As an 18-year-old nerd, Brit Steve Bugeja decided to reinvent himself. So he flew to the US and volunteered at a summer camp for children with autism. For the first time in his life, he wanted to be known as “Cool Steve”. Well, that didn’t work out, but still he gives a hilarious account of…
A series of massive, crowd-pleasing chorus numbers are among the highlights of Grease: The Arena Experience. More than 500 enthusiastic youngsters join the 19-strong main cast and make a big impression. Harvest Rain Theatre Company is responsible for touring this production. They’re intent on introducing thousands of youngsters to the musical art form. For those…
David O’Doherty delivers lightning-speed patter both spoken and sung – the latter with the accompaniment of an old fashioned keyboard. His latest Melbourne International Comedy Festival show is You Have To Laugh at the Forum. The Irish comedian has been plying his trade for a couple of decades now. O’Doherty won £1,000 as the best…
My take on Garfield: The Musical with Cattitude – energetic, fun and funny. This musical is based on the world’s most widely syndicated comic strip. Jim Davis created the cat Garfield, the human Jon Arbuckle and the dog Odie in 1978. Today it is syndicated to more than 2,500 media outlets worldwide. Common themes in…
Going Down by Michelle Lee is a new Australian play. Last year, the Griffin Theatre presented her play, Rice. Natalie Yang (Catherine Davies), a Chinese-Australian, has written her first book, “Banana Girl”, a no-holds-barred sex memoir. No-one is really interested. On the other hand Lu Lu Jayadi (Jenny Wu), an Muslim-Australian from Indonesia, has written…
Superbly written by Jane e Thompson, Fierce is a beautiful nuanced play that highlights gender disparity in sports. I was riveted throughout. Suzie Flack is better than other female AFL footballers. She doesn’t want to play in the women’s league. Rather, she’s intent on competing against men. And she gets her chance to do so,…
UK actor Maddie Rice delivers a pitch perfect performance in Fleabag. She doesn’t miss a beat in an absorbing hour that starts off with a job interview from hell. She says and does all the wrong things. The business owner – who turns out to have a few skeletons – wants to terminate the conversation…
In the Heights is an American musical that first saw the light of day in 2005. It arrived on Broadway in 2008. Nominated for 13 Tony Awards, it won 4, including best musical. This work was conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also wrote the lyrics and music. The show centres on a corner of shops…
One of the takeaways from Bare the Musical is that the Catholic Church has a lot to answer for. This heart-wrenching musical concerns life’s most intimate struggles with equality and fairness. At its core are a couple of seniors – Peter (Adam Di Martino) and Jason (Finn Alexander) – who attend a Catholic boarding school….
Ten minutes into Abigail’s Party, I was thinking, “if only the playwright (renowned British scribe Mike Leigh) had killed off all his characters”. Then we wouldn’t have to sit through the rest of this drivel. I was looking around, disinterested in the material. The whole sorry episode seemed simply mindless nonsense. Fast-forward another 90 minutes and I…
