Reviews

In Buffalo, New York, George and Charlotte Hay are fading stars of the 1950s, just surviving with repertory theatre productions of "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "Private Lives". Their finances and marriage are on the rocks and their only daughter is about to get married to someone who isn’t in show business.

This 1995 American farce was originally a Broadway showcase for the stage return of Carol Burnett, but its roots are in British comedy: slapstick, confusion, characters having secret dalliances and constantly avoiding each other on stage.

The State Opera of South Australia’s production of Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen is an absolute delight and a triumph in more ways than one. For a start, this production is staged in the Ridley Centre in the Adelaide Showground. This is a bold move, a new initiative by State Opera’s new Artistic Director, Stuart Maunder to mount productions in other venues than the more formal Festival Centre. In this case, it is a complete success.

“It is easier to hate than to help,” says a teenage girl, eagerly explaining the lack of satisfaction in doing good over being bad; one of the fourteen performing this new play by Finegan Kruckemeyer.

This musical version of the popular movie is based on an incredibly true story and follows the exploits of teenage rebel turned con-man on his journey, passing himself off as a pilot, a doctor and lawyer and briefly as an FBI agent.

As the wily Frank Abignale Jnr (an expert at forging identities and passing dud cheques), Jack Harbour leads FBI agent Carl Hanratty, played by Chris Catherwood, on a merry chase around the USA and beyond; always managing to keep one step ahead until he falls in love and decides to get married which leads to his downfall.