FRINGE 2013 – Desperately Seeking The Exit – Austral – 3.5K

By Peter Maddern

Enjoying the tales of how a major production went horribly wrong is not just about some latent tall poppy syndrome, nor entirely about learning the intricacies about what can happen. Peter Michael Marino conceived a West End musical based around the film Desperately Seeking Susan and the songs of Blondie and having done the hard part of getting producer support only then could witness the whole thing close after a month as the ‘experts’ took control.

His yarn, in Desperately Seeking the Exit, also interweaves in the narrative the cultural shock of being an American and an ‘Anglo-holic’ at the same time but finding you can hardly understand a word that is being spoken to you in London and the gay / straight dynamic of the theatre world.

His presentation is slick, bordering on manic and it is nice that all ends somewhat happily for him. While this show has been well received by British audiences, where the cultural divide is more obvious, here, where we have adopted an at times uncomfortable hybrid lingo the edge that comes with those differences gets a bit lost. Also, there isn’t likely to be the ingrained love of musical theatre here that his UK audiences may have before he starts. As a result, at times, Mr Marino seemed expectant of rather more audience reaction to his tales than he received back.

But, bravery takes all forms, and stepping up and proclaiming loudly ‘I was a failure’ requires some balls. We can all dream of what we could do if only we had the time and hear of how so easy it seemed for the Cameron Mackintoshs of the world, but this tell all is a compelling and thoroughly enjoyable story.

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