Zara & Troy in Happy Endings
Is there such a thing as a happy ending? That’s the question husband-and-wife duo Zara and Troy attempt to explore through song, dance, skits and stand-up.
Zara and Troy are both talented singers and command the stage with confidence. The keyboardist/backing vocalist is also strong, and the music appealing and well-arranged. Unfortunately, though, their content is pretty pedestrian. Bemoaning one’s weight issues, for example, has to be one of the most boring, overused comedy topics out there. The small, polite audience sat in stoic silence through a questionable anecdote about a Thai massage parlour and could only titter in embarrassment at its cringe-worthy conclusion.
Still, maybe it was partly me – just as I was listening to Zara’s confession of her addiction to the home shopping channel and thinking, ‘I really don’t relate to this’, I heard another audience member exclaim, ‘That’s so true!’ So it’s possible I simply wasn’t in the target market for this performance. Possibly a conservative crowd in their mid-thirties and above would have appreciated it more.
This show also could have done without so much signposting. Announcing ‘I think we should sing about it!’ removes the enjoyable surprise of witnessing people on stage suddenly burst into song. And signalling that the show would soon be ending a full ten minutes before it actually did left us checking our watches and getting prepared to leave.
Happy Endings is well-rehearsed but probably not well-tested; considering that they’re married, it’s hard to imagine Zara and Troy can effectively critique each other. It’s possible that an objective outsider looking over their work throughout the rehearsal progress could have helped a great deal.
Loved the show – thought it show-cased a very talented pair – loved the mix of jokes and particularly clever songs. I’ve seen a lot of comedy, esp at the Festival, and felt this was one of the big chuckles…
Couldn’t disagree more with the review… I apparently saw it with a bigger crowd…
wide age group too and they all enjoyed it! All those original songs (some of the best comedy music at the fest for me!) and barely a mention?? Comedy is subjective… (and you’re obviously a fan of the contrived “edginess” of international acts!)… sorry – this was a great show! And weird comment about the length??
It’s clearly advertised as an hour and was bang on the night we saw it…
I thought the show was bloody hilarious! Such fantastic comedic timing and loved the dude on the keyboards too. My friends and I were in hysterics many times throughout the show. Loved the energy of the songs and felt Zara was particularly able to engage well with the audience. Very quick and witty. Such a unique show and pure entertainment for the whole hour.
Tad: perhaps you ought to think twice about pretending to be an audience member when you leave comments on your review, Troy. We believe strongly in allowing audience members (or performers) to put their two cents worth forward, but deliberately misleading readers is pretty low.
The reviewer has put forward valid criticism, attempted to be balanced in reporting where other audience members appeared to be enjoying the material and has backed up all of her opinions. The least you could do is have the decency to respond, if you choose to do so, as yourself. As you rightly point out, comedy is subjective, and the author has clearly offered a perfect example of stating her position without slamming you. You could have offered the same decency rather than the snarky aside.
Thanks Lefa
Appreciate that – actually it was a my brother (with no email) – hence my personal email address and not
the above work one… but don’t see much “slamming” there? Also, thanks for living up to “Mail
(will not be published)” – how’s that Privacy Policy looking? Ours, for reference is;
http://www.humouraustralia.com.au/privacy.htm
“Snarky”… hmmm someone definitely is!
Troy
Troy,
Your email address was not published, and we have acted completely in accordance with our privacy policy. You, on the other hand, have abused our comments policy by posting misleading commentary.
If, in fact, it was your brother (with no email address… how interesting) posting he still neglected to mention this fact. As previously stated, we are happy to publish comments from audiences, performers, family members or whomever. All we ask is that you are honest about your opinion and don’t mislead readers. Which, by not disclosing your/his bias, your brother did. You will find other reviews also have comments which disagree with the review. We are happy to publish these.
I didn’t acuse you of “slamming”, only mentioned that the reviewer did the decency of offering considered opinion rather than a rant or ill-conceived review. I accused the comment of snark, by which I was referring to the comment “Comedy is subjective (and you’re obviously a fan of the contrived “edginess†of international acts!)”. Zilla clearly states in her review that she may not be the target audience for the show, and that other audience members appeared to relate to the material. That, for the record, is her openly and responsibly stating that comedy is indeed subjective, and some people enjoyed it. To attempt to palm off her reasonable criticism by inferring she must just be into ‘mainstream’ international comedy is snark in its silliest form.
‘Tad’ almost entirely misses the point of Zilla’s review, including the fact that she doesn’t criticise the show’s length, but in fact the early signposting of its end, leading to an audience expecting a close to the show but instead sitting on the edge of their seats for another ten minutes.
Happy to take your accusation of being “snarky”, Troy. In the face of such a blatant attempt by a show to undermine a reviewer in a totally cowardly fashion, as an editor I do become irritated. You’ve now blown a rather humdrum review into a conversation about you (or your family) attempting to pass themselves off as a run-of-the-mill audience member who disagrees with a review. We’ve had performers, friends, family members or other comics comment on the site before disagreeing with reviews, and we welcome a respectful discourse. But only if all parties are as honest as each other. The very fact that we encourage comments is testament to our belief that reviews are subjective, and that discussion of different ideas and opinions are often as enlightening as the review itself.
Your reaction to your review is enlightening, indeed.
Woah. Jesus people. Chill out – it’s a review.
Take your criticism with dignity. Likewise to the editor, stop being so precious.
I can’t believe you pretended to be an audience member! That’s so pathetic it’s not funny.
I saw this show and I wish I’d read the review before I went! Sorry guys, I just didn’t really think it was that funny. It needed more work.
I thought this wasn’t a bad review and I would’ve enjoyed seeing the show.
But after reading this diatribe it’s clear that the writers don’t know how to take their reviews with good humour, so how can I be sure they’ll bring good humour to their audiences?
I loathed this show. I don’t even agree that they were talented singers, I just thought it was something they should have kept in their living room for friends and family.
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