Gutenberg! the Musical! | Springboard Productions
I had never heard of Gutenberg! the Musical! before I stumbled across it whilst looking through the program for Anywhere Festival. Full disclosure: I am a tragic musical addict and I love Broadway and black comedy, therefore this show seemed right up my alley. I was not wrong.
Gutenberg is an award winning off-Broadway musical about a musical, written and initially performed by Scott Brown and Anthony King in 2005. These guys are most famous for writing Beetlejuice, but this is a completely different bag of tricks. This the story of two New Yorkers Bud and Doug, and their ambitious and tasteless musical, very loosely based on Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 15th century Germany.
Fourth wall shatteringly splendid, the entirety of it is performed to the audience as though we were potential producers of Gutenberg the Musical. What’s more, Bud and Doug can’t afford to pay actors, so they play every single character themselves. I feel like that alone is enough of a reason to see this thing. They have nothing but hats with names on them for costumes, and absolutely minimal props. It was also great to see a modern musical.
The rendition I experienced on Thursday night starred Liam Kirkpatrick and Daniel Kirkby as Bud and Doug, respectively. Their Musical Director Jonathon Gardner, plays a mean piano (and various other instruments) in the role of Charles the Accompanist. All three are recent graduates of Musical Theatre at the Queensland Conservatorium, and this was their maiden voyage as Springboard Productions. New blood can be exciting and that is definitely the case here.
Displaying amazing musical muscle and acting ability, the two leads played around 30 characters between them with multiple different accents. No costume and makeup meant they really had to rely on their own characterisation, especially when the hats and accents started to come off and on thick and fast, along with the puns and the Broadway numbers. Chaos does ensue, but it is such well-controlled chaos.
Gutenberg! the Musical! is clearly a two man tour de force, and Kirkpatrick and Kirkby, were outstanding. I could always feel a beautiful sense of complicité between them, but it would not have been the same without Gardner’s deft touch and poetic timing. It was magical. From the show tunes and sound effects through to building tension and evoking mood, to me the piano felt like it too was a character. This is a real credit to Gardner.
Masterfully played by Kirkpatrick, my favourite character of Bud’s was Monk. If Meatloaf met a character from Deliverance in a backwater town and they had a love child, it would be Monk. However, when Monk rises amidst smoke and his own evil laughter to sing the number Monk with Me, I felt like Jack Black had possessed Kirkpatrick’s soul. His voice is versatile, but I feel like he was born to sing the blues. I cannot go without also mentioning his portrayal of the chorus of rats as backup singers in the finale. Consisting of a quasi-dance with three empty rat hats, breathy vocals, and rat scatting, he minced his way around the stage, and Kirkby, with hilarious sass.
Kirkby’s Doug is delightful and really won my heart. Endearing, energetic and totally optimistic, his eager wide-legged stance said it all before he even uttered a syllable. Doug would not be easy to play straight, but I feel like the balance and appeal of Gutenberg! the Musical! depends on his believability. This is where he excelled. Throughout his performance, dramatically speaking, I saw shades of Brad from Rocky Horror, with the charisma of Marty McFly from Back to the Future. His ability to move in and out of such a complex concoction of characters was impressive. Musically, Kirkby is extraordinary. His voice is powerful, his repertoire vast, and by the end of the show, I was likening him to the great Peter Allen.
In the finale, Bud and Doug write themselves into the Gutenberg universe for one final duet in an ode to their Broadway dreams. Dreams seem to be the common thread in Gutenberg the Musical, and who hasn’t got dreams? Understated and quaint, it’s a beautiful and blunt ending to such a high energy affair. I strongly believe the world needs these earnest characters to perpetually remind us what good is. That sincerity is what allows the audience to accept the vulgarity that Gutenberg also highlights about humanity.
Where our little lives are rounded
With a sleep
And while the emptiness within us
May be deep
While millions are hungry
(Bud and Doug grasp each other’s hand)
We eat dreams.
As I write this, the final image in my head is of Bud and Doug, hiding on the floor behind the table, singing in the dark. It’s such a simple thing, but just thinking about it I am transported to another place…
