Reviews

The Phantom of the Opera

By Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe. Ipswich Musical Theatre Company. Ipswich Civic Centre. 9 – 17 September, 2023

The chandelier rose at the Ipswich Civic Centre on the opening night of Ipswich Musical Theatre Company’s production of The Phantom of the Opera. Playing to a sold-out audience, this classic musical proves its enduring popularity thirty-seven years after it was first performed.

Tartuffe

By Molière adapted by Timothy Mooney. Directed by Gwen Browning. Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo, WA. Sep 7 - 23, 2023

Tartuffe or The Imposter was first performed in its original French in 1664. This translation, by Timothy Mooney, uses modern language, but imitates the original style, written in alexandrines or 12 syllable rhyming couplets.

She Dies In Moonlight

Written and directed by John Da Cruz. Mousetrap Theatre, Qld. Playing Sept 8 – Sept 17, 2023.

If you ever wish to have night at the theatre that is intriguing and absorbing in plot and characters, while involving the audience in what is happening on stage, then a visit to this play is the ideal. The audience members are given questionnaires to test how observant they have been and they can also ask the characters various questions before the villain is revealed. With so many possible killers in the scenes, do not expect the same person to be found guilty more than once.

Cosi

By Louis Nowra. Directed by Bruce Akers. Heidelberg Theatre Company, 36 Turnham Ave Rosanna. 8 - 23 September 2023.

Louis Nowra’s play Cosi is very poignant. It is a story set in a psychiatric institution with mainly psychiatric patients as the characters. Lewis (Rhys Carter) is an emerging theatre director who has been employed by the institution to help the patients produce a theatrical performance. The production certainly reflects the era in which it was written and the era in which the play is set. 

All Sorts

By Claire Epstein, Chris McRae, and Steven Gregg. Darlington Theatre Players. Directed by Taneal Thompson, Chris McRae and Adam A.J. Giltrow. Marloo Theatre, Greenmount, WA. Sep 8-16, 2023

While I have never been fond of Liquorice Allsorts, this One Act Play season by Darlington Theatre Players is a treat that I really enjoyed. Named in honour of the popular confection (and with a themed cocktail available at the bar), this season of one-act-plays fulfills its promise of having something for everyone.

Cats

By Andrew Lloyd Webber. WAAPA Third Year Musical Theatre. Directed by Crispin Taylor. Geoff Gibbs Theatre, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, WA. Sep 8 – Sep 14, 2023

Love it or hate it, Cats is a modern classic in the world of musical theatre. The first time that WAAPA is presenting this divisive musical, this production is the final show for WAAPA’s Third Year Musical Theatre and features the work of WAAPA Production and Design Students.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Book by Bert Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Watch This. Chapel off Chapel. 8 – 24 September 2023

This production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum from the Watch This company is delightful entertainment – great performances, polished direction and songs you can remember the next day (and longer).  Watch This is a company entirely devoted to Sondheim musicals and their last production, Into the Woods, was superb in every way.

Carmina Burana

By Carl Orff. Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Orchestra. Conductor Brett Weymark. The Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. 9 September, 2023

It’s a sunny spring Saturday afternoon in Sydney! The harbour is sparkling, the city bustling. Crowds chat and stroll or snap photographs on the forecourt of the Opera House.

Inside The House, in the Concert Hall, over 400 singers fill the balconies behind and above 74 musicians on the stage. And an audience of over 2,000 wait expectantly for conductor Brett Weymark to enter and introduce yet another exceptional performance by the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Parramatta’s River City Voices.

Birds of Tokyo

In concert with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane. 8th September, 2023

Fans of Australian contemporary rock group 'Birds of Tokyo' flocked to Brisbane's Arts Centre last night to see the group in action, along with the added benefit of an orchestral accompaniment, their second concert with the QSO. After the successful release of six albums since their inception in 2004, plenty of airplay on Triple J and a string of awards to boot, they have become one of Australia's most popular groups of this kind of genre.

Pleasures Of Versailles

By Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Pinchgut Opera. Sydney Recital Hall. Sep 9 & 10, 2023

Composing something pithy, beautiful and appropriate for the Sun King couldn’t have been easy.  Marc-Antoine Charpentier hit gold with these two short operas created for the private soirees which Louis XIV held in his apartments at Versailles from 1682. 

In some magical programming, Pinchgut Opera artfully stages them with five singers backed by Erin Helyard on harpsichord and the Orchestra of the Antipodes.

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