It’s a steamy evening around Parramatta's Riverside Theatre, a sign of what’s to come inside.
'Marvelous' is billed as a Marvel parody full of talent – aerials, dance, live vocals – with a risqué edge, but as the warning at the beginning of the show advises, this show contains nudity, and the sexual element really is at the forefront.
The show traverses a range of scenes from the Marvel Universe, intersecting them with pop culture songs from 'Hamilton', to 'Wicked', to a nice '90s throwback section. There are ridiculously talented performers in the show, Sarah Jane Kelly had a stunning aerial performance as Lady Thor, while Megan Wonfor’s dance/fight routine as Black Widow was highly choreographed.
The boys are just as spectacular, Andrew Waldin does it all as Dr Strange, singing and playing guitar suspended in the air, while Captain America (Michael Boyle) and Spiderman/Bucky (Jacob McPherson) showcase athleticism beyond human belief. Thomas Remaili wins instantly in his performance as Fat Thor, providing an aerial routine that I don’t want to spoil. But the star of the show is Andrea Zappacosta’s vocals. Suspended in the air, singing ‘Defying Gravity’ like she’s sipping a Sunday morning coffee, is worth the ticket price. Big things can be expected of this superstar.
The show is seemingly the stage enactment of every Marvel fan-fic fantasy that the internet has generated, and there is a lack of narrative. The scenes aren’t really tied together, although an attempt is made through the narrator Deadpool, who expresses his desire to be accepted by the Avengers, however this is only referenced a few times.
Image © Ben Dingley
With the talent and budget that this show has, an engaging narrative would elevate it to world-class standards. But that doesn’t necessarily mean this is what the show should do. It is, after all, a themed cabaret and the crowd certainly seem to enjoy seeing the things they had only imagined alone in their rooms, acted on stage. In fact, the crowd get a little too rambunctious at times, yelling at the performers.
To be clear, the scenes are interesting in themselves, and the costumes and set design are great. However, when you choose to parody something so grandiose as the Marvel Universe, there is the question of what made the Universe so successful in the first place. It becomes clear that it’s the engaging, action-packed stories and humanisation of the characters that millions have fallen in love with. It wouldn’t be hard to adjust the scenes to show more of a personal side to the characters that isn’t seen within the restrictions of the conventional Universe.
Aside from one car scene that made little sense and seemed to be for shock value, but ended up falling short and seeming strange, the show is highly entertaining. There are laughs at every corner, the visuals are stunning, and for those who enjoy cabaret, the show is salacious in bucketloads. The entire cast is talented and it's certainly an enjoyable evening.
★★★★☆
