The latest songbook musical to revisit Australia is Jersey Boys, featuring the hits of Frankie Valli, Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio and Nicky Massi, more commonly known as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (among other early pseudonyms). The show is a biopic-style story punctuated by chart-toppers that made these boys from Jersey household names –…
Back when I was reviewing for Brisbane’s Spectrum radio show I created the “Scottie” Awards. They were based entirely on my taste in entertainment and collated basically as a tribute the people who gave me a lot of pleasure and whose work I admire. This year I have decided to revive this annual event. So…
Two years ago, we were treated to The Play That Goes Wrong and that was a riotous success. Now the same crew has done it again, with Peter Pan Goes Wrong; a silly but audacious take on J M Barrie’s Peter Pan. A dozen actors deliberately flub their cues, misbehave, run wild and have the audience…
The shake&stir team has created magic yet again. I have been reviewing the company for the past ten years and amazingly each of their show seemed better than the previous one. A Christmas Carol was no exception. And what exactly is the magic they make? For me it’s the creation of a perfect atmosphere for…
Tina Arena (Chicago) excels as the ill-fated Eva Perón in the revival of Evita at Arts Centre Melbourne. Acclaimed Brazilian operatic baritone Paulo Szot is her husband, Argentinian president Juan. Bringing the threads together as an energetic narrator is Kurt Kansley (The Lion King) as Ché, who represents a cynical member of the public. Also…
One of the most energetic pieces of theatre I’ve witnessed, Perpetual Frustration Machine is performance art combining circus with a dystopian underbelly. When we enter the theatre, the four cast members – Debra Batton, Adam O’Connor-McMahon, Seth Scheuner and Stephanie Benson – are engaging in a series of activities. They’re exercising on a mat, cleaning…
All My Sleep and Waking was an early play (first?) written by Mary Rachel Brown, first performed in 2002 in a 55 minute one-act version, that has had recent and further development with mentor/director, Dino Dimitriades, of the Apocalypse Theatre Company. Three siblings, Maria (Angela Bauer), Anne (Di Adams) and Peter (Richard Sydenham) await –…
Samuel Langhorne Clemens – a.k.a. Mark Twain – visited Australia in 1895. Advertising posters labelled him the funniest man in the world and audiences loved his sense of humour. Chris Wallace, the man responsible for the book, music and lyrics in Huckleberry: A Musical Adventure, isn’t credited. But he “frocks up” as the great man…
It may have premiered on Broadway 22 years ago, but Rent remains a heart-wrenching and energetic show. Of course, it’s won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, along with four Tony Awards; including Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Book. Producer James Terry brings Rent to Chapel off Chapel, and it retains all the hallmarks…
While it’s more common for theatre to be adapted into movies, some have gone the other way. They’re mostly however musicals (a la School of Rock: The Musical) or drawing room dramas. Certainly, the thought of staging a big action movie seems daunting. But the creative team behind North by Northwest have pulled off that…
