Reviews

Girls & Boys

By Dennis Kelly. Melbourne Theatre Company. Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio. 21 October - 26 November 2022

Nikki Shiels alone commands the stage for close to an hour and fifty minutes.  Known in the text only as ‘Woman’, she’s winning, she’s attractive, she’s funny.  She meets the challenge of holding the audience over that length of time with well-judged changes of rhythm, of tone and attack. Under Kate Champion’s direction, she travels around Marg Horwell’s sparse utilitarian set with what looks like confidence, but her moves are in sync with the story she tells us, and we start to realise she is keeping herself in control. 

Urinetown

Music & Lyrics: Mark Hollmann. Book & Lyrics: Greg Kotis. Director: Mark Taylor. Producer & Musical Director: Ben Samuel. Chapel Off Chapel, Melbourne. October 27 - November 6, 2022.

If the title puts you off, think again!  This PG rated musical was nominated for a staggering ten Tony Awards, winning three.  Urinetown ticks all the boxes of what a great musical should be.  The characters are engaging, the story is riveting, the humour infectious and the music is foot tapping. Greg Kotis came up with the idea of Urinetown while travelling in Europe as a student on a limited budget.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Music by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics and original book by Oscar Hammerstein II. New Book by Douglas Carter Beane. Opera Australia and John Frost for Crossroads Live, Lyric Theatre Sydney. Opening Night: October 27, 2022.

This is a sparkling production of a refreshed interpretation of Cinderella which will delight children and engage adults.

The musical is not one of the Rodgers and Hammerstein blockbusters, but it has a rich score that was originally written for a television special. It is best known for the song In My Own Little Corner first performed by Julie Andrews.

The Wharf Revue: Looking for Albanese

By Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe, and Phillip Scott. Performed by Jonathan Biggins, Mandy Bishop, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott. Canberra Theatre Centre. 24 October – 5 November, 2022, and touring nationally.

The Wharf Revue may be the most consistently truthful accounting of national and international politics you’re likely to encounter in Australia.  Using unsurpassed creativity and acting talents to turn top politicians’ foibles and faux pas to the advantage of the public, Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe, and Phillip Scott manage to make of any untruth a new truth; of any evasion an invasion; of any half-glass a robust mirror.

If Only I Could

Presented by Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) and Lutheran Services. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane. 27 & 29 October 2022

From the gorgeous opening strains of ‘Lean on Me’ by Bill Withers to Steppenwolf’s rocking ‘Born to be Wild’ finale, If Only I Could reminds us of the importance of music and dance in our creative and emotional lives – and why we must never let that fade and diminish. Directed by Angela Chaplin, this unique dance performance is presented by QPAC and Lutheran Services.

The Exquisite Corpse… shall drink the new wine

Script & Original Music by Faye Bendrups. La Mama Courthouse. 25 - 30 October 2022

Faye Bendrups’ program note says Greg Carroll’s set design could be ‘a dream or a reality… a boudoir or an insane asylum.’  Whatever it is, it’s a brightly lit space of dazzling white.  There are three lovely women of a certain age (writer and composer Faye Bendrups herself, Alison Richards, and Julie Dawson) all in 1920s white, seated at a table, and having a girls’ night out and a fine old time, drinking, laughing, reminiscing, winking at us, and mixing some sort of punch.  Lesley Gore sings You Don’t Own Me from the

You’re So Brave

By Georgi Ivers. Directed by Joe Paradise Lui. The Blue Room Theatre, Perth Cultural Centre, WA. Oct 18-29, 2022

Presented by The Blue Room and Georgi Ivers, You’re So Brave is the autobiographical story of lead creative Georgi Ivers. Diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses (Ankylosing Spondylitis, Fibromyalgia and Chron’s Disease) between the ages of 17 and 26, the show chronicles Georgi’s battles with health issues, her move to Hong Kong as a young woman, and her decision on her return to Perth, to begin pole dancing.

Suites and Treats

Barrier Reef Orchestra conducted by Warwick Potter and Rachel Cairns. Townsville Civic Theatre, 23 October 2022. One performance only.

TODAY the key to success in the arts is collaboration and nowhere was this more apparent than at Sunday’s Barrier Reef Orchestra concert, which saw two of Townsville’s major musical forces combine for a concert that had the audience craving more.

Stokes Nicholson Big Band

Carlton Theatre, Carlyle Gardens. Townsville Brass, presented by the Townsville Community Music Centre. Sunday 17 October 2022

FROM THE FIRST evocative chords of any big band performance, you are somehow transported back to an earlier – and gentler – time.

Movie soundtracks use this ploy significantly well, and when they want to take you back to the 1940s, you are instantly “there” with only a few key chords from a big band.

The Stokes Nicholson Big Band was formed in Townsville 32 years ago specifically to perform that beloved music of a bygone era, but - as this performance more than demonstrated - the repertoire has definitely not been frozen in time.

Hunters

By Katherine Chloe Atkins. Bitten By Productions. The Butterfly Club, Melbourne CBD. 24 - 29 October 2022

A man in a grey suit rehearses a triumphant acceptance speech: he has been elected Prime Minister.  He promises to be a leader.  It’s the usual - if very well written - rhetorical cliché.

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