Ladies in Black burst on to the Noosa Arts Theatre stage on Friday’s opening night with the colour and glamour of 1959 haute couture, setting the scene for its story on the lives of women in a department store named Goode’s and a changing world outside.
Based on the novel by Madeleine St Johns with music and lyrics by Tim Finn the musical drama is brought to the stage by director Ian Mackellar and spreads its time across a wide assortment of characters.
Leslie (Sienna McRitchie) is a 16-year-old who has accepted a summer job at Goode’s to help in the fashion department over the busy Christmas period.
Bookish and bright, Leslie (who prefers to go by Lisa at work) has her sights set on a university place, but finds that the store provides valuable forms of education in terms of confidence-building, style guidance and even cultural matters.
McRitchie is immensely likeable as the sweet-smiling Lisa whose character has a charm and innocence that reels in the department store ladies who take the inexperienced Lisa under their wing.
Fay (Bridie Delaney) and Patty (Susie Bushnell) show Lisa the ropes but each has their own issues.
Bushnell is convincing as Patty who is struggling with her emotionally-absent husband, Frank (Mark Philip Deal).
Delaney, with her strong singing voice, is a captivating Fay who is looking for love but has become disillusioned by the standard of past suitors until she meets up with “a Continental”, a Hungarian immigrant Rudi, played by a delightfully plausible Shane Luy.
Nicole Ennis is a natural as Magda, an immigrant from Slovenia and a figure of suspicion to the other “ladies in black”, who becomes a guiding hand to Lisa, introducing her to a world of fashion and sophistication that seems a far cry from the more mundane world inhabited by her working class parents.
Ladies in Black is a complex web with various sub-plots and multiple scene changes but the humour and songs carry it lightly along, though there’s a deeper layer to the coming of age tale which offers a 1950s perspective on issues such as women’s rights and immigration.
The performances of the central characters are enhanced by the strong cast, and musical backing under the direction of musical director Diana Thomson.
The magnificent array of gowns, thanks to the wonders of wardrobe mistress Margaret Courtney (who also plays Miss Jacobs), are beautifully modelled by the actors, and worthy of their own accolade.
These ladies may be dressed in black but this play is colourfully entertaining.
Ladies in Black is at Noosa Arts Theatre evenings and matinees until 1 December.
Tickets: Adults $42, Concessions $35, Member/Group $32, U18 $30
Secure your seats at noosaartstheatre.org.au or phone 5449 9343.
