Well, to be fair, he had always seen the light really but it took him two hours to summon up the courage to spit it out! I won't give away the ending, but basically what you are left thinking about is that while Dan (in his own words) has “got every nation eating the same”, is the world a better place as a result? The piece does indeed give you some “food for thought”, but I felt that while there is nothing wrong with realising early on what it was trying to say (MUCH better than being completely confused!) I felt that soon I was almost second guessing what the characters were going to say. They just seemed to labour the point a bit and I think that with some tightening up of the dialogue combined with quicker cues (which will come as the run goes on) the show would benefit from having about 15 minutes shaved off it. Having said that, there are some lovely lines and I think that both I, and the rest of the audience, particularly appreciated the closing exchanges! But I won't spoil it for you! Hungry And while the first half made me hungry, by the end I had completely lost my appetite and may never frequent a fast food outlet again! So if one of the purposes of theatre is to challenge and make you feel uncomfortable about society, then they've definitely done their job! But if I felt that the dialogue needed a little more work, the music was great! | " Fast Food is satisfying and easily digestible, although it did repeat on me a bit! " | | Katy Lewis |
Before Willy Russell wrote the wonderful Blood Brothers, his agent was sceptical of his move to being a musical writer, telling him that the key to writing good musical theatre was being 'hummable'. Sorry for this awfully predictable metaphor, but if that’s the key, then Rob Alderton has opened the door, because I was humming both the big ending “Automation” and the beautiful “How Can Something So Right Go So Wrong” all the way home! All in all, Rob’s music is both melodious and memorable. There are a number of different styles throughout the piece, from rock ‘n’ roll, pop and power ballad to gavotte and G & S, all of which serve to keep your interest. Clever and funny As well as the two aforementioned songs I particularly enjoyed the clever and funny "Headline News" sung by the two members of the press who provided much of the comedy element. Always (not so) hot on the trail of Goodeburger, Patrick Rufey as Arthur and Colin Baker as Norville were a good comic duo with Rufey in particular standing out as he progressively morphed into Shaggy from Scooby Doo as the evening went on! And “Goodie the Bear Unmasked”, where the company mascot is revealed to be a classically trained, but failed actor made for more poignant laughs. All the songs were enhanced by some really excellent singing from Cygneture and a well-drilled ensemble. I don’t want to be funny, but it is unusual for what is essentially an amateur group to have such a strong set of singers throughout all the parts. The lead roles were played strongly by Hutson and Ruocco and Hutson in particular had plenty of opportunities to highlight his wonderful voice and be beautifully self-important. Strong vocals Katy Leigh as Grace was also able to show off strong vocals. As Johnnie’s love interest, she gave a marvellous rendition of the aforementioned "How Can Something So Right Go So Wrong". Set designer Jules Fuller did the company proud with a single, simple set which needed only minor additions and no full scale set changes that really slow things up. And the fact that the costumes changed styles over 30 years or so also helped to show the passing of time and gave a feeling of change. If I can eek every last morsel out of the food / theatre metaphor, Fast Food is satisfying and easily digestible, although it did repeat on me a bit! And while it may not be nouvelle cuisine quite yet, there is at least something here to get your teeth into! Going back to my original point. Few people stand up and take a risk these days and try something new. Rob has and Cygneture have and for that reason alone they deserve to be applauded – so go along and do just that! | 
