Reviews

The Phantom of the Opera

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics: Charles Hart. Additional Lyrics: Richard Stilgoe. Book: Richard Stilgoe & Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the novel by Gaston Leroux. Opera Australia. Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. Director Simon Phillips. March 25 – April 24, 2022

All afternoon weather warnings had interrupted every ‘Drive Time’ radio program. Heavy rain had pelted down in intermittent bursts. Storm clouds still hovered menacingly. Yet from 5.30 until 10.30pm not a drop of rain fell on Sydney Harbour for the opening night of this, the very first open-air performance of The Phantom of the Opera in 35 years.

Les Misérables

Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg. Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Original French text byAlain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel. Northern Light Theatre Company. Shedley Theatre, Elizabeth. March 25 to April 9, 2022

Les Misérables is a juggernaut of a musical! Originally a novel by Victor Hugo, written in 1862, it was adapted as a sung through musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boubil in 1980 and has become a popular choice for amateur companies.

For the few people who don’t know, Les Mis is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his desire for redemption, released in 1815 after serving nineteen years in jail for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child.

Canary

Written and performed by Isabella Perversi. Melbourne Fringe ‘Rebound’ online. March 2022

Isabella Perversi is an interesting performer – her background is in Fine Art and Music at Melbourne’s VCA& Conservatorium, and her CV is an eclectic mix of dance (most recently for Opera Australia), film and TV – including performing in self-penned and self-produced shorts and plays at the Melbourne Fringe Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Maria Stuarda

By Donizetti. Opera Australia. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. March 23 & 25, 2022

The reign of Lyndon Terracini as artistic director of Opera Australia, from which he retires next year, has been notable for his use of so many celebrated international singers.

It’s sometimes spectacular for audiences; but not too favoured by Australian singers.

The Babushka Book Club

Queensland Cabaret Festival. Little Match Productions. Judith Wright Centre, Brisbane. 25 & 26 March 2022

Presented by Little Match Productions, The Babushka Book Club is a fabulously funny cabaret combination of laughter and music, developed by its wickedly witty leading ladies – Alicia Cush, Judy Hainsworth and Laura Coutts – alongside director Bridget Boyle and Penny Challen, with piano and musical arrangements by Luke Volker (and Alicia Cush). This talented threesome have been performing on Brisbane’s cabaret and music scene for many years and their stage experience shows in their command of an audience.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2022 Variety Gala

Festival Theatre, 25 March 2022

Opening with a splendid Welcome to Country from Isaac Hannam (pictured above) and his skills on the yidaki, the curtain rises to reveal a decadent stage overflowing with talent: seated in velvet armchairs amongst the extensive band, are the evening’s performers, sipping drinks, just visible in the cabaret club lights of the Festival Theatre stage.

Happy End

Music: Kurt Weill. Lyrics: Bertolt Brecht. Book: Elizabeth Hauptmann. English Adaptation Michael Feingold. Victorian Opera. Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse. 23 – 26 March 2022

Salvation Army gal falls for gangster.  No, not Guys & Dolls (1950, movie 1955), based on Damon Runyan stories. Elizabeth Hauptmann based her ‘book’ for Happy End, apparently, though very, very loosely, on GB Shaw’s 1905 Major Barbara. 

Beautiful Thing

By Jonathan Harvey. Directed by Barry Park. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth, WA. March 17-26, 2022

While the show must go on, it becomes an impossibility when some of the cast catch Covid. Old Mill Theatre’s production of Beautiful Thing opened a week late, and without a rehearsal in the interim, due to illness and isolation requirements. This "urban fairytale” is worth the wait, with a solid, well-presented production. 

Heroes of the Fourth Turning

By Will Arbery. Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, East St Kilda. 15 March to 20 April 2022.

In the yard of a shack in Wyoming, in 2017, a year into the Trump presidency, four friends sit and talk.  The shack itself (design by Louise McCarthy) features a pattern to its peeling paint and one curtained window: it’s the Stars and Stripes.  When the light beams from within, the Cross is outlined on the door. 

Lady Windermere’s Fan

By Oscar Wilde. Director Jess Davis. Genesian Theatre, Sydney. 19 March – 7 May, 2022

Oscar Wilde’s witty criticisms of society still give us cause to reflect even while we smile, though the criticism he made of the society of the time in Lady Windermere’s Fan – namely the hurtful effect of gossip – is nothing compared to the scandalmongering perpetuated in social media today, and its wide audience far surpasses the elegant theatregoers of the Victorian era!

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