Community Theatre

A cast of over 30 singers and dancers are busily rehearsing for Ashfield Musical Society’s (NSW) upcoming production of Jesus Christ Superstar, the dynamic rock opera loosely based on the seven last days of Jesus Christ, opening at Concord RSL on November 2.

It’s not often that a Stage Manager is confronted with a props list which includes “quiche” and “vibrating dildo”. Most prop-buying expeditions are a dull experience: a bunch of plastic flowers, some ginger ale to pass for on-stage booze, maybe the exotica of an old newspaper. Frequently, the Stage Manager will ask the cast to donate some of their unwanted stuff. Such requests have been met with a cautious silence and the odd nervous giggle during rehearsals for My Romantic History.

Another intimate musical is taking shape at the Fab Factory in the Melbourne suburb of Bayswater. Coral Drouyn writes:

Confronting, unsettling, thought-provoking and heart-wrenching, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is the next production from Phoenix Theatre (WA), opening on November 8.

Adapted from the popular Ken Kesey novel for stage by Dale Wasserman in 1963, it explores institutionalised mental health patients, invasive medical proceduresand the delicate nature of the human psyche.

Most famously, it was made into a multiple Academy Award-winning film with Jack Nicholson in 1975 – although the film was based on the novel, not the play.