Review: Encore's Boy From Oz a tour-de-force in vibrant theatre

The legendary Australian singer-songwriter penned and sang paeans to the unremitting joys of love, as well as its hardships, and even melancholy. But, he's remembered best for his exuberance, which The Boy From Oz - showing at the Princess Theatre until November 4 - is a vibrant cathedral to.

Dressed in a gaudy Hawaiian shirt, Allen has become an Australian - and even American - figure of self-expression, particularly for his bisexuality. Alongside figures like Freddie Mercury, he left a legacy, when he died in 1992 of an AIDS-related illness, of inspiring musical prowess for his country, even if his profile be smaller than the Queen frontman's.

And in Encore Theatre Company's staging of Oz, directed by Belinda King, Allen's bombastic, larger-than-life figure - played by Victorian theatre veteran Will Hanley - is on full show. Hanley gives an electric performance, surrounded by an immaculate cast of young actors, from Deklan Haas as Allen's lover, Greg Connell, to Hamish Williams as Young Peter.

Powerhouse vocals, provided by Brooke Targett as Judy Garland, and Holly Donnelly as Liza Minnelli, are surrounded by technological vibrancy. Lighting by Jason Bovaird and his team, sound by Marcello Lo Ricco, and costuming by Anthony Phillips dazzle - particularly Phillips' Tom of Finland-inspired outfits during numbers like Taught by Experts.

The show is a visually splendid treat where direction, production and performance rise higher than what is often straightforward material. Allen's life is retold in Oz at a rocketting speed, jumping from young Peter's days in Tenterfield and his father's suicide to meeting Garland, marrying Minelli, divorcing Minelli and becoming enamoured with Connell. He won Oscars and rubbed shoulders with the stars in between, and then, sooner than we know, Oz is over, Allen has died.

These may be the wide brushstrokes of Allen's biography - a world-beating one, undoubtedly - but there were far greyer corners to it that are left unexplored.

Omissions from Oz arise not from Encore's brilliant production, nor King's excellent staging, but from the story itself. These have been plumbed by reviewers before: Allen is, often, reduced to caricature; nuance is removed. He becomes one-note - a cardinal sin for a singer - and almost reduced to plucky cliche.

Little time is given to how his relationships were often tinged with intrigue: While married to Minelli, Allen was likely sleeping with Garland's fourth husband; his relationship with Liza was more paternal than sexual; and with his second partner, Greg Connell, the pair were in an open relationship.

That kind of complexity is forfeit - the story Oz wishes to tell is a more saccharine, easy-to-digest variety. Love is love, the Hollywood kind; love is not love, the real, complex kind.

But despite the gripes, Oz is still a spectacle of a musical. It accomplishes a feat of condensation and does tug at the heartstrings regardless. Take Allen's songs - which he penned with such fecundity - and wrap them in most of the extraordinary aspects of his life and you won't be able to fault the dynamism, its pure electricity and get-on-your-feet energy. For Encore, which performed the show in 2009, this is a restaging of triumph, a tour-de-force - one well worth the price of admission. And, whether it be the most accurate version of Allen or not, he "lives on, on the stage alone".