What a glorious production of Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s choreographed Manon, which showcases all that is great about ballet. Featuring artists of The Australian Ballet with Orchestra Victoria, under the baton of Charles Barker, the staging is inspired, the costuming magnificent and the dancing sublime. Based on Abbé Prévost’s 1731 novel, love is pitted against money,…
Companionship, care and fluidity of movement distinguish a compelling new work by choreographers and dancers Jayden Lewis Wall and Melissa Yvonne Pham. Flesh Vessel is an appropriate title, as three bodies align and intersect throughout the 45-minute piece, which is an impactful, physical expression of self. Against a stark background, a body covered in black…
What distinguishes Dance X is creativity and excellence in diverse forms of movement and the emotion it generates. Make no mistake, feelings surface and explode – that is certainly true in my case. There is a primal connection to the art form. In a special fortnight of dance at Arts Centre Melbourne, I started with…
Imagine falling in love with a man many years your senior whose wife passed a year earlier, then quickly marrying him and moving to his stunning, sprawling estate. But far from the world being your oyster, you are shut off from his thoughts, isolated and lonely, very much living in the shadow of his beautiful…
From cabaret to comedy, music to dance, theatre to the visual arts and a lot more, diversity is the key to the 2025 Melbourne Fringe Festival. That was on display at the opening night gala at the Capitol Theatre, which gave us a taste of the almost 500-strong show lineup in this, the festival’s 43rd…
Vive la difference. Award-winning UK theatre collective SUBJECT OBJECT and Nathan Ellis, who is behind the concept and the text of two immersive, interactive shows, don’t run with the pack. In instructions, they call upon a different unrehearsed actor each time over 10 shows to follow their directive, as the actor auditions for a role…
In this family friendly tale, an ambitious, self-serving, 35-year-old Sydney TV weather presenter makes an unexpected sea change. Inspired by the true story of Chris ‘Brolga’ Barns, he has been reimagined as Chris Masterman (Ryan Corr). Chris has his eyes on a television hosting role when he inadvertently becomes public enemy #1, after a weather…
Welcome to the fun, funny, fanciful, colourful and action-packed world of Dog Man. This musical is the brainchild of Kevin Del Aguila (book and lyrics) and Brad Alexander (music), with orchestrations by Lloyd Kikoler. The characters are those adapted from the series of books by Dav Pilkey. Within the universe of Captain Underpants, Dog Man…
Writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson’s rigorous commitment to excellence in filmmaking (Magnolia) pays off again big time in One Battle After Another. Featuring stellar performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro and others, it is an epic, darkly comedic, dramatic, action thriller. As Pat Calhoun, DiCaprio is in a frenzied relationship with…
Musical theatre magic is captured by the MSO, conducted by Jessica Gethin, with two of the finest exponents of their craft, who have made it big in the West End. I speak of the vocal clarity, dexterity and brilliance of soprano Amy Manford and tenor Josh Piterman, who have starred in The Phantom of the…
