Kiwi Icons at Opera Factory Music Studio, Newmarket

By WILLIAM DART

Whenever people attend an Opera Factory production, they realise that what is on stage is only the tip of the energy iceberg.

Past productions are listed stair by stair to the Newmarket loft, and now the Opera Factory has run out of steps on which to add its latest show, Philip Norman's Kiwi Icons.

The opening item, Witches, Clowns and Promises, jolly settings of kooky Margaret Mahy poems, proved slight but charming. This was a company effort, a sort of junior Chorus Line, each youngster fired with the enthusiasm of being part of this genuine "off-Broadway" premiere.

The remaining items were for grown-ups. The Pleasure Garden, a musicalisation of the infamous Christchurch art scandal around Frances Hodgkins' masterpiece, showed Norman at his urbane best - as was the late A.K. Grant, boldly rhyming "bollocks" with "Pollock's".

There's no shortage of sly musical jibes, at one point invoking a cantata of horrors when it's thought the painting in question might be taken off to Auckland. John Chapman played the pompous art critic with aplomb and Victoria Rainbow cleverly converted the part of the Minstrel into a cabaret MC.

The closing item, The Factory Opera, showed Norman at his sharpest. Fiona Farrell's libretto, with its arrant Kiwiana, delivered affectionate satire, and Norman came up with music that stylishly bridged the gap from Julian Slade to Stephen Sondheim, with a palpable hit in Penny Train to Brighton.

As if the energetic company wasn't enough, there were some gripping solo performances from Meghan Hansen as the stalwart unionist, Dragan Atanasov as the sinister factory manager, and Catherine Reaburn and Paul Erbs as the lovers. Erbs' suave playing alone is worth the price of the ticket.

Kiwi Icons was directed by Sally Sloman with her customary ingenuity and dressed to the nines by Pene Buchanan - finding appropriate clobber for a cast of 27 in two separate period productions is no mean feat.

Rosemary Barnes, assisted by Barbara Grover on a second keyboard, ensured snappy musical values. So, if you want to take a ride on that penny tram to Brighton, there are just five more performances. Don't miss out.