Review: Pursued by Bear's 21 CHUMP STREET

Review by Ian Andrew

Touted as the 'shortest musical ever' 21 Chump Street is a superbly crafted 15-minute piece written by the immensely popular Lin-Manuel Miranda for a live show of acclaimed radio/television program This American Life. Based on actual events described in the television series and with 80 percent of the script taken directly from interviews and media reports, the story centres on innocuous high school student Justin who falls for an undercover police officer and is ultimately arrested for supplying her with the marijuana she requests in an attempt to impress her.

The Chapel off Chapel Loft is decked out as both high school classroom and TV interview studio, with the two sets separated by a scrim and cleverly transitioned by lighting states. Jake Fehily is boyish and charismatic as the pivotal student Justin Leboy, his endearing optimism and ultimate unbegrudging resignation easily inciting sympathy. With particularly effortless vocals, Olivia Charalambous is well cast as police officer Naomi, believably transitioning between her undercover classroom persona and stern DEA member with a personal grudge against drug dealers during the interview scenes. Both leading characters are played with genuine intent and as intended, make it very difficult for the audience to choose sides. Stephanie Wood portrays a suitably stern Narrator, though the interview scenes with Charalambous and Leboy come off somewhat cold from all actors due to the direction to play entirely in profile, cutting the audience off - pre-set cameras beam the actors faces onto a tiny 'studio television' which we are supposedly meant to watch instead. Ensemble members Nicola Bowman, Stephanie Wood and Kai Mann-Robertson are energetic and comical in their various backup roles (mostly as Justin's classmates.) All are vocally strong and tight, rhythmically-complex harmonies were well executed but at times their amusing dance moves and background classroom antics pulled focus from the story rather than supporting it, perhaps a consequence of the relatively small performance space.

Stephanie Lewendon-Lowe's concealed six-piece band were tight and professional but consistently overpowered the singers in the mix. The opening night performance suffered some unfortunate technical issues, with the operators seemingly struggling to keep up - Jason Crick's lighting was effective but lighting cues came late on a number of occasions and while the vocals were well-blended through the desk, actors' mics were repeatedly not turned on in time. Fortunately, all of these issues had been improved by the end of the performance.

This is a challenging, fast-paced piece where every line is important and director Byron Bache admirably brings out all of the subtle complexities of the subject matter. Technical gaffes aside, the cast's energetic and comical delivery of Miranda's vibrant contemporary score is a joy to watch and pleasantly masks the bitter pill of the shows true purpose as a thought-provoking critique of the shortcomings in America's ongoing and costly "war on drugs." Tickets for the show are available individually or in a discounted double-bill with Ordinary Days.

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