Reviews

Grey Rhino

By Charmene Yap & Cass Mortimer Eipper. Performing Lines / Sydney Festival. Carriageworks. January 20 – 23, 2022.

Grey Rhino apparently describes how we so wilfully ignore the warnings that big impact disasters are coming.

Impending apocalypse has long been a favourite theme of contemporary dance; nowadays our passivity in the face of it surely has a little more bite.

Sydney Dance Company stalwart Charmene Yap and multimedia-loving choreographer Cass Mortimer Eipper present seven dancers moving attractively, but ordinarily, across a large white square in one of the huge Carriageworks bays.  

An American In Paris

Music: George Gershwin. Lyrics: Ira Gershwin. Book: Craig Lucas. GWB Entertainment & The Australian Ballet. Director & Choreographer: Christopher Wheeldon. Musical Director: Vanessa Scammell. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. 17-30 January 2022

How do you turn a seven Academy Award-winner musical movie, with a paper-thin plot, into a dazzling show-stopping stage musical? The answer is currently on stage at the Lyric Theatre, where Christopher Wheeldon, and his partner in crime, set and costume designer Bob Crowley, have produced the most delightful homage to the original 1951 MGM musical.

No Exit

By Jean Paul Sartre. Fringe World 2022. Company O. Directed by Andrew O’Connell. The QuARTer Gallery, Curtin University, WA

No Exit is the play that spawned the line “Hell is other people”. Back by popular demand, Company O’s Fringe World production, takes place in the very intimate space of the QuARTer Gallery.

Three people find themselves in the same room in hell, condemned for actions in life. As they wait for whatever torture they will receive for eternity, they realise that the torture will come from each other.

The Little Mermaid

Music by Alan Menken. Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Salter. Book by Doug Wright. Townsville Choral Society. Directed by D’Arcy Mullamphy and Andrew Higgins. Musical Direction Rianta Belford. Vocal Director Claire Davies. Choreography by Chris Davis. Townsville Civic Theatre. 20 - 30 January 2021.

THERE WAS a little bit of undersea magic at the Townsville Civic Theatre last night for the (long-awaited) opening of this production of The Little Mermaid, which has been in the pipeline for some time.

This was a bright and lively production which sparkled in many places. It was carried by an enthusiastic cast, appropriately eccentric performances, colourful and imaginative costuming (the illusion of the movement underwater was very clever) and an outstanding orchestra.

Whitenoise: 12 Ghosts

Written & performed by Kathleen Mary Fallon. Produced & directed by Maryanne Lynch. Theatre Works at Explosives Factory, St Kilda. 14, 15 & 16 January 2002

WHITENOISE: 12 GHOSTS is a collection of three apparently different performance pieces.  The thread which joins them is perception – that is, how things are seen – or how we are led to see them – by the media, by our own prejudices, by our own fear and paranoia.  Kathleen Mary Fallon is alone on stage.

The Wedding Singer

Music by Matthew Sklar. Lyrics by Chad Beguelin. Book by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy. David Venn Productions. State Theatre, Sydney, January 15 – 30, 2022; State Theatre, Arts Centre, Melbourne, February 5 – 20; and His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth from February 25.

It hasn’t happened for a long time, but Sydney has four large professional musicals going at once, and The Wedding Singer, which has a short season at the State Theatre before returning to Melbourne and then Perth, is the best date night out of those on stage now.

The romantic comedy from 1998 starred Adam Sandler as the wedding singer who fell in love with a waitress played by Drew Barrymore.

Whilst the movie was filled with classic hits from the 1980s, the musical, which ran for nine months on Broadway, has an original score.

The Little Good Wolf

UWA Panto Society. Fringe World. Directed by Charlie Macgregor. Rubix Bar, Murray St, Perth, WA. Jan 15-23, 2022

Presented by UWA Panto Society for Fringe World, The Little Good Wolf is a sweet and funny little production with a lovely message.

While not a pantomime, this little play has quite a bit of audience interaction, and while firmly aimed at Primary School aged little people, there are some lovely jokes aimed at their grown-up companions. This is also one of the shortest shows around, so great for littlies with short attention spans – running at just 30 minutes.

Sugar and Ice

By Saskia Glass. Directed by Lily Jones and Saskia Glass. Sugarglass Entertainment. Fringe World. Royale Theatre, Lake St, Northbridge WA. Jan 19-23, 2022

Sugarglass Entertainment’s World Premiere musical, Sugar and Ice is a high energy, unapologetically feminine tale, of a young entertainer in the world of bubble-gum-pop.

When Camilla Moore’s X Factor Winning, girl-group Starburst breaks up, she attempts to make it on her own, facing the pressure of social media, unscrupulous management and demanding fans.

Green Park

By Elias Jamieson Brown. Griffin Theatre Company / Sydney Festival. Green Park, Darlinghurst. January 19 – 30, 2022

There’s something very equalitarian about casual gay sex. Total strangers often cross so many borders of class, nationality, background, generations and wealth to negotiate one moment of ecstasy. 

Writer Elias Jamieson Brown takes us on a Grindr date to show us how it’s done. 

Killing Katie: Confessions of a Book Club

By Tracey Trinder. Director: Francesca Savige. Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli. 9 January – 26 February, 2022

Tracey Trinder’s characters have graced the small screen for many years. Killing Katie: Confessions of a Book Club is her first stage play – and it’s a winner. The writing is clever, economic, perceptive, witty. The characters are tellingly recognisable yet lovably warm. The dialogue demands astute direction and fast, adroit delivery. It’s a director’s play and actors’ play rolled into one …

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