Reprising a golden-age treasure with Make ‘Em Laugh – The Untold Donald O’Connor Story

Mikey Halcrow and Jens Radda are putting the ‘show’ in ‘show-stopper’ as they burst back onto the Fringe World stage for 2024. With the revival of Make ‘Em Laugh – The Untold Donald O’Connor Story, the pair promise a night of song, vaudeville, musical theatre, and a little bit of historical shenanigans as they pay homage to Hollywood legend Donald O’Connor in this biographical tribute. Make ‘Em Laugh is set to transport the Ellington Jazz Club back to the time of the golden age of cinema, with its silver screen and Hollywood charm, for only two nights, on Monday, January 29, and Tuesday, January 30, with tickets on sale now. BEC WELDON caught up with the show’s creator, performer, and producer, Mikey Halcrow, to hear all about the triumphant return of the successful show and the man who inspired it.

Welcome to Fringe World 2024! This certainly isn’t your first Fringe festival; what’s happened in the world of Mikey Halcrow since we last saw you on the stage?

I’m such a fan of Fringe World, and I’m so excited to be back! Since my last festival, I’ve been busy performing on the national tour of The Wizard of Oz and featuring in the Festival of Voices in Tasmania. I’ve toured regionally in a Gene Kelly and Judy Garland show (sorry, Donald!) and relocated to Melbourne.

You’re bringing your show Make ‘Em Laugh – The Untold Donald O’Connor Story back to Fringe World after a successful season in 2019! What inspired you to bring Donald back to the Perth stage?

Perth is where it all began. I studied a Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theatre at WAAPA, and during my time there, I fell in love with the world of Donald O’Connor. In my final year, I dedicated a lot of my time to creating this cabaret with the help of the amazing team at WAAPA. It just feels right to revamp the show and premiere at The Ellington Jazz Club again. Perth audiences are so supportive, and Fringe World is really one of my favourite places to perform.

Make ‘Em Laugh – The Untold Donald O’Connor Story sounds like a love letter to O’Connor and his career in the golden age of Hollywood. Why was it important to you to make a show about Donald O’Connor?

It really is a love letter to Donald! One of the main reasons I made this show is because a surprising number of people have no idea who Donald is—even people within theatre! I‘ve felt connected to Donald for years; he’s the sidekick, the comedic relief, the B plot. But I think those characters are the ones that can make or break a movie or musical. In my world, they deserve their moment in the spotlight, Donald especially. He was in over 50 films, had his own television show, won countless awards, and deserves just as much attention as Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire.

It sounds like an entertaining musical romp through some golden-age classics. What do you have in store for audiences this year?

You said it perfectly! When I created this show, I really tried to fight against everything a ‘tribute’ show should be. I want the audience to join us on this journey through Donald’s life and be swept up in it, like I was. I’ve taken a bunch of songs that featured in O’Connor’s films and reworked them to create a 50-minute musical about his life. I’ve taken on a new director for this season, Olivia Charalambous, and she has helped us dial Make ‘Em Laugh up a notch and really showcase that Hollywood charm we all remember.

What kind of research did you do to nail O’Connor’s story and write the show?

I watched a lot of movies! That was definitely the most time-consuming part. I spent quite a bit of time discovering Donald’s life history as well, which wasn’t too tough to uncover. The biggest challenge for this show was deciding what parts of his life to talk about and which songs to use. I’m really not kidding when I say he lived a full life and did more than you could possibly imagine. This show could easily be a two-act musical with a full cast, so paring it down and working out what moments would resonate was a really fun, but challenging, journey.

Did a lot of that research go into the final show, and did you have to take any cheeky historical liberties in telling Donald’s story?

That’s a great question! So much of the research I did went into the show, but again, I really didn’t want it to be the kind of show where an actor sings an iconic song and then spends the next five minutes telling the audience its history, not for Donald. So I took those decades of his life and a little theatre magic and weaved the plot through the music.

We’ve got 14 songs in 50 minutes, along with some great dance numbers and scenes. It would be impossible to tell his story in that time without a few historical liberties. But everything still follows his story, and for the moments that were truly groundbreaking, I’ve stuck to the history, like his filming of Make ‘Em Laugh and his family life on Vaudeville.

You’re joined onstage by Jens Radda; did you write the show in tandem? What did that process of creating and devising look like?

We sure did! Jens is truly the musical heart of this show. He has arranged all the songs to match the style of the cabaret, and he’s helped me to create the world of Donald O’Connor. He also plays a major role in Make ‘Em Laugh! I wrote the character of Moe for him; he’s effectively a personification of the audience on stage, a sometimes unwilling partner on Donald’s journey.

But through him, I get the chance to explore Donald’s life through the eyes of a stranger and give him the sense of wonder that I felt. It’s very much a two-man show; one of my lines in the first scene is, “The show can’t go on if you don’t come with us, Moe.”

Did the research process affect the songs that you chose? It must’ve been a challenge to narrow down the songs you wanted to use!

If I had to list all of the songs that I could have used in the show, we would need a longer interview! Narrowing it down was the hardest part. Some songs are obviously going to be included, like the title song, Make ‘Em Laugh, but the real challenge was deciding which other songs to feature.

I ended up creating my skeleton script with all of the major life plot points I wanted to include, then I went through Donald’s musical catalogue and found songs that would help advance the plot in each scene. It really is a mini-musical. We’ve also workshopped some pretty beautiful arrangements that I think really sum up Donald’s incredible life.

You’re a WAAPA-trained performer with a career spanning over a decade; what career highlights come to mind from across that time?

Oh wow, that’s a huge question. I was really lucky to spend five years working on cruise ships before I studied at WAAPA, and getting the chance to travel the world and also hone my craft was pretty incredible as a young artist. Getting to work with industry heavyweights like Anthony Warlow, Lucy Durack, and Jemma Rix on Wizard of Oz was such a lesson in the business, plus Wizard of Oz was my first ever musical as an amateur little 11-year-old Lollipop Munchkin, so it felt like one of those full-circle moments.

But in all honesty, and they’re not paying me for this, I’ve performed at Fringe World for many years before this hiatus, and the community, energy, and creativity that I get to be part of every time is impossible to put into words.

What are you most excited to share with the people of Perth at this year’s Fringe Festival?

I’m excited to introduce Donald to a new audience! I know they’re going to love it, and if I can inspire a few more people to talk about Donald and become fans, then the show has succeeded. It’s such a joy to be able to perform this show, and it feels like Perth is the perfect place for it. I’m also returning to Fringe World Mermaids this year after a long break and I can’t wait to see the joy and awe in everyone’s faces when we perform at The Pleasure Garden!