That's The Ticket
Produced by Rob Gibson

Cast: Karen Hurley, Julian Ramundi, Claire Falconer, Charmaine Gorman, Tim Mieville, Rob Gibson, Hayley Staveley, Peter Lawrence, Dritan Arbana.

Director: Danielle Di-Masi

Publicist: Alana Kleinig

Australian Premiere: Bondi Pavilion, Sydney. September 1, 2007.


The Lowdown:
First feature season of this musical about parking inspectors. The show received extensive coverage in the media.


AussieTheatre.com Review:
I was a little dubious about going to see a musical about parking fines. Especially one that dubbed itself “the greatest story ever told about a parking ticket”. I was imagining some sort of Jesus Christ gets a parking ticket story laden with bad puns. Well, I was only right about the puns. Dare I say That’s the Ticket is just the ticket?

That’s The Ticket follows the intertwining stories of Shylie Home – an orphan whose only clue to her mother is a parking ticket left inside her jacket, billionaire Flesh Azair and his hard-hearted socialite wife Jacqueline – who have just aquired all the parking meters in Australia, and The Professor of Nothing – a man who lives in his Bongo van and has racked up $97, 000 worth of parking fines.

Composer Jorge Pereira and choreographer Clare Falconer (who also plays the role of Jacqueline Azair) have ensured that the audience is treated to a number of lively, clever musical numbers, which are performed with gusto by the talented cast. Music director, Benjamin Elliot, on keyboard and Evan Sinclair on bass make a great team and although Rob Gibson (The Professor of Nothing) has a somewhat soft voice, when he picks up a guitar to sing about the dangers of capitalism, I find myself holding my breath in rapture. Gibson also has some of the show's best lines and is arguably the performance’s most likeable character. Who couldn’t love a man whose philosophy is to wear pyjamas all the time?

The whole performance is quite cheesy and predictable, but then a musical (like a quarter pounder) without cheese and predictability is rare. The fact that the story circles around parking tickets injects fresh originality to what might otherwise have become another orphan Annie story. Shylie Home (Karen Hurley) is a little too earnest and naïve to be believable but then again, the whole story is quite unrealistic.

The supporting characters seem more three dimensional and interesting than the main characters. The love triangle between parking officers Bob (Tim Mieville) and Cynthia (Charmaine Gorman) and The Professor of Nothing is the source of much hilarity, as are the antics of Azair’s assistants, Jason (Peter Lawrence) and Shona (Hayley Staveley).

That’s The Ticket is a refreshing musical with it’s heart in the right place. Although it seems a little too trite at times, it’s still nice to be reminded through song that money can’t buy everything.


Production Shots:



Further Information:
None available