KXT, Kings Cross Theatre, Sydney
January 26, 2019

If you needed any kind of confirmation that Jay James-Moody is a consummate, inspired and hugely original musical theatre performer, then grab the remaining tickets to Herringbone, in which the solo performer plays 11 roles.

Jay James-Moody in Herringbone. Photographs © David Hooley

Herringbone marks the impressive return of independent music theatre company Squabbalogic after a hiatus of two years during which James-Moody – its founding Artistic Director – worked as the standby for Elder Cunningham in the original Australian cast of The Book of Mormon.

Subtitled A Vaudevillian Ghost Story, Herringbone premiered in 1982. Written by Canadian-American playwright and librettist Tom Cone with music by Skip Kennon and lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh, it is a weird little show which James-Moody describes as “a bit of a fun-house ride of farce and fear” requiring “a very schizophrenic performance that is also rooted in the old-time vaudeville style”.

You can say that again. After an introductory number by George Herringbone we are whisked back to Demopolis, Alabama in 1929 when George Nookin was an eight-year old child and his parents Arthur and Louise were struggling like many others...