Reviews

As one of our most beloved home-grown musicals, any production of The Boy from Oz automatically invites comparisons with the original production with Todd McKenney, the hacked-script New York version starring Hugh Jackman, and of course with Peter Allen himself. A local amateur company could not be expected to have the sheer breadth of talent of the 1990s original, or the sheer breadth of cash of the Broadway do-over.  What Free Rain have pulled off here is fun, poignant and full of verve, capturing the vibrance and resilience of Peter Allen himself.

This beautiful story of an Australian mum visiting her ancestral home in Lebanon and digging in ancient ruins for her roots is so artfully told, it leaves you wanting more.

Ruins lasts just 40 minutes.

Northern Light Theatre Company’s production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame has set the amateur musical theatre bar to Olympic standards and as Mary Poppins says – it’s “Practically perfect in every way!”

Originally a book by Victor Hugo, published in 1831, Lon Chaney immortalised the title role in the 1923 silent film. With the advent of the talkies, Charles Laughton (also well known for playing Henry VIII) made the role his own in 1939.

Ensemble Q and William Barton, featuring some of Australia’s finest musicians have crafted a smorgasbord of music including works by William Barton and Paul Dean alongside hand-picked masterpieces by Brahms and Ligeti, which promise to wrap audiences in a multi-layered experience of sound. It is the perfect fusion of western and first nation musical legacies with a World Premiere included and who doesn’t love a World Premiere?