Inspired by the tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen in 1837, director Rob Marshall’s (Mary Poppins Returns) take on The Little Mermaid is the story of an outsider who is embraced. Set in the 1830s in and around the waters of a fictitious Caribbean Island, Ariel (Halle Bailey) is a spirited mermaid with…
Irish writer and Nobel Prize winner Samuel Beckett’s works can be difficult to get your head around. So, it is with Worstward Ho at Theatre Works, featuring a bravura showing by Rob Meldrum who plays a figure wrestling with the end of the world. Now true confession time. I sat there for an hour and had no…
Half a century on, the Rocky Horror Show remains a delightful, bizarre and engaging romp that encourages audience participation. Opening night of the 50th anniversary Melbourne production saw plenty of “shout outs” from enthusiastic patrons, acknowledged by narrator Myf Warhurst. With music, lyrics and book by Richard O’Brien, the musical is a tribute to the science fiction and…
Navigating the vicissitudes in a relationship can be tricky at the best of times, but cross-cultural unions more often than not face additional difficulties. So it is with Ella (Eleanor Barkla) and Hasseb (Oz Malik). The pair meets at a performance workshop. They are from opposite sides of the Thames. He is a poet and she is…
Rhonda Burchmore sizzles in Cabaret De Paris. With those golden tonsils of hers, she sings up a storm. It is great to see and hear her in such fine form. She looks like she hasn’t aged at all. How does she do it? She’s cheeky, cheery, sexy and seductive. It is her showcase and she delivers in spades,…
It is the 13th century and we are with German poet and singer Tannhäuser (Stefan Vinke). Having left the company of his fellow troubadours, he has given himself over to lust in another world inhabited by the goddess Venus (Anna-Louise Cole). But he longs for his old life and so he leaves, only to find himself…
Adrenalin pumping action and a big-name cast feature in Fast X. The film is the tenth in the Fast and Furious franchise, which began in 2001. The pretence for Fast X goes back to 2011’s Fast Five. You might recall from the earlier movie that Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew took out nefarious…
Today, deteriorating mental health is spoken about far more often than it used to be, which is a good thing, but what does it look like up close and personal? Based on her own experiences, Chelsea Plumley’s insightful work takes us there. 41-year-old Shelley (Petra Glieson) is quite a handful. She always has been. She has…
Tony Burge, who assumes the role of lead FBI agent Carl Hanratty chasing boyish con man Frank Abagnale Jr. excels in Cloc’s production of Catch Me If You Can. He is strong vocally and as an actor, with a fine command of comic timing, which is a key ingredient in the musical. With book by Terrence McNally,…
The ‘50s and ‘60s continue to resonate as Shake Rattle ‘N’ Roll gives us a cavalcade of song, movement and colour. The fuse is re-lit and burns for more than two hours, thanks to a poised, polished and preened cast of four singers and 10 dancers. The pretence is the re-creation of famous, gravelly voiced American DJ…
