It's not just the West End or Broadway that can boast long running plays. Just as The Mousetrap has run forever, so too Australia has its own play that is still going decades after it opened. On Saturday 15th December 2012 there was a landmark event in Strahan, on Tasmania's west coast: the 5000th performance of Australia's longest running play, The Ship That Never Was.
Producer Global Creatures have today (May 9, 2013) released an 8-track preview of the score of KING KONG which features the work of some of the world’s best contemporary artists, including 3D from Massive Attack, Sarah McLachlan, Justice, Guy Garvey from Elbow and The Avalanches. The music is being overseen by composer and arranger Marius de Vries, whose credits include the soundtracks for Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet.
Saturday night was balmy in Melbourne. Approaching the Princess Theatre there was a definitive predominance of pink frocks amongst the crowd. Legally Blonde is, after all, a celebration of the assertive feminine, and pink is main character Elle Wood’s ‘signature colour’.
The big winner at the 2012 Green Room Awards, presented at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre on May 6, 2013, was Gale Edwards’ production of Chess for The Production Company, taking out seven of a possible 10 awards in the Music Theatre categories, including Outstanding Musical Production. (Image of One Nigt in Bangkok from Chess by Jeff Busby).
He went from hosting Young Talent Time to performing eight shows a week in Sydney with Legally Blonde, then straight into a hectic schedule with Celebrity Apprentice, before heading back on stage for the musical’s Brisbane and Melbourne seasons. Rob Mills found time to reflect on his career with Neil Litchfield.
Chris Baldock was doing nicely, building his reputation as a director, winning awards, working with both new and seasoned actors. Yet there was a dream he hadn’t fulfilled, until last year that is. When Chris started his Melbourne-based Mockingbird Theatre Company in 2012 (with a revamped production of his award winning The Laramie Project), he embarked upon the most exhilarating but also stressful phase of his theatrical life.
Dame Helen Mirren took out the Olivier Award for Best Actress at the 2013 Awards for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience, but it was another play, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, which dominated with seven awards, equaling the record set by Matilda last year.
The awards ceremony at London’s Royal Opera House on April 28, 2013 was hosted by Hugh Bonnevilleand Sheridan Smith.
Bangarra Dance Theatre premieres Blak, brand new work with stories about a contemporary clan and the collision of two worlds, playing at Arts Centre Melbourne from May 3 to 11. Following the Melbourne season, Blak will tour to Wollongong from May 17 to 18 before being presented at the Sydney Opera House from June 7 to 22. The production will then be presented in Canberra (July 11 to 13) and in Brisbane (July 18 to 27) for the final leg of the national tour.
