Reviews

There have been many spelling bees/ contests over time but this one is almost off the planet. This musical was first performed in 2005 and is set in a geographically ambiguous Putman Valley Middle School. It centres on six quirky adolescents who compete to win the “Bee” – the annual spelling contest.  It is doubtful that  six such weirdly diverse students could be found anywhere else but this mixture made for a good night’s entertainment.

Verdi is always an ambitious ask for any opera company. State Opera of SA’s production of Macbeth is no exception. Full of rich orchestration, thrilling arias and duets, rousing choruses, and a plot by the Bard himself, it relies on visual and aural impact from start to finish, this production succeeds in many ways.

Macbeth was the first Shakespeare play that Verdi adapted for the operatic stage. Almost twenty years later, Macbeth was revised and expanded in a French version and given in Paris on 21 April 1865.

The Dismissal is a banquet of comedy, drama, politics, catchy tunes and even terrific dancing – a musical to feast on and celebrate.

After years of Covid delays, appropriately it opened at the Seymour Centre, which was born in 1975, the tumultuous year of the political battle.

freeze frame opera’s latest short season is a delightful production of the rarely seen The Princess and the Showgirl, a beautifully performed, highly accessible rendition of this interesting “backstage” opera.

Based on real life events, The Princess and the Showgirl is the story of the rivalry between actress Adriana Lecouvreur and influential socialite Mrs Prince (known as the Princess) who are both in love with the same man, the dashing soldier-come-politician Maurizio.