Frank Scarito’s ‘Shoe Dunnit at Café L’Arte’ is an uplifting pop musical from Once Upon Productions that puts the importance of relationships at its forefront.

‘Shoe Dunnit’ weaves together seemingly loose threads, including a search for a missing shoe, a psychic songwriter, and a horse mask that remains unexplained. Main character Emily discovers her natural gift to bring people together through song, through the almost supernatural ability to pen their emotions and feelings before they have confronted their wounds. Throughout the story, Emily’s words try to save funding for the arts, reunite a broken family, and solve a mystery.

While the seemingly separate storylines end up linked, especially when the culprit of the ‘shoedunnit’ is revealed, the plot is scattered with mismatched elements and competing plotlines such as the reunited family that overshadow others. The reveal of the culprit, while absurdly amusing, is sudden and rushed and becomes side-lined to the reunion of Laura’s parents. Nevertheless, the inventive and concept of a songwriter healing wounds through her lyrics is an uplifting ode to the uniting power of music.

The standout feature of the performance is undoubtedly the soundtrack, filled with jazz-pop numbers and delicate ballads. More farcical songs such as an ode to the lost pair of shoes make use of bewildering humour and off-beat and wacky storylines. Other more sincere songs such as ‘The Arts Must Not Be Silenced’ are slightly on the nose but powerful messages of the importance of creative freedom. A particular highlight is when Ella, who plays Laura performed a captivating and raw song exploring her character’s feelings towards her parents’ divorce. Her acting is nuanced in representing Laura’s range of emotions when processing her parents’ estrangement.

The characters have odd but charming quirks. Genna is a kind-hearted and naturally funny Roby, inseparable from her horse head costume and fervent in her aims to track down the shoe thief. Elisa Scarito as Emily shows raw emotion, particularly through the moving opening and closing ballad ‘I Miss You’ where we glimpse her persisting grief buried around a desperation to help heal others’ wounds. Many of the characters however lacked depth; the mother’s rapid reappearance in the family’s life felt rushed and unconvincing.

Despite these issues, ‘Shoe Dunnit’ is a moving and creative story with strong potential and a beating heart.

‘Shoe Dunnit at the Cafe L’arte’ has finished its run