Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Theatre Company
Katie Weston’s songs are effective enough and Gleisner’s lyrics are serviceable, but Bloom comes to life when the excellent cast get to perform all together
If the general conceit of Melbourne Theatre Company’s new musical Bloom sounds familiar – young man comes to live and work in a facility filled with idiosyncratic personalities in order to learn a major life lesson – that’s because it is. Louis Nowra traversed very similar ground with the semi-autobiographical Così, which was set in a mental hospital. This time the setting is an aged care home, but the thematic thrust is the same: the dehumanising effect of institutionalism, and the benefits of cross-generational community.
Where Nowra leant on Mozart’s Così fan tutte for his central motif, Tom Gleisner and Katie Weston have opted for something more ambitious, crafting an original musical that gives almost all its characters a chance to sing. Director Dean Bryant gathers a highly experienced cast of musical theatre talent to round these characters out, and to bolster the show’s musical pedigree. It proves a wise choice.
