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Leader of the Pack, the Ellie Greenwich Story

Presented by Northern Light Theatre Company
Reviewed Friday 25th March 2011

http://www.northernlight.org.au

Venue: Shedley Theatre, Playford Civic Centre, Elizabeth
Season: March 26, April 1-2, 7-9 at 8pm, Matinee April 2 at 2pm
Duration: 2hrs 30min incl interval
Tickets: adult $28/conc $24
Bookings: 8281 5026 or http://www.northernlight.org.au or BASS 131 241 or http://www.bass.net.au

Northern Light have a winning show on their hands with this production. Ellie Greenwich is not a name that easily springs to mind but many of the songs that she wrote would certainly be familiar. This show is, like Dusty and Buddy, a long string of great 1960s hits, tied together with a brief biography.

As Eleanor Louise “Ellie” Greenwich (October 23, 1940 – August 26, 2009), Michelle Brow presents us with a bright, bubbly young woman, determined to succeed as a songwriter. Greenwich wrote her first song at 13 and later became a composer at the Brill Building, the centre of music publishing in New York, just north of Times Square. Brow nicely recreates that age of innocence in a beautifully warm, enthusiastic and sensitive performance.

Jeff Barry, who became her husband and collaborator, is played by Dominic Hodges. He shows the social mores of the time in his expectation that, as the husband, he assumes that she should follow him in his career, and reacts as expected when she is more concerned in pursuing hers. Their marriage was short lived. Hodges conveys well the early emergence of feelings for Ellie and the later dismay and loss of affection as their relationship disintegrates.

Record producer and songwriter, Gus Sharkey (in reality, this was Phil Spector), is played by Paul Briske. Perhaps this name change is to distance the Sharkey character from the less than savoury reality of the hard drinking and unpredictable Spector, who is now in prison for the shooting death of cocktail waitress, Lana Clarkson. Even so, Sharkey is not the most sympathetic of characters and Briske does a good job of trying to make him, if not exactly likeable, nowhere near as unpleasant as he might be.

Most of the songs feature either The Crystals, sung by Alana Shepherdson and Bianca Levai, with Melanie Smith as lead singer, Darlene Love, or by The Ronettes, sung by Samantha Hayes and Kerrie Klinsic, with Kate Dempsey as lead singer, Annie Golden. There is excellent work from both trios and Melanie Smith’s phenomenal voice makes her a stand out as Darlene Love. Bianca Levai also returns as the lounge singer, Pattie Darcy, displaying a voice and style ideally suited to jazz and cabaret, in a fine rendition of The Look of Love.

Towards the end of the second act we jump to 1985 to find an older Ellie reflecting on her early years, the role originally having been played by Greenwich. Lisa Simonetti plays the role in this production with some strong vocals on several more great hits.

Director, Steve Rudd, keeps the action moving at a great pace and Musical Director, Kim Clark, has assembled a terrific band and drilled soloists and chorus well to bring out the harmonies. Kerreane Sarti’s choreography is spot on, with some good work from the Go Go dancers, as well as the general ensemble and the vocal trios. The set design, by Kristen Webb and Steve Rudd, and costumes, by Webb and Mardi Peal, look great but there were problems on opening night with low lighting, late lighting and sound cues, follow spots that didn’t, and the occasional low level on microphones, losing some of the lyrics. Hopefully this will all have been remedied by now.

Get a ticket for this one if you can. It only has a few performances and is sure to sell out.

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Arts Editor Glam Adelaide.

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