Reviews

Underground Opera’s West End to Broadway satisfied on many levels, mixing songs from a clutch of popular and art-house musicals. Highlight of the night was the finale in which the four singers, Ana Marina, Louise Dorsman, Bradley McCaw and Lionel Theunissen, performed a rafter-raising quartet of Les Misérables’ “Bring Him Home”. It was thrilling. It was also interesting, different, and what the concert needed more of.

This is a relatively straightforward stage adaptation of Midnight – one of the most intimate, small scale episodes in the history of long running British TV series, Doctor Who. This adventure sees the enigmatic time traveller known as “The Doctor” (Hugh O’Connor), book passage on a shuttlecraft embarking on a flyover of the resort planet, Midnight. Halfway through the trip, the shuttle breaks down and is infiltrated by a hostile alien lifeform that has the ability to take possession of the passengers.

History plays strange tricks deeming this 1849 Verdi opera one of his lesser known ones. 

In its first ever production, Opera Australia, in collaboration with Opera de Lausanne, shows Verdi’s musical narrative and characterisations to be rich and stirring, and the five  central singers equally outstanding.

As the lights come up on a house in 1958 London, we see Philip and Oliver in the doorway. They are meeting for the first time – Oliver works with Philip’s wife Sylvia – and there’s a sense of excitement. But it’s tense: the feelings they’re experiencing are forbidden and Philip, at least, must hide them. It’s all clear as they stand awkwardly in the doorway: a powerful first moment in this wonderful production of an award winning play.