Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Stuff sourdough, the ever-delightful Andrew McClelland spent lockdown writing a full-length operetta in the style of Gilbert & Sullivan – but within the very modern setting of a corporate law firm’s IT department. Genuinely.

Sadly, one of the Melbourne comedy festival’s more fringey venues doesn’t have space to accommodate the full orchestra and cast of dozens. So he’s teamed up with co-performer Martine Wengrow to present edited highlights under the conceit that he is pitching for funding from the Australian Council.

The result is an absolute treat for G&S fans – and great fun for everyone else – as the gloriously ebullient McClelland leads us jauntily through the patter songs and preposterous plot twists that define the Victorian duo’s work. He’s the perfect host, not just because he’s such a die-hard fan but because he exudes the jolly, benevolently patriarchal, air of a vaudeville grandee.

He hams up the extracts from his operetta with over-the-top melodrama, which perfectly fits the nature of the genre, while displaying the necessary verbal dexterity for the tricky comic patter songs. And, of course, the audience gets to sing along a little if they want. 

Different characters and choruses are efficiently portrayed via labelled ties, while McClelland and musical theatre arranger Wengrow have a relaxed chemistry that further buoys the congenial mood. The comedian also acknowledges the geekish nature of his endeavour, as well as the elements of Gilbert & Sullivan’s now seen as problematic and which he seeks to redress.

Perhaps it’s churlish to complain that the plot of his operetta gets convoluted, given that’s true to the originals. Still, McClelland and Wengrow do rush towards the end as they try to cram in the full, tangled explanation of it all.

But for a giddy trip into one man’s obsession, The Very Model Of A Modern Major Musical is wonderfully entertaining.

• Andrew McClelland & Martine Wengrow: The Very Model Of A Modern Major Musical is on at the Butterfly Club at 7pm until April 17.

Review date: 14 Apr 2022
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett