Reviews

Legally Blonde – the Musical

By Laurence O’Keefe, Nell Benjamin and Heather Hach. Blackout Theatre Company. Director: Cierwen Newell. Pioneer Theatre Castle Hill. 30 September – 9 October, 2022.

There are some great things happening in the arts in Western Sydney – as I keep saying – and this is yet another of them. Blackout Theatre came out of the COVID cloud with the NSW amateur premiere of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical in 2021, a fine production of Chicago in May this year  and now an equally fine production of Legally Blonde. If their aim is to get bigger and better, they are certainly achieving it! This production is very slick, very funny …  and poignantly pink … just as it should be!

Ghost Stories

Writers: Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman Directors: Jeremy Dyson, Sean Holmes and Andy Nyman. Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne until November 5, 2022, then Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide from December 7 to 31.

This play promises to scare, and it sets out to do just that with skill and technical aplomb. Professor Philip Goodman (Steve Rodgers) begins the play presenting his research which introduces and debunks the ghost stories of urban legends; the moving doll, the night car trip which turns scary, the birth which kills the mother and leaves a hideous baby alive.

Legally Blonde

By Laurence O’Keefe, Nell Benjamin and Heather Hach. Stray Cats Theatre. Directed by Karen Francis. Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, WA. Sep 29 – Oct 2, 2022

Legally Blonde has been such a frequently performed show in WA that you might think it is running out of steam, but very healthy houses for Stray Cats Theatre’s Legally Blonde, and audible crowd reactions, show that there are still many first timers ready to enjoy this fun and vibrant musical. 

Our Little Inventor

Composer and co-librettist Emma Jayakumar, Original Author and Co-librettist Sher Rill Ng. AWESOME Festival. West Australian Opera, Wesfarmers Arts, West Australian Young Voices, and Western Australian Youth Orchestra. Directed by Matt Reuben James. His Majesty’s Theatre, Hay St, Perth, WA. Oct 1-2, 2022

The World Premiere of Our Little Inventor is presented by the West Australian Opera, Wesfarmers Arts, West Australian Young Voices, and the Western Australian Youth Orchestra as part of the AWESOME Festival. A home-grown musical that despite an obviously Asian feel, features broad Aussie accents. Sung and surtitled in English, this lovely little opera with its simple story and strong feminist and environmental themes, is an ideal first musical for young people.

Cyrano

By Virginia Gay after Edmond Rostand. Directed by Sarah Goodes. Melbourne Theatre Company. Southbank Theatre, The Sumner. 24 September – 29 October 2022

On stage we see another stage - bare, shabby, empty.  There’s a single work light, trunks, old flats.  Old fashioned footlights.  Oh.  Isn’t this Cyrano de Bergerac?  We know there may be one or two changes, but it’s set in a theatre?  Yes, it is – because just one of the things this very original adaptation is about, is theatre itself. 

Your Song

The Little Red Company. Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 30 September to 1 October 2022

Your Song is a moving and breathtaking reminder of the power of music as a soundtrack to our lives. The award-winning show was put together by Adam Brunes and Naomi Price, creators at Brisbane’s busy and versatile The Little Red Company. Naomi also directs.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical

By Allan Scott and Stephan Elliott. The Regals Musical Society. Rockdale Town Hall. September 30 – October 9, 2022.

The Regals Musical Society burst on stage last night with all of the colour, energy and pizazz required to bring Priscilla to life.  Right from the first note, the audience was tapping their feet and dancing in their seats.  Charles Wilkinson led a very tight orchestra and the overture set a high expectation of the quality of what was to follow.

Boublil & Schönberg’s Do You Hear the People Sing?

Produced by Enda Markey. Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. September 30 - October 2, 2022

The audience gathered like disciples in a cathedral to celebrate and drink in the music and lyrics of Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil.

To my surprise and delight the dynamic duo were seated right next to me in the stalls of the newly renovated Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. (Yes, I got a selfie.)

The Lifespan of a Fact

By Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell and Gordon Farrell. Sydney Theatre Company. Roslyn Packer Theatre. Sep 20 – Oct 22, 2022

In these post-truth times, as we’re blinded by fake news, digital gossip and political lies, The Lifespan of a Fact promises to be topical, even urgent.  

And the story is true. Honestly!

Real-life American writer John D’Agata penned an essay around the leap to his death by teenager Levi Presley in 2002. Now the editor of a prestigious New York magazine urgently wants it as her cover story, but first she needs it fact checked.

Puberty Blues

By Zoe Muller, from the novel by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey. Deadset Theatre Company. The Studio: Holden Street Theatres. 28th Sep-2 Oct 2022

Based on the novel by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey, and adapted for the stage by Zoe Muller in 2017, Deadset Theatre’s production of the iconic Puberty Blues is an example, particularly for older performers, writers and theatre companies, of the powerful energy and authenticity that young people can bring to quality theatre.

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.