“Politics is the opposite of desire,” wrote Roland Barthes. How, then, do you write an American-style musical about it? The answer that young writers Cassandra Tse and Bruno Shirley give to this question is a fascinating window into the world of elections and politicians from the perspective of Gen Y. There’s plenty of Glee in the mix, and even a little of Barthes’ Bliss – but as the show goes on there are some shrewd twists as well, suggesting some fresh ways to read the political scene.

The story is set in the mythical country of Freedonia, which despite a few stray North American accents, seems to resemble Aotearoa fairly closely, not least because it is the position of Prime Minister rather than the Presidency which is at stake.

There is a large cast of characters, mainly comprising a rolling maul of media, leading political candidates and minor party representatives. The cast of twelve are uniformly well rehearsed, energetic, tuneful and vibrant and the show moves quickly into musical numbers expounding the situation in Freedonia, where a snap election has recently been called. These numbers are very much in the style we have become familiar with in Glee and High School Musical.

The troublesome passion of the individual erupts in song from a collective chorus that articulates platitudes and reinforces the rules of social conformity. Most of the action centres around individual politicians pursuing private sexual and romantic agendas, and the leverage these place, in turn, on their political motives and decisions.

There are good moments, but not all of the many songs in the first half advance the action or deepen character. Some are merely exposition and there is a lack of variation in style that comes with a tradition where parodic elements have become indistinguishable from genuinely dramatic ones – a tradition, in other words, that needs some serious shaking up.

But the second half begins strongly with ‘Walk the Straight and Narrow’ and doesn’t look back. This piece fully delivers that complex frisson that musical theatre strives for and the remainder of the production proceeds in sure-footed fashion to a surprising, well-conceived conclusion.

Amongst the cast Daniel Pooley as Vermin Supreme comes into his own, Karen Anslow as Dinah Gideon acts and sings with conviction and Ellie Stewart is a suitably strong media boss.

All the cast give polished performances and master a lot of choreography and musical material in making light of what is really a big, ambitious production.

There are some good tunes and smart arrangements from composer and musical director Bruno Shirley and the cast of twelve is deployed well by director Cassandra Tse and the two choreographers, Melanie Heaphy and Nicki Bramwell-Cooke.

There is much altogether to applaud and support in this newly created musical and this production deserves to be well attended. I hope, too, that we will see more of this writing team. There was no shortage of fluent, clever lyrics and inventive tunes in Right Dishonourable. A lot of songs in the show aspire to the model that Sondheim provided and there are certainly moments when that very demanding standard is achieved.

But I think some models closer to home – Mervyn Thompson’s songplays, for example – could also be instructive. They tie in with this subject matter, which also deserves to be further explored. After all, the only desire that our politics forbids now is the one that could genuinely transform it: collective desire and its inherently musical possibilities.

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There has been quite a proliferation of home grown musicals in Wellington this year.  And while Backyard Productions Right Dishonourable may not be the best ever written it has much to commend it.

As the title suggests, the show is about politicians, in a land called Freedonia, where a snap election has been called due to scandals besetting the incumbent Liberty Party and their leader.  For some curious reason the characters all speak with North American accents yet the parliamentary system they portray is very much based on that here in NZ.

The opposition Liberals think they can win so they form an alliance with the minor fringe parties, which it turns out, is to their detriment.  When their leader Lewis Wade Gordon (Kenneth Robert Gaffney) is out on the hustings he is interviewed by no nonsense journalist Patty McGough (Zoe Towers) but these two soon form an alliance also. 

Meanwhile the Liberty Party have promoted Richard Gideon (Ben Emerson), third generation politician, as their leader. Although initially he has difficulty convincing the punters he is a straight politician, his wife Dinah (Karen Anslow), a latent dominatrix, soon knocks him into shape.

Also vying to be Prime Minster is Vermin Supreme (Daniel Pooley), similar in extremism and eccentricity as the McGillicuddy Serious Party.

And so as Election Day looms, who is going to be elected to the top spot is anyone’s guess, and the result catches everyone unawares.

While the humour is funny rather than hilarious writers Cassandra Tse, who also directs, and Bruno Shirley who is the Musical Director, have put together an intriguing story even though at times it becomes a little confusing.

And the cast, with a chorus of six to support the principles, perform with loads of energy and move the show along from scene to scene at a great pace. 

All the songs are relevant to the story line and move it along with the lyrics adding much to the portrayal of individual characters.

And although the cast don’t always cope with the changing rhymes and the harmonies sometimes don’t quite work, there is enough in the music to make the show musically entertaining and one well worth seeing.

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