10/11/2025
Review by arts editor Sarah McNeill
Tivoli Lovely
WA Academy of Performing Arts: Musical Theatre
State Theatre Centre
Closes November 14
Long before it opened, director Dean Bryant predicted Eddie Perfect’s tribute to the era of the Tivoli would become a musical theatre classic.
It surely will – it deserves to. And the students who helped shape it will hopefully be proud of their involvement in its creation.
But it is hard to imagine in these days of budget-constrained theatre, a professional company putting 41 performers on stage.
Never has the main stage of the State Theatre enjoyed a cast this big and lavish, complete with the orchestra pit in full use.
It was thrilling to see.
Over three years, Eddie and Dean worked with WAAPA’s music theatre students to craft a show that recreates an era before television (“it’ll never catch on”) when entertainment consisted of touring theatre shows with comedians, song-and-dance acts, acrobats, tap dancers and the gloriously costumed, feather-ladened showgirls, the Tivoli Lovelies.
The show begins in the small drab living room of 85-year-old Kitty (Caroline McKenzie). Charlotte (Zoe Davidson-Wall, strong), a sullen 15-year-old wannabe punk, who has to visit an old person to find out what life was like when they were 15.
Unwittingly, the reluctant Charlotte has hit the jackpot, as Kitty slowly reveals her story about becoming a Tivoli showgirl (Young Kitty played by Stephanie Graham), and then having to solve the crime of The Eleven Kevins.
When the troupe of Kevins loses one member and they become The 10 Kevins they risk losing their top spot in the Royal Command Performance because the name doesn’t rhyme. “Daddy” Kevin Watkins (Sebastian Cruse) can’t find another performer named Kevin, but soon realises that The Seven Kevins might just cut it…
At first, as Kitty recalls her early teen years on stage, dancers crowd into the small living room and just as we are about to wonder how a Tivoli show is going to fit, Dann Barber’s set unfolds like a puzzle piece, transforming to a classic front of stage with dazzling lights, to backstage mechanisms, flowing and changing effortlessly.
As the central story unfolds, we are treated to snippets of classic Tivoli performances with comedians and their silly, sexist jokes, wonderful tap routines and extravagant dance numbers in Dann Barber’s glorious costume designs.
Caroline McKenzie is in her element working with these bright, energetic students, and she gives a wonderful performance as Kitty, balancing her tough, no-nonsense, weary wisecracking “we-didn’t-do-trauma-in-our-day” façade with warmth, heart and humour.
The ensemble cast is full of vitality and wit, embracing the Aussie vernacular, the deadpan humour and the clever songs, showcasing three years of learning a particular 1950s Aussie style to perfection.
There were many more people behind the scenes responsible for creating this show, led by superb choreography by Kelley Abbey, orchestrations for a wonderful score by Johannes Luebbers, Jason Glenwright’s spectacular 1950s style theatre lighting and Zara Stanton’s musical direction – each one with a team behind them.
It is a wonderfully warm, funny, entertaining and lavish show that is uniquely Australian and showcases the WAAPA students’ immense talents.
Pictured:
A cast of 41 fills the State Theatre stage with vibrant wit and energy.
The Eleven Kevins invade Kitty's (Caroline McKenzie) small living room shocking schoolgirl Charlotte ((Zoe Davidson-Wall).
Photos: Mark Flowers Photography.
