If not from its 7pm start-time, the family-friendliness of Queensland Theatre’s highly anticipated Round The Twist The Musical is quite apparent from its first song’s farty final punctuation. Soon after, young Bronson (Luca Sero in a role shared with Edison Al and Sebastian Sero) is enjoying the fortress of solitude that is the iconic outhouse of the early ‘90s television series of the same name, transporting fans of the Australian children’s comedy drama back to its seminal supernatural stories.
The brand-new Australian musical with book, music and lyrics by Paul Hodge is based on the stories of the television series produced by the Australian Children’s Television Foundation from the short stories of much-loved children’s book author Paul Jennings. And so it also begins with the new-start arrival of Bronson’s family to the seaside town of Port Niranda. Fantasy, whimsy, mystery and even a little bit of love soon abound, as single dad sculptor Tony Twist (Matt Hetherington) and his kids Pete (Hanlon Innocent), Linda (Charlie Oakley) and eight-year-old ‘little squirt’ Bronson embark on a magical adventure to protect their paradise home from the greedy Gribble family who have entrepreneurial plans to turn their piece of paradise into an Aqua-World-Casino-Burger-Joint-Adventure-Park. It is a quintessentially Australian joyous celebration of oddballs and misfits, for both fans of its source material and newbies to the stories alike as, with the help of a haunted outhouse, a crystal ball, friendly ghosts and some smelly feet, family members unite to hopefully save the day.
“Round The Twist The Musical” is thoroughly enjoyable thanks to its cheesy laughs, dad jokes, puns aplenty and humour of adult anticipation of the unsaid. Exaggerated characterisations both add to its light-hearted sensibility and complement that vibrancy of its aesthetics. Hetherington is likeable as the widowed Twist family patriarch, especially as we bear witness to his awkward attempts to woo Bronson’s Year Four teacher Fay (Liz Buchanan). And, while Tarita Botsmon appropriately struts about as his wife Matron, David James brings a real Bill Heslop ‘you can’t stop progress’ feel to Harold Gribble’s determination to acquire the Twist’s new Shipwreck Coast home for development purposes. However, the show’s success comes first and foremost from the chemistry of its story’s ‘kids’, both the together-as-three Twist siblings and the quasi-villain Gribble gang James (Nic Van Lits), Tiger (Carla Beard) and their dim brother Rabbit (Carlo Boumouglbay).
Every aspect of the show’s realisation is detailed in its consideration, meaning that its dynamic design serves almost as another character. Renee Mulder’s design sees the Twist’s imposing two-story lighthouse home opening up to allow for share of interior scenes. Discoveries start to tie together the story’s unsolved mysteries and strange hauntings from a prior era of shipwrecks and historic spirits. For all of its centrality to the show’s identity and plot, the lighthouse and its surrounds serve effectively as a blank canvas upon which Craig Wilkson’s incredible video design works to convey both a sense of the natural landscape and the essence of the supernatural magic of Jennings’ stories. The impressive visual designs are complex, especially given the additional challenge of a curved wall canvas, yet the video design plays a large part in the storytelling, not only through establishment of locations and support of plot transitions, but in audience immersion into its fantasies, such as when the family dress up ‘In Someone Else’s Shoes’ as circus performers with found chest contents. There’s also a touch of Monty Python to the animated projections, which adds interest in its contrast to the evocations of nature, such as when, in work with Ben Hughes’ moody lighting design and Brady Watkins’ sound design, a storm is unleashed in anticipated fulfilment of a found prophetic promise. And attention to detail is not only epitomised in the challenging technical artistry, as there is stylised choreography (choreographer Andrew Hallsworth) to much of the movement of the Gribble gang, and even to the move of desks on and off the stage for school scenes.
Whether you’re new to The Twists or a die‑hard fan, this big‑hearted musical based on the short stories of much‑loved author Paul Jennings is for everyone. The show is very true to its TV source material, particularly its first two seasons, however, bringing 26 hours of episodic television stories together in merge into a cohesive whole is no easy feat, before even thinking of adding its musical numbers. All aspects of the production are created and curated around the narrative. Unusual for a modern musical, songs are plot driven… and also quite catchy. Indeed, it is a shame to not have a song list in the program for reference and later reminder of its highlights. Led by the Gribble gang, ‘New Kid’ serves as a catchy introduction of Linda and Pete to their class and their no-nonsense history teacher (Bryan Probets), as well as their then love-at-first-sight crushes Andrew (Alexander Tye) and Fiona (Taylah Johns). And it is made all the more dynamic through Beard’s rapping narration of Pete’s action in response to the dare to collect an artifact from the lighthouse’s apparently haunted outhouse.
Innocent is of excellent voice in his adoration of Fiona, after musical prompting from Christen O’Leary. He is also dramatically impressive, especially in his physicality and ability to add differing nuance to the same repeated line to make its every utterance equally funny. And Sero shows a stage presence beyond his years as he sings of Bronson’s determination to take on the Gribble gang. Lucy O’Brien’s Musical Direction uses James Dobinson and Neil Douglas Reilly’s orchestration to keeps things moving and shades the story with both momentum and focus as required, underscoring many numbers with a guitar-driven rock sensibility. Light and shade is evident too, through ethereal accompaniment of appearance of a predicted lady with a tail and appropriate woodwind accompaniment of the children’s attic discovery of a trunk of secret treasures. And there are even some operatic moments courtesy of Botsman’s early vocal contributions.
Director Simon Phillips’ passion for new Australian works like Ladies in Black and Muriel’s Wedding: The Musical shines throughout with lean into the narrative’s quirk. Indeed, at times, experience appears to be more of a comic book brought to life in real-life action. Moving the story to a time of smartphones doesn’t disrupt the tale or distract from its overarching themes about coming together as a family, given the essential evocation of an earlier time in its core sensibility. For all of its heart, however, this “Round The Twist” is still incredibly light-hearted and full of humour, colour and movement in its every turn. It’s very engaging and easy to watch, and the genuine, unfiltered reactions of some younger audience members show that its celebration of the magic of adventure is for both the young and young-at-heart alike.