Hungover proves you can make a cabaret-style musical about anything. Even drinking too much. But Hungover is less about drinking too much alcohol than why we drink: to escape our lives, be a bit daring and ultimately – much as we pretend otherwise – to do the things we secretly want to do.

But that’s a tad too deep. Conceived by Naomi Cohen and devised by the company with Director Hamish McGregor and Musical Director Andy Manning, Hungover is best enjoyed lightly. It might be exploring the Big Issues – coming out, settling down, playing up – but it’s at its best as a wonderful excuse to romp through some angsty 90s classics, such as Cherie Moore’s sublime rendition of Alanis Morissette’s ‘You Oughta Know’or Naomi Cohen – hungover, in active wear – rocking Brittney Spears’ ‘Toxic’.

It would be great to see Hungover reimagined one day with a Madonna-style stage and a troupe of back up dancers.

Three friends, Tom (Matt Baker), Will (Zak Enayat) and Lauren (Naomi Cohen) go out and get drunk: very, very drunk. But as they’re grappling with life’s all important questions – such as, is the grease window closed? or who can be the biggest bitch? – in walks the real question: Tom’s girlfriend, Rachel (Cherie Moore), looking much fresher than the rest of the assorted bunch, despite having just got off her plane from Melbourne a day earlier than expected. The question is, does Tom love her enough to drop his life and move to Melbourne with her? He’s clearly older than Will or Lauren. Is it time for him to grow up?

The narrative in Hungover is relatively simple but the joy of this production is not so much in what happens as in the musical sparring. Moore and Baker sizzle together, bringing an emotional depth to the comedic tale.

I am not a fan of gratuitous nudity, and the cheap laugh it affords is unnecessary. But it does set the tone for the piece well – fun, light.  

The script could do with trimming and tightening to get us to more of the good stuff, the music, but after a slow beginning we get into it. The end is not roses, but rather we’re left with the question: What happens when the hangover/fun ends?

You get up. And, as one audience member shouts out when she hears the opening bars of Alanis Morissette, “You sing it, girl!”
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