‘Phar Lap: The Electro Swing Musical’ Is A Bonkers Banger Of A Show

It’s not every day you see a show as crazy as Phar Lap: The Electro Swing Musical, a theatrical and surprisingly horny rendition of the tale of Australia’s favourite depression-era racing horse through the lens of an absurdist sports biopic.

But this world premiere season of the show is so self-assured in its sense of delirious satire that it is genuinely a top-tier Hayes Theatre production. With a cast that’s a real motley crew of some of Sydney’s best performers giving their absolute all to this production, Phar Lap is endlessly enjoyable and home to some of the funniest musical theatre sequences in Sydney this year.

Step into the tumultuous world of 1920s Australian horse racing, where the local, down-on-his-luck trainer Harry Telford (Justin Smith) strikes a deal with American businessman David Davis (Nat Jobe) to bring a horse over from New Zealand that he believes could go the distance. Yes, that horse is Phar Lap – not portrayed by an actual horse, but given an anthropomorphised human form by Joel Granger.

You may know the story – Phar Lap soon solidifies his legacy in the racing world, winning race after race under Harry’s stewardship. But Phar Lap falls in league with some unsavoury characters, and his entrance into the Melbourne Cup is surrounded by controversy… Can he clinch the win, despite the world betting against him?

The fact the premise of Phar Lap sounds like your typical sports biopic is part of the comedy, and the show knows this. Steven Kramer’s book and music is knowingly wry and ironic without ever feeling grating, having just the right meta quality to maximise the laughs at all times. Much of the humour is also just the right amount of dark – brace yourself for a lot of jokes about the glue factory!

Using our knowledge of these typical sports stories to its advantage, the show follows the narrative arc you’d expect but does so with a tongue so confidently in cheek that you could never claim that it’s blindly following it without a sense of humour. Throughout the show, Phar Lap goes through a training montage, gets addicted to sugar and has drama with his managers – all hallmarks of sports stories that are made all the funnier when you remember the lead is a horse.

Phar Lap knocks its insane premise out of the park

Phar Lap’s confidently insane script would mean little without a group of equally committed performers, and it helps immensely that this is potentially the strongest cast of any musical theatre production I’ve seen this year. Joel Granger leads the pack as the particularly chipper Phar Lap with a remarkably committed physical performance that’s utterly hysterical. The show would not work as well without such a fantastic lead performance.

Still, Granger is far from the only one doing godly work in Phar Lap, with most of the other actors stepping into a number of roles throughout. The aforementioned Justin Smith and Nat Jobe are wonderful as gruff business partners Harry and David, playing off one another and other cast members wonderfully.

Manon Gunderson-Briggs makes an absolute meal out of her role as the Announcer while pushing the plot forward, and Lincoln Elliott is also hysterical as Phar Lap’s half-brother racing horse Nightmarch, and cricket legend Don Bradman.

However, special mention has to be given to performers Amy Hack and Shay Debney. Hack is exceptional here, swapping costumes so often and bringing such a hilarious sense of physicality to every character that she was regularly the reason I was laughing so hard.

But I don’t think anyone who’s seen Phar Lap will deny that Shay Debney steals the show as Phar Lap’s jockey, Jim Pike. The musical number Ride You where Pike is introduced as… well, a very dominant jockey is so hilariously charged with sexual energy that it’s totally ridiculous, but had me genuinely weeping with laughter. Debney is just so damn committed to the absurdity of this sequence, and lands a killshot joke after it that I won’t dare spoil for you.

It’s that quality of committed absurdity that makes Phar Lap: The Electro Swing Musical the oddball musical hit of the year. Even if you’re feeling a little sceptical about its promise, it’s well worth stepping into the stands and watching this eclectic, hilarious telling of the life of Australia’s most iconic racing horse.

Phar Lap: The Electro Swing Musical is playing now at the Hayes Theatre.