Saturday, June 15, 2013

The Return Of Shane Warne The Musical

Just as the buzz about the upcoming Ashes series is really starting to gather momentum, with under a month until the first ball, and after we have just wistfully marked the 20 year anniversary of The Ball Of The Century, Shane Warne The Musical returns to Melbourne this week. A new ending, new songs, and of course, covering the drama that is Warnie's world since his retirement from International cricket.

I went along to one of the first runs of Shane Warne The Musical back in 2008, and was pleasantly surprised at the wit, the humour, some of the heart-felt stories, the tongue-in-cheek, and frank look at one of our favourite sportsmen. The show told his story from his footy days at St Kilda, to his hard work to get into the national cricket team, all of the scandals, and the undeniable legend of the Great Man.

That stage show ended with Warnie calling an end of his cricket career. But boy, has he ever added to the story since 2008!

This time, thanks to the new and "improved" Warne, Eddie Perfect can remain his trim Mick-in-Offspring self. Lisa McCune plays Simone Warne, and Christie Whelan-Brown is taking on the part of Liz Hurley. She has a cracking number in the show, I have read - it will be so interesting to see Perfect's take on this twist on the story of our greatest spin bowler and his recent weird and highly stylised version of himself. And also on this very public relationship of theirs, played out on Twitter and on every newspaper in Australia and the UK. Warne's cricket mentor Terry Jenner will be played by Shane Jacobson.

There is a 24-piece orchestra on stage this time. Until reading about and talking to a couple of mates about this new upcoming version, I had forgotten about songs like What An SMS I'm In. There is bound to be many stand outs this time, with Perfect having developed into a musical presence on our TVs since then.

I wonder if the cricket fans in the crowd will cheer when Warne is presented with his Baggy Green again - hope so! Loved that moment last time.

It is only playing for two nights here in Melbourne, at Hamer Hall at the Arts Centre, after shows in Adelaide earlier this month. Grab your tickets here for June 20 and 21st.

*I have been provided tickets to go along to the show, in exchange for some social media promotion.

(Image credits - Shane Warne The Musical FB page and The Age)

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