Reviews

Jesus Christ Superstar

Music by Andrew Lloyd-Webber. Lyrics by Tim Rice. Nate Butler's Studio. Directed by Nicholas Christo. Musical Direction Andrew Swan. Performed by Full-time Musical Theatre Students. Laycock Street Theatre. March 23-25, 2017

It's difficult to know where to start with this review. As a life-long fan of this 45 year old rock opera, I was literally jumping out of my skin when promotional videos of this production sprang up a couple of months ago, advertising that the roles of Jesus, Judas (et al) would be portrayed by females and Mary Magdalene by a male performer. Given this twist, it's almost unthinkable to remember that the original concept album and stage production garnered a wave of controversy for its presumed blasphemy.

The Homosexuals or ‘Faggots’

By Declan Greene. Griffin Theatre Company in association with Malthouse Theatre. SBW Stables Theatre. March 17 – April 29, 2017.

Two privileged white male gays are outraged when they see faggots listed in a pub menu.  Never mind it’s that old English dish of meatballs.  Set in their cramped if million door Darlinghurst flat, with a view of the Mardi Gras Parade tonight from their bathroom, Declan Greene’s furious farce is a very funny attack on PC preciousness around LGBTIQA identities. 

Raw

Queensland Ballet. Playhouse QPAC. March 17 – 25, 2017.

Engaging with a work of art like Raw cannot be done without the highest admiration for the depth of intimacy that Queensland Balletcreates in this trilogy of dance works. The works evoke the stories and emotions of the human experience – with each piece captivating the smallest of details and bringing them to life with an array of some of the world’s finest ballet performers.

Wicked

Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Book by Winnie Holzman. Based upon the novel by Gregory Maguire. Miranda Musical Society. Sutherland Entertainment Centre. March 22 – 26, 2017.

Wicked is renowned for lavish Broadway spectacle, so it’s pleasing that the huge challenge to pare the hit Broadway musical back for Sydney community theatre, especially in the notoriously challenging Sutherland Entertainment Centre, is in safe hands with Miranda’s scenic wizards Bob and Col Peet. They simplify the physical setting effectively, while atmospherics are achieved through lighting, LED, projection and animation in a symbiotic collaboration with Technology Director Chae Rogan (supported by Adam Ring and Robert Mason).

The Age of Bones

By Sandra Thibodeaux. Performing Lines/Teater Satu/Satu Bulan Theatre. Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. March 22 – 25, 2017

The rhythms of the sea pervade this tender but critically astute denunciation of one of our Immigration Department’s most shameful decisions – the jailing of 60 or more young Indonesian boys for working on asylum seeker boats. Darwin based playwright and poet Sandra Thibodeaux identified with the pain their mothers must have felt, especially when she realised their mothers thought their boys had been lost at sea.

Heathers The Musical

By Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy. WAAPA Final Year Music Theatre Students. Directed by Andrew Lewis. Geoff Gibbs Theatre, WAAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, WA. 18-25 March, 2017

The Western Australian premiere of Heathers is playing to packed houses at WAAPA. This year’s Final Year Music Theatre students are outstanding in this very black musical based on the 1980s cult film.

Set on a bright and breezy gymnasium set by Kelly Freegon, colourfully lit by Kristie Smith and featuring powerfully 80s costumes in bright hues, designed by Kaitlin Brindley, the look of the show is strikingly juxtaposed with the dark themes of bullying, teen suicide and high school massacres, incidents of date rape, substance abuse and depression.

My Fair Lady

By Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. John Frost / Opera Australia. QPAC Lyric Theatre, Brisbane. 19 March - 30 April, 2017, t.hen on tour.

Ever since I was a child I enjoyed theatrical visual extravaganzas and thanks to dedicated, passionate producers like John Frost we are lucky we're still able to view some of these timeless classics of musical theatre. Coupled with the spectacle of this stunning revival of the original 1956 production is of course a superb memorable score and adaptation of Shaw's Pygmalion, and it's inspiring to see how this musical version brought the play to life despite Shaw's chagrin at musical transformations of his plays and his subsequent prevention.

Rules For Living

By Sam Holcroft. Red Stitch. Directed by Kim Farrant. 14th March – 16th April, 2017

A superb cast of fine actors manages to breathe life into a predictable farce that hangs by its fingernails on a writer’s device. Take that novelty away, and the play is more Ray Cooney than Alan Ayckbourn.

Some new playwrights make one long for the days of Harold Pinter, Joe Orton and the great Ayckbourn. All of these esteemed playwrights understood that comedy comes from the tragedy of the human condition and is bedded in truth.

Faster

The Australian Ballet. Arts Centre Melbourne, State Theatre. 17 to 27 March, 2017

The Australian Ballet presents its programme of three contemporary ballets under the banner Faster and shows us both the strengths and weaknesses of the company in sharp silhouette.

It’s a long while since I have seen the company so full of vitality and energy. The core physical strength of the dancers is the greatest asset of this programme, juxtaposed with the infuriating inability to dance in unison as an ensemble.

An Evening of Jazz

Presented by Adelaide High School. Adelaide Fringe Festival. Spiegel Zelt at Gluttony, Rymill Park/Murlawirrapurka. 17 March, 2017.

It was an intriguing surprise to find the Adelaide High School Jazz Band performing as part of the Adelaide Fringe cabaret program; an opportunity too good for a reviewer to pass up. How would this music fare when experienced as part of a festival that is simply bustling and bursting with sights and sounds?

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