Powerhouse performances and an electrifying vibe. That is the essence of a cavalcade of hits from Broadway musicals brought to the Melbourne stage by Sam Steven Productions. Vocalists Hannah Underwood, Sylvia Kokkinas, Andrew Vassett and Craig Lough join a talented four-piece band to figuratively lift the roof off The MC Showroom. While many of the…
There is so much joy in Pretty Woman: The Musical. I adore what the collaborators have done with the beloved story of the Hollywood sex worker and the wealthy businessman. It is based on the 1990 feel good romance, written by J. F. Lawton and directed by Garry Marshall, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere….
Breaking up is hard to do. So it goes, as Karin McCracken and Simon Leary put on a most entertaining sketch comedy show, peppered with science and some musical numbers. In so doing, they unpack the angst associated with broken relationships. In character, she struggles big time to put the past in the past. It…
Lively, colourful and energetic, Bring It On!, The Musical focuses on the competitive world of cheerleading. Debuting in the US in 2011, the Tony award nominated musical was inspired by the 2000 film of the same name, written by Jessica Bendinger and starring Kirsten Dunst. The music is by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, lyrics…
A cavalcade of colour, movement and sound, EONARIUM Enlightenment is a sensory sensation with huge emotional resonance. Upstairs at the Immigration Museum is the perfect venue to immerse yourself in this spirited showcase that dazzles and delights. Antonio Vivaldi’s Baroque era masterpiece The Four Seasons provides the ultimate sound bed for an extraordinary half hour…
Tragicomic in nature, Sweet Charity features a series of big musical numbers. It premiered on Broadway in 1966, was nominated for nine Tony Awards (winning one for choreography) and continues to resonate. With book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, it is based on the screenplay for the 1957…
A glorious spoken and sung hoot, this is an audacious retelling of Pride & Prejudice. Just what would author Jane Austen have thought of it? I dare say she would be figuratively rolling around the aisles, just like the rest of us. Scottish playwright Isobel McArthur simply goes “bang” and wows us, time and again…
A sensational, largely musical tribute to Grey Gardens, House of Rot resonates … and how, from the first note. Grey Gardens was a derelict 14-room mansion in the wealthy neighbourhood of East Hampton in New York. It was populated by two reclusive, upper-class women – a mother and daughter. Their names were Edith Ewing Bouvier…
A prolific, iconic writer and feminist who lived life on her terms, Miles Franklin (14th October, 1879 – 19th September, 1954) is best known for her auspicious debut, My Brilliant Career. Her legacy lives on through her published works and with the announcement of the annual Miles Franklin Literary Award to a novel of literary…
Joan of Arc – was she a saint or a sinner? She was an illiterate peasant girl who believed she was acting under divine guidance when she guided the French army to victory in 1429. What she did was, indeed, momentous. She effectively stymied an attempt by the English to conquer France during the Hundred Years’…
