Reviews

Dido and Aeneas

Music: Henry Purcell. Libretto: Nahum Tate. Prologue: Kate Mulvany. Pinchgut Opera. City Recital Hall. 30 May – 3 June, 2024

Purcell’s opera, based on Book IV of the poet Virgil’s Aeneid, tells of the love affair between Dido, Queen of Carthage, and the Trojan hero Aeneas, who abandons Dido to pursue his own destiny – the establishment of the city of Rome. A contemporary Dido might have happily waved him farewell, content to rule the strong city that she had established after her brother rejected her and killed her husband.

[ gameboy ]

Created by Amy Zhang. Presented by Metro Arts and Mad Dance House. New Benner Theatre, 31 May - 1 Jun 2024

[ gameboy ], an innovative new dance theatre work by Amy Zhang, is a inimitable fusion of street and contemporary dance styles that thrusts its audience into a dynamic and surreal exploration of life’s challenges. Staged at the Metro Arts as part of the Dance24 festival, this piece boasts a unique blend of dance and performance art inspired by Japanese game shows, video games, and internet culture.

Sunset Boulevard

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber. Book & Lyrics: Don Black & Christopher Hampton. Based on the Billy Wilder film. Director: Paul Warwick Griffin. Opera Australia & GWB Entertainment by arrangement with The Really Useful Group. Princess Theatre, Melbourne from May 21, then Sydney Opera House from August 28, 2024.

In the words of Norma Desmond: 'I don't know why I'm frightened', I am in a state of mild terror, with the task of critiquing this epic musical, starring the legendary Sarah Brightman (one of my all-time favourite singers) for my 50th review for Stage Whispers. Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard is based on the iconic 1950 black and white film noir directed by Billy Wilder.

dog

By shayne. KXT on Broadway, Sydney. 24 May – 8 June, 2024

The downloaded program gives fair warning. ‘The production of dog explores sensitive content and mature themes around Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, depression, mental ill health, bodily harm, alcohol addiction, suicidal ideation, animal cruelty and grief.’ Add long sections of ‘full front nudity’ and off we go.

Ride the Cyclone

By Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. Director: Richard Carroll. Hayes Theatre. 28 May – 22 June, 2024

Disembodied pieces of rollercoaster rail coil on Benjamin Brockman’s set in a deepening curved void reaching back to a circular screen. Wooden frames surround them. Smokey haze hovers and drifts and loud music thumps as the Hayes Theatre continues its commitment to bringing “the extraordinary to life” in this premiere production of Ride the Cyclone.

Seussical the Musical

By Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Hills Musical Theatre Company. Model Farms High School Auditorium. May 24–Jun 1, 2024.

Seussical (The Musical) bursts off the pages of your favourite childhood book and onto the stage at the Hills Musical Theatre Company as they take on a rather famous Cat!

It’s like walking into a cartoon with giant sets recycled, lovingly painted, and recreated by the cast and community. It’s bright, vibrant, and fun. It’s everything you want a living, singing, dancing Seussical Musical to be.  

Meurants Lane

By Christopher Yaacoubian. Limelight Department Theatre. La Mama HQ, Carlton, Vic. May 21 – Jun 2, 2024

“Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” – Holmes. While travelling abroad, writer and director Christopher Yaacoubian felt a longing for his family back home in Sydney. He searches into his Armenian Lebanese roots and respectfully explores the consequences of intergenerational trauma during the civil war (1975), along with themes of loss, grief and sibling rivalry. He decides to write a play. 

Millers Point Songbook

Music and Lyrics by Joanna Weinberg. Director Joanna Weinberg. Garrison Church, The Rocks, Sydney. 24 – 28 May, 2024

Millers Point Songbook celebrates the story of Millers Point through the many people who have made it their home. It grew from a Heritage NSW Community Grant awarded in 2021 to local resident Anne Warr for an “Argyle Place Interpretation Plan”. That plan included some funding for a “theatrical performance” and Joanna Weinberg was invited to write the music and lyrics for a performance which would include members of Choir Rocks, the local community choir. Weinberg’s research led to this amazing musical history of Millers Point and The Rocks.

The Audition

Outer Urban Projects. La Mama Courthouse (Carlton), 22 May – 2 June, 2024; Bunjil Place (Narre Warren), 6 June, & Bowery Theatre (St Albans), 21 June.

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”  - Shakespeare in As You Like It

The Audition was conceived by director Irine Vela, based on a series of modern short plays, by a bunch of Australian writers, some from the Melbourne Workers Theatre, including Christos Tsiolkas and Patricia Cornelius, and some more contemporary plays by Sahra Davoudi and Wahibe Moussa. They are bold artistic works on the new evolving working class and the migrant and refugee experiences.

Matriarchs

Devised and choreographed by Olivia Adams. Presented by Metro Arts and Blakdance. New Benner Theatre. 24 – 25 May, 2024

Metro Arts’ exhilarating new festival, DANCE24, made a memorable debut with the premiere of Matriarchs. This contemporary dance performance delved deeply into the experiences of Indigenous Australian women, shedding light on how the lives and struggles of the maternal ancestors have shaped their modern descendants. The piece was profoundly moving, often heartbreaking, yet fiercely powerful, uplifting, and aesthetically captivating.

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