Reviews

The last time I saw this Australian adaptation of the most popular operetta of the 20th century, the grand nephew of Franz Lehár was sitting next to me.  Alex Lehár flew out from the United States to watch the world premiere of 'Bluegum' in Dubbo in 1999. 

During that production there was a little mirth when on stage, three members of the chorus appeared at the embassy ball in fancy dress as The Three Sisters. The joke was that we had stopped to see the real Three Sisters on our drive over the Blue Mountains from Sydney to Dubbo.

Canterbury Theatre Guild presented Disney’s The Little Mermaid, based on the much-loved animated movie, to a packed and very vocal audience. Performing the musical at the Monkey Baa Theatre at Darling Harbour brought a more professional feel to this amateur production.

Following on from 2015’s semi-staged Candide, Opera Q have again dug into the musical theatre vault and come up with Kiss Me, Kate. It was a good choice. Staged in concert form for two performances it had more on the plus side than the minus – a top-heavy cast of stars, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Q Chorus and an ensemble of Griffith Musical Theatre graduates who all vocally blew the roof of the Concert Hall when they were in full flight which was often.

GCLT have a hit on their hands with their final production for 2016.  This light hearted look at big business has a striking resemblance to recent events in the US: an outsider seeing a greater prize and does everything in his power to achieve his goal.

In this case, the man in question is J. Pierrepont  Finch (Ethan Liboiron), an ambitious young window-washer who decides to trade “looking in” on the company to heading it, in the nicest possible way.