Keating: The Musical

Madman Entertainment 2008

R4 DVD

Keating: The Musical is Australian political satire at its very best, combining superb musical numbers, a biting sense of humour and an intricate knowledge of Australian politics. It originally appeared at the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Casey Bennetto teamed up with director Neil Armfield to make his outlandish and witty musical bigger and better than ever for the 2008 August broadcast of the show on the ABC. It certainly cannot be said to be unbiased, it is unashamedly pro Keating and pro Labour but after so many years of John Howard, it is difficult not to look back at this period with some reverence. The Caricatures vary in quality and at times the show is a little “uneven”. I found Bob Hawke, portrayed as a sort of comic show host, the least credible, while Hewson, Downer, Keating and Howard were top notch. The image of the bumbling John Howard was so true to form it was the most cutting of all.

The musical numbers are all of good quality; some certainly stand out above others. The most memorable, in my mind anyway, include the Keating - Hewson number “I want to do you slowly”, Alexander Downer in Drag singing Freaky (a reference to the time he wore stockings to a children’s charity fundraiser in 1996) and the amazing Evans-Kernot romantic interlude. The last was even more amusing considering Kernot was sitting in the audience, squirming no doubt !

John Howard singing about his great lust for power, indeed, the whole John Howard sequence involving his various personas as would be military man, farmer and “man of the people” is incredibly funny and rather insightful.

This is an outstanding musical and while it takes a little while for the first act to get going, from about 20 minutes on in it reaches its stride and amuses, entertains and even educates right until the end. The intelligence of the writing is remarkable; here is a musical which documents one of the more tumultuous periods in Australian political life with humour, wit and, at times, with remarkable sensitivity and pathos.

This review will appear in Volume 2:1 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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