Moby Dick! The Musical a production from the Anchorage High School in Alaska, so whaling is an appropriate subject to choose.

The plot of this show involves a girl’s school which is being threatened with closure unless they can come up with vital money within a week. One of the girls at the school has written a musical called, you guessed it, Moby Dick. Captain Ahab will be played by the headmistress (who is is being played by a man, so it’s a man playing a woman playing a man; very Alastair Sim). The rest of the cast choose their roles from a hat and the show begins.

As I never made it past the first page of this novel, I can only assume it is fairly close to the original text in the plot, but I don’t think even Herman Melville would have written “Now to hunt Dick!”. This concerns young Ishmael who wishes to become a whaler and chooses the ship and rough crew of the Pequod, captained by the bitter semi-legged whale-obsessive. We see their journeys out on the waves and witness the dreams of the crew as they struggle with identity and some really appalling jokes.

The songs are catchy and well sung (I think some of the cast will be heading for Broadway soon), but the music overpowered the words at times. The story was enjoyable and the whole musical was an entertaining romp through the waves.