Reviews

Native Tongue

Mojo Juju. Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC). 19 November, 2019. Part of Clancestry: A Celebration of Country, 18 November to 2 December, 2019

Singer-songwriter, Mojo Juju, was nominated at the 2018 ARIAs as Breakthrough Artist of the Year. Her third studio album, Native Tongue won Album of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2019 National Indigenous Music Awards. The song also won Best Independent Single at the Australian Independent Record Labels Association Awards. The accolades are justly the result of four year’s work on an album, a body of work that is a very personal collection of stories about the experiences of her family and her fascinating heritage.

Waiting in the Wings

By Noël Coward. Canberra Repertory. Directed by Stephen Pike. The Q, Queanbeyan, 20–23 November. Theatre 3, Canberra, 29 November – 7 December.

A large, comfortable charity home in 1960 England named The Wings houses retired actresses.  Of its nine present residents, all but one know of an impending addition to their number, the actress Lotta Bainbridge.  The resident in the dark, May Davenport, has refused for the past 30 years to speak with Lotta, and everybody else is afraid of her reaction — which is understandably worse than it might have been when May finally realises that Lotta is soon to arrive M

Little Red Riding Hood: A Pantomime

By K. O. Samuel. Directed by Anita Bound. KADS Town Square Theatre, Kalamunda. 15-30 November, 2019

KADS’ Little Red Riding Hood is a very British pantomime, playing to very healthy houses. As is to be expected from a traditional panto, it plays on many levels, with appeal to diverse age groups.

Timeless: Alondra’s Season Finale

Alondra de la Parra conducting the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO), Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), 15 & 16 November, 2019

Alondra de la Parra’s three years at the helm of the QSO came to a close in Brisbane with a celebratory and emotional concert presentation with two performances at QPAC – a shorter matinee concert on the Friday and a full programme on Saturday night. And judging by the diversity of the audiences at both events, the QSO’s aim of introducing more people to music has been a smashing success.

Cinderella

By Rodgers and Hammerstein. Presented by Lynch & Paterson. Princess Theatre, Brisbane. 15-17 November 2019

With a cast of 24 and more than 15 crew, Cinderella is a major undertaking for relatively new musical production company, Lynch & Paterson – a creative partnership founded in 2015 by the multi-talented Lucas D Lynch and Samantha Paterson to present musical theatre, opera, orchestral works and other stage productions. With several successful productions under their belt, the strength of this Cinderella is the standard of the ensemble work.

Six Degrees At A Hot Melbourne Market

Directed and designed by Mazz Ryan and D. B. Valentine. Studio Theatre Gasworks Arts Park, 21 Graham Street, Albert Park. 13 – 23 November, 2020

Perfectly housed in the studio space at Gasworks in Albert Park, Melbourne Writers’ Theatre’s current offering is perhaps a little more edgy than usual, with a dystopian flavour. 

It pays homage to our wonderful Queen Victoria Market.

Alexandra Flood and Alex Raineri

Presented by Opera Queensland. Opera Queensland Studio. 15 – 16 November, 2019

Opera Queensland’s Artistic Director Patrick Nolan has introduced a new series that’s become a fast favourite with Brisbane’s music aficionados. Set in an intimate studio space, the new opera series allows you to get up close to the performers, with a smaller audience. This allows you to experiencethe power of operatic performance on a level usually only enjoyed by the behind-the-scenes creatives on operatic works.

Oil

By Ella Hickson. Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre. 27A Cromwell Road, Prahran. 12 November – 15 December 2019

Ella Hickson’s Oil is a sprawling saga stretching from 1889 and on into our future.  In scene one, an American oil man (Darcy Brown) quips to a dirt-poor, candle-lit farming family, as he introduces them to the wonders of kerosene, ‘The Stone Age didn’t end because they ran out of stones.’ 

Grease

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Wyong Musical Theatre Company. The Grove Theatre, Wyong. November 15 – December 1, 2019.

Grease has been a staple of community theatre and high school performing arts programs for many decades. In fact 2019 marks 40 years since the show premiered. Unlike other shows in the ’community theatre staples’ bracket, Grease doesn’t offer any sort of positive message. One can only assume its constant remounting across the world comes thanks to the insanely popular 1978 movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newtown John.

School of Rock

New Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics: Glenn Slater. Book: Julian Fellowes. Capitol Theatre, Sydney. From 15 November 2019.

In many ways School of Rock is The Sound of Music for a new generation and with a gender swap: a naïve young adult tutors a group of repressed unhappy kids. Through music, the kids are empowered and find joy. At the same time, the equally repressed unhappy authority figure is also reconnected to music and falls in love with the tutor. Together, they all defy an oppressive regime, but this time it’s not Nazis but their rigid school and “the Man”.

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