Love, loss and laughter are potent and enduring in composer William Finn’s (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) Elegies. Based around the importance of community, Elegies is a song cycle, namely a series of songs that hang together thematically, rather than through a narrative thread. Having said that, attendees at a regular, all male…
Superlatives hardly do justice to the magnificent staging of one of Disney’s all-time favourites, Beauty and the Beast, which has been revised and enhanced. The striking sets and glorious costuming set the scene for a joyful celebration of song and dance … and the Hollywood ending that everyone wants to see play out. Fast-moving advances in technology…
Few are as fearless in opening up their lives, warts and all, as is Namibian born Natalie Gamsu. The singer, actor and cabaret performer who moved to Australia in 2003 studied drama at the University of Capetown and has worked all over the world. She lifts the lid on her experiences, giving us her thoughts and feelings…
Am I an ABBA fan? You betcha. I love what they created. I adore their songs and their harmonies. And while the closest thing we are likely to see to them performing together again is the hologram concert ABBA Voyage, there is something mighty special in town. I refer to a dedicated choir established by ABBA The…
The unmissable nighttime visual spectacle Lightscape has returned to the Royal Botanic Gardens for a third winter with a reimagined trail and new installations. It is a glorious exhibition of creativity, featuring a stunning array of large-scale illuminated sculptures, many colour-changing. More than that, trees are lit up, there is fire, fog and projections along the two-kilometre…
Music like, I dare say, you have never seen it performed before. An hour-long pulsating beat, complete with athleticism, instruments struck and strummed outside the norm, treadmill vocals and wild cheering from the bleachers. There’s also a commentator and a highly enthusiastic cheerleader who, too, breaks the conventional mould (in fact, the whole performance piece does). All…
Spectacular, colourful and creative headdresses, feathers and finery are front and centre as performers from Club Vegas hit the stage. Broad smiles, popular song and dance numbers, athletic, dare-devil acrobatics and comic interludes are the order of the day. It is a show that is dynamic, bold and brassy, and has the enthusiastic audience cheering throughout. For…
To bastardise a popular expression, those flying closest to the sun shine brightest before they burn up. That set of words could be the starting point for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical (with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton) Sunset Boulevard. Set in Los Angeles in 1949 and 1950, the villain is Norma…
Power, passion and subterfuge make for a heady cocktail. And so it is in Opera Australia’s Tosca. It is a compelling thriller with a great deal of bite, being staged at Margaret Court Arena because the State Theatre is closed, while undergoing a three-year upgrade. Amidst the unrelenting drama, stirring arias and evocative set design predominate. With…
Billy Elliot The Musical remains as moving and evocative as when I first saw it at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 1stJanuary, 2009 … and what a magnificent show it is. For me, this is up there with the best musicals brought to the stage. It is based on the successful 2000 film, which starred Jamie…
