Reviews

Just Super

Written & performed by Eddie Pattinson. Melbourne Fringe Festival. Trades Hall, The Boardroom. 7 – 14 October 2022

Two things – no three - about Eddie Pattinson.  First, they are ‘non-binary’ (something we are told in the first few minutes and a member of the audience is recruited to hold up a sign, when signalled, reading NOT A WOMAN).  Second, they are small, slight, and endearing with hair of brilliant green, a nose piercing and one beaded earing with a cross on it and when they use their face or body to illustrate or counterpoint an idea, we see a fine comedian.  Third, they can deliver very dense, complex material in fully formed sentences at rocket speed without tr

The Yeomen of the Guard

By William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. GSOV. Director/Choreographer: Ron Pidcock OAM. Musical Director/Conductor: Trevor Henley. Lighting Design: Jason Bovaird. Alexander Theatre, Melbourne, October 6-8, 2022 and regional Victoria tour concluding with a concert performance at Corinella Public Hall, October 15, 2022.

Critically acclaimed as one of Australia's leading light opera companies, Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Victoria present The Yeomen of the Guard. For over 87 years this group has been performing and advancing the appreciation and study of all things Gilbert & Sullivan.  Incredibly, in 2022 alone, this busy company will produce three operas (The Gondoliers, The Yeomen of the Guard and Thespis).  

Jersey Boys

Book by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice. Music by Bob Gaudio. Lyrics by Bob Crewe. Northern Light Theatre Company. The Shedley Theatre, Elizabeth, SA. Oct 7 – 22, 2022

Jersey Boys has racked up 57 major awards – including London’s Olivier for Best New Musical, along with Broadway’s Tony and Australia’s Helpmann for Best Musical. So, it is a great choice to end 2022 for Northern Light Musical Theatre Company!

Jersey Boys is a bio-musical inspired by the lives of four band members: Frankie Valli, Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio and Nick Massi. Together, the quartet were Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

Donor

Written and Performed by Julia Grace. Director: Emily O’Brien Brown. The Motley Bauhaus, Carlton. 3rd – 9th October, 2022

In her solo show, Julia Grace gives a masterclass in storytelling, characterisation, audience engagement, timing, transitions, and the use of silence, space and props. With these finely honed tools she explores how people make meaning in the face of life’s challenges by following the central character, Wren, from her ‘failure’ in her Chicago advertising job, to making the decision to donate part of her liver to Kate, her best friend.

Prehysterical

Written and Performed by Head First Acrobats. Runway Festival Park, The Vault. 8th -23rd October, 2022

Head First Acrobats - Chelsea Angell, Alex Caulfield and Anthony Saltalamacchia - have highly developed circus skills which they showcase in a fable of neanderthal life for children. The characters go on a journey looking for food. They go over a river, almost work out how to share insufficient food, are ‘magically’ given fire to keep warm and they also manage to keep away from loud threatening beasts.

Chicago

Book by Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb. Presented by CLOC Musical Theatre. Co-directed by Lynette White and Chris White. Musical Director: Malcolm Huddle. The National Theatre Melbourne, 20 Carlisle St, St Kilda. October 7 – 22, 2022

CLOC has created an extraordinarily exuberant and vivacious production of Chicago that captures the sizzling nature of the era and story that the show depicts. The very strong cast is led by Emily McKenzie as Roxie Hart, Melanie Ott as Velma Kelly and Will Hanley as Billy Flynn. The power of their vocal performances enhances the emotional impact of the characters (and their bizarre circumstances) and generates a wondrous atmosphere of fun and impish playfulness.

RENT

By Jonathan Larson. Preachrs Productions and The Lot Theatre. The Queen’s Theatre, Giles Arcade, Adelaide. Oct 7-15, 2022.

Jonathan Larson is the Stephen Sondheim of the rock opera set and RENT is his crowning glory.

RENT is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson, loosely based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La Bohème. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan's East Village in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

The Pirates of Penzance

Book and lyrics by WS Gilbert. Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan. Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney. Smith Auditorium, Shore School, North Sydney. Oct 7- 9, 2022.

A whopping 34-piece orchestra under the baton of Rod Mounjed set the tone with a lush ten-minute overture that featured a crashing symbol and piercing brass, which refreshed the audience like a gentle wave of surf at a beach near Penzance.

This was a night of comic opera in a production style of the work as originally written in 1879 with all the trimmings.

Anatomy of a Suicide

By Alice Birch. Sugary Rum Productions, Chopt Logic and Seymour Centre. Directed by Shane Anthony. Reginald Theatre at the Seymour Centre, Sydney. 6th – 29th October 2022

There are three leading women in Alice Birch’s amazing play - Carol, Anna and Bonnie - and we learn pretty soon that they are related: mother, daughter and granddaughter. Thanks to a brilliant setting, they co-exist in three different time zones and we follow key events in their lives simultaneously.

Alice Birch brings complete authority to this scrambled time zone, and we pick and make sense of it all.

Lucky Stiff

By Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Primadonna Productions. Directed by Carole Dhu. The Fishtrap Theatre, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, WA. Oct 7-9, 2022

Primadonna Productions’ Lucky Stiff, is, as per its subtitle, “a Dead Funny Musical”. In possibly the WA premiere of this manic little musical, eleven actors work their socks off to present a pacey show that delights its audience and has laughs at every corner.

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