Reviews

The biggest stars of the show were not around to take a bow. Set designer and maker Bob Peet and costume maker James Worner deserved an ovation for the visual splendour they brought to this production.

Most delightful were the candles for Lumiere which ignited always on cue, the grand French chest of drawers for Madam De La Grande Bouche and the wind up clock for Cogsworth.

With the potential closure of the Alexander Theatre at Monash University, the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Victoria moved to the Darebin Arts and Entertainment Centre for this production. A long way from their home base, the theatre is a similar size to the Alex, and, moving toward the back for the second half, I had no problems hearing everything. Unfortunately the audience was relatively small and I hope this will pick up.

DRILL mixes the grit, flexibility, pace and precision of sport training with the ... well ... grit, flexibility, pace and precision of dance training! Fast and precise, physically demanding and exacting, it takes a series of training exercises and choreographs them into a performance that encapsulates the punishing rigour of training and the challenges of the sporting arena as well as the camaraderie – and competitiveness – that is at the heart of every sport.

Michael Flatley's successful enterprise is on show this week in the Brisbane leg of the Australian tour. The program incorporates a number of sequences designed to tell a good-versus-evil folkloric tale and includes a selection of solo vocal and dance segments scattered amongst the ensemble dance routines which really show-off the technique and bravado for which this Irish style of dance is so famous.