THEATRE VIGIL Book & Lyrics: Steve Vizard, Music: Joe Chiadamo Arts Centre Melbourne, Until July 8

Eddie Perfect lambasted the lack of support for Australian musicals on social media recently. He was right to be angry. When something as sparkling and original asVigilcomes along (nurtured to fruition by institutions like the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and The Arts Centre) you get a sense of what we're missing out on.

The talent pool underVigilruns deep indeed. It has sprung to life from Steve Vizard's witty character-based comedy, his brisk gift for lyrics and narrative and emotional intelligence; from Joe Chiadamo's melodic songs, which range through terrain as diverse as parody and heartfelt ballad; and the divine Christie Whelan, whose star quality is no secret, but who gets to spread her wings as a performer here embracing a rare chance to make the audience ache with sorrow, as well as cackle with delight.

Careening between hilarity and desolation, this intense one-woman musical compresses a gamut of conflicting emotion into one final evening between mother and daughter.

Whelan plays Liz, a wild child who rocks up to her mum's hospital ward on Christmas eve, after a long stint overseas. She plans to whip out overdue gifts, borrow some money and bugger off again, but the spectre of death intervenes.

As Liz holds vigil over her silent mother, a welter of grievance and memory, love and pain pours out of her. Trauma lurks underneath her rootless hedonism, and fortunately for us, Liz is a whiz at defensive humour giving Whelan an opportunity to showcase sharp comic impersonations, sketch comedy inFast Forwardmode, and musical hijinks, including a scream of a song (a kind of solo duet) where she embodies male and female lust at a suburban barbecue.

Under the laughter, suffering. Whelan is deeply moving when her character's guard drops, and nails Chiadamo's strongest melody, One More Breath, through three clever variations that capture the shock of unexpected grief, regret at time wasted, and resolve to seize the day.

A few weak spots exist moments where the comedy is slightly overstretched, one confessional number where I heard an uglier, more bitter song in my head than what Whelan performed butVigilremains a captivating new musical.

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With brilliant composition, writing, acting and vocals, with direction and design that augment intimacy at every point, the show makes you want to laugh and weep, sometimes both at once. A must-see for music theatre fans, and anyone who has ever lost a loved one will well up at the labile emotional odyssey it portrays.

This review was written from a preview.

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Steve Vizard's Vigil at Arts Centre Melbourne reveals trauma ... - The Age