Gutenberg! The Musical

Banquet Room, 13–14 June

Like Keating and Shane Warne, Gutenberg! The Musical is a likeable folly that has taken off like a rocket, laying the audiences—and the critics—in the aisles and bringing unexpected, but much appreciated, celebrity to its creators. In this case, Scott Brown and Anthony King, who wrote, composed, produced and starred in the first performances of what was to become an off-Broadway and subsequently a West End hit. 

When Gutenberg premiered in Australia earlier this year, tickets could not be had for love nor money, and so it was at the Cabaret Festival! Starring in the local production were David Somerville and Simon Van der Stap, WAAPA and NIDA graduates respectively, as the red-blooded Sons of Uncle Sam Bud Davenport and Doug Simon. Indeed, so red was their blood that they fooled more than a few punters, who are still swearing black and blue that they’re the real American deal!  

Gutenberg! The Musical is quite a work-out, with the pair playing around 40 characters between them, in one instance (courtesy of string, if not mirrors) eight at the same time. It manages to be silly as a goose without being entirely trivial, and the songs are appealing and, as in the opening “Schlimmer” and the Act 1 closer “Tomorrow is Tonight” downright good. “The Press Song” with its boogie woogie bass is a corker, while Gilbert and Sullivan would have loved to write “Festival!”, the number that leads into the “bright new day” finale.  Gutenberg was a welcome outing for the smile muscles, and was cheered to the roof.

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