Tomfoolery - a tonic for the senses

Peter Feldman
01/16/2010

Peter Feldman: It is great to kick off a New Year with a show that's a tonic and endless fun to watch.

This provides an engaging and delightful showcase for the best of Tom Lehrer's sharp, witty satirical songbook.

Lehrer set the benchmark by which future musical satires would be measured. No topic is sacred and this production of 'Tomfoolery" certainly hits the spot for audiences who enjoy their political commentary served up hot and spicy, immensely funny with plenty of food for thought.

To recreate the work of satirist Tom Lehrer, director Greg Homann selected a trio of South African talent who hardly put a foot wrong as they engage with the audience in an easy, relaxed style. They filled the tiny space at the Old Mutual Theatre on the Square with singing, dancing and comedy in this 23-song music-hall-style revue.

Veteran Malcolm Terrey, whose sheer joy and enthusiasm overflowed into the audience, brought out the humour in Lehrer's work with enormous skill and timing. He displayed an astonishing ability to recite the table of elements without missing a beat in "The Elements" performed to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's "I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major-General." It certainly showed that technique and training come into the acting equation. He also shone in the deliciously bizarre "The Masochism Tango," "I Got It From Agnus" and "The Hunting Song."

Kate Normington and Matthew Stewardson also provided a non-stop flow of Lehrer's genius treatment of gems such as "New Math," "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" and together with Terrey on "The Vatican Rag" (all executed in the proper habits).

The ensemble work was excellent. "Oedipus Rex" had Normington taking the spotlight with Stewardson (as Oedipus) tearing out his poor eyeballs and letting them bounce onto the floor attached to red ribbons. He also produced a fine rendition of a southern plantation owner in the bitterly satiric "I Wanna Go Back to Dixie." Funny, too, was his rendition of "I Hold Your Hand in Mind."

Normington displayed her versatility and comedic skills on "In Old Mexico" and "The Irish Ballad" and "Wernher von Braun."

The wickedness of the hypocrisy-skewering number "National Brotherhood Week" was nicely effective from the trio.

The live band, Shaun Smith (piano), Graham Curry (impressive on the double bass) and Neil Etteridge (on drums), briskly negotiated the satirist's use of a wide range of musical styles that included rags, waltzes and a touch of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Lehrer's songs were penned in the 1950s and ‘60s. One could argue whether this social satire is relevant today. They made an impact at the time because issues such as racism and pollution were not on the social agenda. After World War II those who returned home from fighting on foreign soil just yearned for peace and quiet. But America was facing difficult times and an artist such as Lehrer made Americans very much aware of these social ills though his work - and topics like pollution, racism, the education system and religion are all still with us today.

Lehrer's lampooning of these subjects still make "Tomfoolery" a joy to watch and a chance to laugh at ourselves.

"Tomfoolery" is on at Old Mutual Theatre on the Square until 13 February.