Reviews

She Wrote the Letter

By Kieran Carroll. La Mama HQ, Carlton. 22 June – 3 July 2022

Two pen friends write to each other, beginning as teenagers and ending as mature women.  They exchange news of the trials of growing up, of falling in love, of their good and bad choices, pop music, careers, boyfriends, marriage, children, hopes, dreams, and their yearning to meet face-to-face.  Kieran Carroll’s play is based on the real letters New Zealander Tania McNaughton wrote to her friend Ute Dahlke in the DDR, and the letters Ute wrote to her.  The real Tania and Ute, the program tells us, have now been friends for forty-three years.

Harlequinade

The Australia Ballet with Orchestra Victoria. Arts Centre, Melbourne. June 17 – 25.. Live stream June 24.

Hot on the heels of the groundbreaking Kunstkamer comes more traditional fare from the Australian Ballet. This is a ballet for the family, with an easy to follow narrative, loads of colour and laughs, and glittering costumes.

Yummy Iconic

A wild queer-pop cabaret spectacular. Meat Market, 3 Blackwood Street, North Melbourne. 22 – 25 June 2022.

Yummy is a fabulous cabaret show that features a variety of seasoned drag and burlesque performers led by charismatic emcee, Valerie Hex. This is a sizzling show that is outrageously flamboyant in its costuming, dancing, and circus acts. Apart from figure hugging and revealing costuming the show also features some incredibly vertiginous high heels. Together with the loud thumping music and the unleashed sardonic humour Yummy Iconic produces a cocktail of unrelenting fun and laughter.

Bonnie & Clyde

Book by Ivan Menchall. Lyrics by Don Black. Music by Frank Wildhorn. Joshua Robson Productions. Directed and choreographed by Sam Hooper. Hayes Theatre. June 21 - July 17, 2022

Big is not always beautiful in musical theatre. 

Bonnie and Clyde lasted only a month on a grand Broadway stage, but up close and personal in this distilled down production in the tiny Hayes Theatre, the musical hums along beautifully like a freshly tuned vintage car.

It is always tricky turning serious criminals into attractive characters. The couple rob across depression era America and murder anyone who corners them. They also had an eye for publicity and celebrated their notoriety.

A Moment in Time

Presented by Southern Cross Soloists and QPAC. QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane. 19th June, 2022

Southern Cross Soloists (SXS) is an Australian chamber group ensemble, established in 1995, whose concerts include an eclectic program often re-arranged to highlight solo playing while simultaneously providing suitable minimal accompaniment. This opens up more possibilities for choice, so, as in this performance, we have here opera arias, a duo, two contrasting concertos and even an arranged version of a large orchestral work.

Bad Guy: Hayden Tee

Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Dunstan Playhouse. June 19th 2022

Proud Takatāpui man, Hayden Tee is a performer, recording artist, director and make-up artist. He has been prominent on the world stage in leading roles since 2004 in theatre, cabaret and concert, including Lt Cable in South Pacific, Captain Hook in Peter Pan, Javert in Les Misérables and Miss Trunchball in Matilda. Also a proud LGBTQI+ man, as part of his songs and story he also shared his personal experiences, deep distress and passion for Social Protection and Human Rights.

Elgar and Mahler

Queensland Symphony Orchestra. QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane. 17 + 18 June, 2022

Emotions were in full flood at QSO's latest concert program with a choice combination of two famous and well-regarded works, Elgar's Cello Concerto and Mahler's First Symphony, music creations inviting you to dig deep into the soul amidst contemplation and discovery. Both composers were at a point in their lives either historically or personally when music was the perfect avenue of expression, and what better vehicle at hand is the yearning passion of a solo cello or the infinite possibilites in composing for a large orchestra.

Every Musical Ever: A Break-Neck History of Musical Theatre

Adelaide Cabaret Festival: Australian/Adelaide Premiere. Dunstan Playhouse. June 18th 2022

If you are a lover of musicals and want to take the miserable out of Les Misérables or put the broad back in Broadway, this is the show that does it! Sadly, this was a once only performance for the Cabaret Festival, but should it tour; it is 100 delightful musical and acting minutes, where 50+ musicals and sundry other songs, are performed at breakneck speed and with judicious lyrical re-arranging. Well, actually minus overtures, sundry verses and with superimposed lyrics that are often hysterically witty and most commonly irreverent.

Show People

Starring Christie Whelan Browne. Written and Directed by Dean Bryant. Piano/Music Direction/Original Composition by Mathew Frank. Chapel off Chapel, Melbourne. 15 to 18 June 2022

Three powerhouses of Australian musical theatre have collaborated again to deliver a brilliantly funny, authentic foray into the lives of musical theatre performers. They cover a range of experiences one might have in this industry – the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Funhouse

Paul McDermott. Adelaide Cabaret Festival. The Famous Spiegeltent. June 16– 25, 2022

I struggle to think of another performer who injects political satire into a song any better than the multi-talented Paul McDermott. Coming to the Australian public’s attention in the late eighties as a member of comedy trio Doug Anthony Allstars, his quick wit and melodic voice continued during the nineties with the hit panel gameshow Good News Week.

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