Reviews

This is a bloodcurdlingly brilliant performance which dazzles visually and musically.

As is the fashion for new productions from Opera Australia, digital scenario is the tool used to sweep the audience from one moment to the next. This is very handy in the opening scene when a chorus of soldiers are told about something horrific which happened fifteen years previously.

In traditional productions audience members must read the subtitles to get the gist of the story.

Writing a musical play is ambitious. Getting it on to the stage can be difficult. Doing both yourself can be … challenging, testing, tiring  … especially during two years of pandemic-instigated illness and restrictions. But, if you are as determined and resolute as Lucy Matthews, it can also be exhilarating.

First, accept the premise: identical twin boys are born on the same day in Syracuse to Emilia (Leilani Loau) and Egeon (Maitland Schnaars), a merchant; both boys are called Antipholus.  On the same day, another set of identical twin boys is born; Egeon buys/adopts them from their penniless mother as ‘bondsmen’ to serve his twins and calls them both Dromio.  

Bel Canto Performing Arts’ production of Singin’ in the Rain Jr. is a top-notch junior production that blows many adult musicals out of the water. With fabulous performers and outstanding production values, this show deserves its capacity audiences and compresses throughout.