REVIEW: Arts Revue Presents: That’s a Sketch by John Hughes

By Esther Shim

After five years at this university, I’ve come to the conclusion that Arts Revue is the quirky uncle of the Faculty Revue family. They’re a little left-of-centre, well-intentioned and widely adored.  

This year was no different, with Arts Revue kicking off the 2019 Sydney Uni Faculty Revue Season with Arts Revue Presents: That’s a Sketch by John Hughes. 

The show is the love child of directors, Natali Caro and Rhys Bellamy (aka Donatella and Gianni Versace), who skillfully wove together a series of on-theme sketches. Coupled with brilliant promotional material, costuming and a killer soundtrack sandwiched between sketches, Arts Revue took its audience back to the eighties, a portal to a time period that most of us never lived through.

For the unacquainted, John Hughes was the American filmmaker behind iconic coming-of-age films Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off during the 1980’s and indeed, Arts Revue embodied all the glorious highs and lows of growing up.

Overall, Arts Revue was a mixed bag. At points the show was a little bit messy, with actors losing their American accents mid-sketch. Some sketches were so obscure that they fell flat. But, when the sketches landed, oh boy, did they land. Miski Omar and Joey Taneja captivated every single person in the theatre, oozing charisma in their dance-off and enviro-rap.

Could a fringe show be in the works with these two? We hope so!

The Kermit, Miss Piggy and Big Bird call back, Margaret Thatcher: The Ironing Lady and a musical number that recreated Patrick Hernandez’s Born to be Alive into Born to Be Chive left the audience in stitches.

The show also sprinkled in some simply heartwarming sketches, which seemed unlike any Arts revue of years past. This included show-highlights: YMC-GAY, Dolly Parton as the Dolly Doctor and Arts Revue take on the classic nativity scene.

It was obvious that the cast genuinely enjoyed their time on stage, their electricity and chemistry was infectious, even throughout a very quirky and rogue sexy clown dance at the end of the show.

While the sheer size of Seymour Centre’s Everest Theatre has the tendency to swallow up sketches, this was combated by the energy that every member of the cast brought to the stage. A special mention to Jacob Macleod, whose stage presence and pristine dance moves commanded the audience’s attention each time he entered the stage.

For a show that was heavy on the sketches, the closing musical number ended the show on a high, with booming saxophone and guitar solos rounding out the very loveable show.