Reviews

Jersey Boys

Book by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice. Music by Bob Gaudio. Lyrics by Bob Crewe. Directed by Richard Perdriau. Presented by CLOC Musical Theatre. The National Theatre, 20 Carlisle St, St Kilda Melbourne. May 13 - 28, 2022

CLOC has found real synergy with this musical. The overall look and feel of the show emphasise the historical and social context by highlighting the "Goodfellas (Scorsese 1990)" quality of the story. This gives the production a very clear and distinctive style which is executed with consistency and confidence. 

Wood Wide Web

Barking Spider Visual Theatre, Penelope Bartlau Artistic Director. Set design Jason Lehane, Lighting Georgie Wolfe. Sound Darius Kedros. Arduino design Paul Lim. ArtPlay & City of Melbourne. ArtPlay New Ideas Lab at Birrarung Marr. 12 – 14 May 2022

How do trees grow?  Do trees support each other?  How?  Do trees talk to each other?  This interactive installation for 3- to 5-year-olds sets out to answer those questions in the most accessible – and, to watch the kids, exciting - way.  In other words, science is rendered tangible, a matter of cause and effect, and an experience in which the children themselves are helpers.  It is theatre of the most interactive and ‘immersive’ kind.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

A radio play. Nash Theatre, New Farm, Qld. Directed by Cam Castles. May 14 – June 4, 2022.

This was a trip back to earlier days when radio plays were the in-thing. This radio play was adapted from the play, by Baroness Orczy, which opened in 1903 and was first performed by Lux Radio Theatre in 1938 on radio with Leslie Howard and Olivia de Haviland in the main roles.

Firebringer

By StaKid Productions. Melville Theatre Company, WA. Directed by Craig Griffen. May 12-21, 2022

Firebringer is a contemporary musical theatre company responsible for a number of modern pop-culture inspired musicals, including, most famously, A Very Potter Musical. StarKid have somewhat of a cult following - and this may apply to performers as well - with several performers and the director of the last StarKid production performed in Perth, Marloo’s Twisted, appearing in this production.

Wynter of our Disco Tent

By Jenny Wynter & Angeline Wynter, produced by Funny Mummies. Touring May/June 2022

The song ‘Sisters are doing it for themselves’ could have been written for Jenny and Angie Wynter – two sisters from Toowoomba who are finally living out their dream of pop superstardom in a show they have written – and perform in as ‘themselves’. The girls tell their tale of being taken to Toowoomba to live with their Grandma after a tragic family loss.

Three Tall Women

By Edward Albee. Directed by Siobhan Vincent. Garrick Theatre, Guildford, WA. May 5-21, 2022

Three Tall Women is a well presented, well-acted interpretation of this interestingly constructed play by Edward Albee.

Toast

By Liz Newell. Black Swan State Theatre Company. Directed by Emily McLean. Studio Underground, State Theatre of Western Australia, Perth, WA. May 5-15, 2022

Liz Newall’s Toast premiered at the Blue Room in 2017, winning their award for Best Production. Black Swan’s remount has allowed this locally written gem to reach a wider audience, in a very successful short season. The story of three sisters, grappling with the loss of their mother and the sale of their family home, is a well-drawn look at changing relationships.

Chicago

Book by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb. Music by John Kander. Blackout Theatre Company. Pioneer Theatre Castle Hill. 13 – 22 May, 2022.

Chicago isn’t just a musical! It’s an adaptation of a play that’s based on real characters and real crimes that really did occur in Chicago in the 1920s. Crime reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins wrote the original play in 1926. Accused murderers Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner were the “celebrity criminals” on whom she based Roxie and Velma.

A Letter For Molly

By Brittanie Shipway. Directed by Ursula Yovich. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. 9 May – 4 June 2022

When free-spirited indigenous artist Renee is asked what part of Australia she comes from she doesn’t say Coffs Harbour or Korora (er, where’s that?), she says ‘The Big Banana’ (oh, yes, right, I’ve been there!). And when asked how far back she goes, she says, proudly,’60,000 years!’ The opening night audience at the Ensemble thundered their applause at this, and Gumbaynggirr writer Brittanie Shipway, creating and playing Renee, must have known that she had arrived.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by Hugh Wheeler. Phoenix Ensemble, Beenleigh, Qld. Director - Shane Webb. Musical Director – Nicky Griffith. Choreographer – Victoria Sica. May 6 – 28, 2022

With over 30 musical numbers and comparatively little unsung dialogue, Sweeney Todd might be where musical theatre meets opera as its theme of unusual and often graphic (this aspect was certainly soft-pedalled in this production) violence, born of pent-up revenge, together with a complex, but brilliant, musical score has kept this Tony Award winner on producers’ short lists since 1979.

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.