But in a world of stuffy social codes, family secrets, and puritanical values, can these two ever be happy together?Ĭharisiou and Rubenach both have big, thrilling voices, filling the theatre with their rock-tinged riffs (the show’s score is written by An Act of God and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend/SNL writers David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger – he wrote ‘That Thing You Do’ !), and they’re leading an absurdly strong cast. Alison is smitten with him from the moment they meet, and he with her. Famously, Cry-Baby hasn’t sobbed since his parents were killed by the state, and when you combine that with his authority issues, he’s perfect teen-heartthrob material. It’s the story of ‘square’ Alison (Ashleigh Rubenach) and Wade ‘Cry-Baby’ Walker (Christian Charisiou), a rebellious ‘drape’ with an emcee best friend (Alfie Gledhill) and a gang of ferocious women (Manon Gunderson-Briggs, Amy Hack, and Bronte Florian) by his side. The proudly unpolished cousin of Hairspray, another Waters film onstage, Cry-Baby queers the nostalgia of the past to skewer white upper-class nonsense. It’s a vision fully realised, an embrace of archness that delights in grotesquerie, and a reminder that, while musical theatre is often classified as painfully sincere, there’s plenty of room in the genre for irreverence. Directed by Alexander Berlage (a lighting designer and director this is his first musical) and designed to pop-art and retro-fabulous perfection by Isabel Hudson, this cannily cast show is gleefully ironic. That boldness is a massive risk – but with it, if the ideas are right, and the director’s creative team is on their wavelength, can come massive reward.Ĭry-Baby, a twisted take on the teen rebel genre based on the 1990 film by camp master John Waters, is an embarrassment of riches.
Bold ideas are the only ones that can cut through the overwhelming sensory presence of song and dance to create a clear onstage identity and shake the room with something stronger than the sum of its parts. To direct a musical – to create a vision for a new production – you have to be courageous.