H.R. The Musical #2. Things just got personnel. Lampooning office and work environments, corporate culture. Cutting humour, at times lacerating.
Artsense Productions. Writer and composer Amy Mansfield. Director Katie Burson
This is the sequel to the same-titled show last year, which I did not see, so I can experience it with fresh eyes. I do understand it was a popular production last year with audience and reviewers alike.
Writer Amy Mansfield has a background in law, literature and music production. A crowd-source survey provided her with rich material to explore and work with. I imagine it would have been the same with the original production.
The large stage is minimally decorated, and it is up to the interaction of the four players, Mansfield along with Mika Austin, Jessica Robinson and Amanda Grace Leo, expertly choreographed by director Katie Burson, to bring the show to be larger than life.
If there is one central character, it would be Austin as brash, blokish and domineering Richard the CEO, or Dick as he is gleefully referred to. The same character from the original production.
The first half is rapid-fire absurdist humour braced around songs which sound like music hall. It is a mash-up of Monty Python and The Office.
Begins with Human Resources attempting to advertise a vacancy with the least amount of possible offense. We need a person for a job.
Followed immediately by wrong star sign, too fat, is he ADHD? Is it contagious?
The best gag of the first half is when big swaggering Dick becomes the expert to train employees on the menopause, as he has had two wives already, so he is well-experienced.
Some lines may have been written with a certain American President in mind. DEI? Diversity can go to hell, equity let me be. The letters on stage are rearranged to read DIE
Sometimes democracy gives me the shits.
Gleefully takes a swing at corporate speak, which are easy targets to be honest. Drive Positive Change.
Of course, restructuring means firing some arses.
Numerous times the players try to engage the audience, with singalongs to mixed results. They do much better when they can convince patrons to jingle their car keys to mimic the tone of money.
Some of the songs have simple but effective music hall structure, like Eric Idle who fulfilled the same role of the Python team.
The explanation of a dick move is graced with a rockabilly swing number.
The second half is where the satire starts to bare its teeth and introduce dystopian elements.
The rise of Artificial Intelligence and its effect on the human element, or the soft machines. Spectres of William Burroughs and George Orwell are present.
It culminates in a Rap battle between human and android which is the best piece of music of the evening and gets a rapturous response. Who won the battle? I thought it was the soft machine.
The show does not dwell on the darker elements. Pay Me Like a Man is uplifting, 80’s Electronica dance music, somewhere between Giorgio Moroder and the Pet Shop Boys.
Not everything hits the mark in H.R. The Musical #2. It has a great deal of fun in skewering the dread and pretensions of the corporate world and that is a welcome antidote in these fraught times.
Rev. Orange Peel
H.R. The Musical #2 plays at Q Theatre to 6 December 2025. Tickets are available HERE.
