Poignant and compelling, the Australian premiere of six-time Tony Award winner Dear Evan Hansen – about a socially anxious 17-year-old – is a theatrical triumph. Steven Levenson (who received the gong for Best Book) has injected warmth and humour into the slice of life drama that makes for an enthralling narrative. Powerful and resounding music…
Before I watched this LEGO movie, I knew only two of Pharrell Williams’ songs, being the hits Get Lucky and Happy. I suspect many who will see Piece by Piece will know many more. Now, having watched this animated documentary, I’m far better informed. The film paints Pharrell as a man-child who felt he didn’t…
Co-written by Marie Drucker and director Stephane Brize, Out of Season is a sensitive, slow-moving romance. Mathieu (Guillaume Canet) is a famous Parisian movie star, married to a prime-time news anchor. Four weeks before making his stage debut, Mathieu gets cold feet and pulls out, leaving everyone in the lurch. While he knows his withdrawal…
Your Monster is one wild, romantic, vengeful ride – Beauty and the Beast never looked so good. It’s about an aspiring actress who gets treated shamefully and then finds the most unlikely of awakenings. Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera) has been with her writer/director boyfriend Jacob Sullivan (Edmund Donovan) for five years. She’s helped him to…
Whether it has become an annual pilgrimage or if you are seeing it for the first time, The Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol is an outstanding, heartfelt production. Each year, the starring role goes to a different actor. Now it is Erik Thompson who plays Ebenezer Scrooge with distinction. In the first Australian showing two…
Picking up the story three years after the events in Moana (2016), Moana 2 reunites Moana (voice of Auli‘i Cravalho) with demi-god Maui (Dwayne Johnson) on a new adventure. The first film was about Moana finding her identity. This one is about discovering and uniting different tribes in the islands to ensure the future of…
Just how far has society moved forward in 2024? We say we embrace the LGBTQIA+ community and yet not one AFL footballer has yet come out as openly gay. Why, one should reasonably ask? And the obvious answer remains: due the potential consequences, both on and off the field. Oh, the shame of that ……
Featuring Sacred Harp, otherwise known as shape-note or fasola, singing, The Hall is a moving and superbly executed offering. It involves a community choir delivering a capella in four-part harmony. The story concerns three members of a family. Tup (Natasha Herbert) has been diagnosed with Stage 4 frontotemporal dementia. She is incontinent and prone to…
Wicked: Part 1 is a grand spectacle. This extended musical – of which this 160-minute epic is only the first of two parts – looks magnificent on the big screen. Its colourful and captivating exterior underpins a dark side. It appears no expense has been spared to breathe life anew into the beloved stage musical,…
From relatively humble beginnings in 1956, when only seven nations competed, the Eurovision Song Contest has grown into a juggernaut of entertainment. There’s a great sense of anticipation before each year’s fresh competition, as TV audiences burgeon. Some 160 million people from more than 150 countries were involved in voting for their favourite artist this…
