ELEVATE! – THE MUSICAL Tuxedo Cat Until 17 Mar 2018 Review by Doug Phillips The writers for this have obvious talent. An extremely enjoyable performance by a talented cast. With a slightly shaky start, that in fairness was probably only noticeable to those casting a critical eye, the show quickly settled in to a fast-paced groove of highly humorous dialogue and lyrics. Claire, Meg, Jason, and Louis are four young strangers who find themselves trapped in a lift together for a little over a day. These neurotic millennials experience panic, joy, humour, anger, and a vast array of other emotions, all told in a tightly written script with excellent songs. The singing is great. Their voices were loud, clear, and a treat to listen to. Harmonies were well sung. The characters are well defined, and completely believable, and the choreography was in sync and very funny. There was only the one joke that slightly missed the mark, which when referred to a second time, got the laughs it sought. The humour takes a dark turn towards the end, probably darker than it should have, and presented in a tone dark enough to not quite fit in with the rest of the production. This is a show worthy of a much bigger stage, but ironically that would have detracted from the production, being as its set in an elevator. The stand-outs for me were the characters of Meg and Jason, but that’s a tough call as all four were soundly executed. A very enjoyable show, but you wouldn’t want to be stuck in a lift with any of these four. Rating: 4 Stars (out of 5)