Reviews

Have we begun a new-wave of Motown, soul and disco again? One would think so with the recent sold-out season of Velvet, which featured songs from the iconic era, and now the QPAC Choir getting into the act with their annual concert saluting the same genres.

This is the glitziest looking co-op musical you could ever care to imagine.  From diamante tiaras, to gorgeous classic style dresses and tunics in bright 1980’s colours, to imposing Greek columns that fence an amphitheatre, turned disco roller rink - it’s an exquisite production to watch.

The musical opens with the fiendishly clever projection of nine muses of Greek mythology on a wall (yes in Venice California in 1980) who dissolve like magic before our eyes. Who said you can’t afford fancy looking special effects in a little production?

This was a solid and well-staged production.

Michael Gow’s drama is 30 years’ old this year and it’s easy to see why it’s a staple of HSC English: the cultural and social commentary, the “big” themes of loss and mortality (especially in one’s youth), and the subtext are all so thick that Russian playwrights would be jealous. And yet it’s written in such a down-to-earth manner.

This is a show about dance – swing, of course! – and the marvellous range of people who learn swing in one studio in Ireland. With only two actors, Arthur Riordan who plays Joe and Gene Rooney who plays May, they also produce a veritable dance school of characters. The audience is taken on a learning journey with the characters who evolve, improve, or disappear as the play progresses.