Reviews

A wicked giggle from a young member of the audience pierced the Sydney Lyric just after Princess Fiona (Lucy Durack) had a delicious on-stage tantrum, which in turned prompted an echo of more giggles like a coo-ee in a canyon.

The young fan had obviously seen a tantrum like that before! Recognition of authentic human reactions is a key joy of live theatre, which might on face value be a challenge in a musical based on a mashup of fairy tales.

As part of the Families Summer/Autumn program Arts Centre Melbourne presents a CDP Kids Production of this delightful instalment of the Treehouse adventures. Griffiths & Denton beautifully capture the innocence and candour that childhood offers. This production provides a colourful and faithful reproduction of the adventures in the book. Those familiar with the story will immediately recognise all the favourite places and people that populate the Treehouse stories. 

Puccini set La Bohème in the sybaritic Latin Quarter of Paris in 1830. Opera Australia’s 2018 production on Sydney Harbour saw it set in Paris in 1968 where civil unrest plagued the city. In this production, Gale Edwards sets it in 1930s Berlin in the final decadent days of the Weimar Republic where, “free of censorship, liberalism was extensive”.

Wherever it is set, La Bohème is a classic love story where the passion of first love is darkened by jealousy, mistrust and poverty.

This is a fun-filled show that operates on some deep-seated nostalgia for an era in which the pub was a safe and welcoming place where people could gather and feel at home. This utopian atmosphere is beautifully captured through the vibrant and powerful singing voices of this choir of men. The music, song and dance encourages a recasting of the pub as a place for these down-to-earth British blokes to enjoy their drink but also a place in which they should learn to be more communicative and not bury their emotions.