Review: SUDS' StuJo! The Musical - There’s no Jo like StuJo
Fun, fantastical, and hot off the press, StuJo! The Musical serves up a loving tribute to all things campus journalism.
Design by Veronica Lenard
This review contains spoilers for StuJo! The Musical
Crammed into the cavernous depths of the Cellar Theatre, a sold out audience gathered last night around Co-Director Marlow Hurst for an opening night preamble. Describing it as “a celebration of the practice of student journalism and its culture”, StuJo! The Musical brings USyd student journalism off the page and to the stage.
Eccentric and lively, StuJo! follows three Honi Soit editors from 1968 as they are fantastically teleported forward in time and into the world of their 2024 counterparts. Shenanigans ensue, as we see these silly six participate in an EAG protest (“No cuts! No Fees!”), partake in some recreational nang usage in the Honi office, fall in love, attend a never-ending SRC meeting — all of course, while racing against the layup deadline.
The show’s writing is highly satirical, a result of the writer's — Ariana Haghighi, Marlow Hurst, Anthony-James Kanaan, Patrick Mckenzie and Isla Mowbray — heavy involvement in campus journalism and activism at large. With jokes about Manning, USyd rants, BNOC’s, and the Honi office’s smell, this musical affectionately pokes fun at, and lovingly critiques the drama of USyd student journalism.
In saying so, the strength and potential faulterings of this musical is the commitment to its niche. This is a musical about student journalism, but even more specifically, it's about Honi Soit. Not a line goes by which isn’t stacked with USyd stupol and stujo vernacular, so much so that a glossary is offered to audiences prior to show’s commencement. While this specificity and script dependent on insider-knowledge makes the musical relatable for some, it is likely to fall flat for people outside of USyd or those without contact to student journalism. In saying so, the intended audience of this musical is clear, and for those who can decipher the character’s lines without need for the glossary, an intimate, hilarious and highly relatable show is laid up before your eyes.
While the world of StuJo may be small, the cast certainly is not. An ensemble of six main characters, and with the assistance of a vivacious supporting cast and crew, the show has the abundance to offer multiple storylines, character arcs and redemption narratives. With an assemblage of musical theatre trained singers, pop stars and an opera aficionado, the cast finds its strength in the diversity of its musical talent. A jukebox musical of re-written hits, with this selection of talent, the cast is able to swing naturally from Charli XCX’s ‘Vroom Vroom’, adapted to ‘Let's Write’, to Sound of Music classic ‘My Favourite Things’, adapted to ‘My Favourite Zings’. A stellar performance is given by Violet Hull in her momentous rendition of ‘Don’t Rain on my Parade’, as she brings an SRC meeting to a standstill. A performance which is closely followed by operatically trained Belinda Thomas’ beautiful cover of ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ adapted to ‘I dreamed of academe’. This cast has character, and in allowing them to play to their strengths a whacky, nonsensical and eccentric charm is added to the show.
This musical is highly self aware. It has incorporated all of the fundamental elements of musical theatre — cheese, novelty and absurdity. There is nothing more student musical theatre production than ending the show with a rendition of ‘There's No Business Like Show Business’ (‘There’s no Jo like StuJo!’). But this musical doesn't shy away from itself, rather, sitting comfortably in its kitsch. The pull of this show was its charisma, rather than its technicality. Mistakes were made: actors broke character on stage, held in their laughter and forgot the direction of dance moves. However, this show has heart, and a lot of it, enough to leave its audience upstanding with applause at its end.
Oh and, a forewarning to future viewers, this musical contains audience participation and a decent amount of it. For those of you who have attended a USyd protest before, my advice is not to worry, when the time comes you’ll know what to do.