Reviews

Celebrating its twenty year anniversary, The Production Company decided to repriseOklahoma! This was the musical which changed the face of music theatre in the middle of the last century, introducing a dark character, and a feisty woman who didn’t like to be taken for granted.

Evan Goldman is about to turn thirteen and is looking forward to his Bar Mitzvah party. Then his parents announce that they are getting divorced … and his mother takes him from New York to the little country town of Appleton, Indiana – "The Lamest Place in the World". It’s all a bit too much! How will he celebrate this important birthday in a country town where he doesn’t know anyone. In a bid to get in with ‘cool kids’, he learns that "What It Means be a Friend" is more important than being popular.

Can a piece of theatre cross cultures and manage to entertain audiences all along the demographical spectrum? Can it do so by combining elements of serious drama and character detail with almost-farcical comedy? This one certainly can.

Centering around the by-now familiar news story of a Westerner targeted by an online scammer in Africa and persuaded to part with a substantial amount of money, writer/director Matt Hawkins brings mature insight and a perceptive eye to his multi-dimensional story. He also regularly manages to make us laugh – sometimes uproariously!

Bare, a pop-rock musical of teenage-angst and gay love is currently having its Queensland premiere as part of Brisbane Powerhouse’s Festival of Queer Arts and Culture – Melt. The show, which first saw the light of day in Los Angeles in 2000, most recently played a short Off-Broadway stint in 2012 and has since become a cult favourite.