Reviews

The 25th Anniversary concert performance of Jekyll & Hyde drew a capacity and highly appreciative crowd in Hamer Hall.

Players from the MSO in pared-down orchestral ensemble - under the confident and stylish direction of Vanessa Scammell - deftly crafted the fraught, gothic atmosphere demanded by Frank Wildhorn's music.  Although the instrumentalists took up much of the Hamer Hall stage, their musical presence and ensemble with the singers - as the vocal performers roamed over a series of catwalks, platforms and staircases - was impeccable.

UnHOWsed is the sharing of experiences of homelessness by eight older women.  It commences with the strikingly powerful singing by Karen Corbett of “Some Say (I Got Devil)” by Melanie Safka. Corbett’s voice reaches out and richly fills the St Kilda air around Theatre Works with a sense of defiance and liberation.

Second Coming has taken Swan Hill by storm.  It is a great little show and word has it that the last three performances were fully booked out.  It’s a passionate and truly entertaining production that is full of puns, laughs and chuckles that reference our Australian Culture.   Created by a strong multi-talented team of theatre makers, many of whom double up in performing as well as creative roles, this show really packs a punch.

This old-fashioned musical has lost none of its charm. Based on the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen and later inspired by the book Once Upon a Mattress, it first opened off Broadway in 1959. 

It is refreshing when companies are willing to produce lesser known musicals. Director Lauren Scarfe and Musical Director Katie Packer were made aware of it by a mutual friend and so their love affair and journey with this tale began.