How unexpectedly and thrillingly different – a bold and unique theatrical offering from the UK, which makes its international debut at the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Think WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) crossed with Norse mythology in a story that melds passion and pain with humour and bravado. Mythos: Ragnarok features professional wrestlers – gigantic men and fearsome…
Sensual and alluring, Matador combines scantily clad performers with pulsating English and Spanish beats, and acrobatic acts in a fast-moving show. It is a fusion of dance, circus and burlesque, a modern celebration of forbidden love, carnal desires, passion and pain in its many coloured hues. At its core is acceptance of diversity. Eleven performers cavort, clamber…
Think outrageous, absurd and hilarious and you have the starting point for Le Freak. It is show that sets out to shock and delight, and that it most certainly does. The talent incorporates trans, queer, disabled and indigenous performers. They execute a series of outlandish sketches, interspersed with video content. The show also features a beloved puppet ferret who…
Hardly a conventional musical, The Tony Award-winning Songs for a New World* is thematic. It doesn’t follow a linear narrative. Dating from 1995, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, it is about life changing moments and navigating uncertainty. The cast represents passengers on a crowded ship en route to a new land. Traditionally, the show is…
Elvis lives. I dare say many the world over would hope that isn’t just a throwaway line, rather a reality. The truth is the legend of Elvis does live on. Not for naught is he still referred to as The King. Elvis: A Musical Revolution explores the life and times of one of the world’s truly great…
Subterfuge and skullduggery abound, with the Russians and the Allies at loggerheads during the Cold War in Chess: The Musical. The maneuvering is intense, the stakes are high at the World Chess Championships. With music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA, and book and lyrics from Tim Rice, CLOC has put on a tremendous production. The…
Sex, crime and bad behaviour characterise the ’60s dark period drama romance Roaring, the debut work for writer and director Staz Barres. Vera (Jackie von Lierop) desperately wants to make it in show business. She seeks fame. As it is, she works in a dead-end job as a waitress, alongside her friend Jane (Daisy Paxton-White). The pair…
Featuring 22 tracks from ABBA, Mamma Mia! The Musical is bright, breezy, energetic and heaps of good-natured fun. Whenever it returns, it always goes down a treat and I never tire of seeing it. The show premiered in Oz on the 9th June 2001 and played for four years to more than 2.2 million people in eight…
Fifty years ago, The Exorcist rewrote the rule book. It was the first horror film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. The loosely connected The Exorcist: Believer starts in colourful style in Haiti. Pregnant Sorenne Fielding (Tracey Graves) and her photographer husband Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) are on holiday. Then, all hell breaks loose….
Just why Deborah Conway and her husband Willy Zygier are cherished as Australian music royalty is evident when you see Songs from the Book of Life. It is an 80-minute narrative concert featuring a cavalcade of life experiences, as outlined by Conway, along with eight songs. She goes back to her childhood when her parents used…
