Hijinks abound in the witty, irreverent, farcical hit musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. A world first, all-female identifying cast of 10 give voice to a comedy that has its roots in Roman times. It is feel good material, with plenty of laughs along the way. Pseudolus (Charmaine Gorman) is a wily…
Rarely does a production come along that deserves the tag of ‘landmark’. In The Dismissal, now on at the Seymour Centre in Sydney, a new standard of Australian devised and created theatre has arrived. Put simply, it’s non-stop enjoyment! Politics may not be everyone’s cup of tea. And the events of 11 November 1975 still…
What is your anthem? It’s an early question that not only leaves audience members pondering, but sums up the central premise of Shake and Stir’s uplifting new work, Tae Tae in the Land of Yaaas!, appearing as part of Brisbane Festival. More than a favourite tune, a person’s anthem is a theme song declaration of…
British musician Mike Oldfield was still in his teens when he recorded his first studio album, the iconic number one chart topper Tubular Bells. It was the first release on Richard Branson’s fledgling label Virgin Records and went on to sell tens of millions of copies. Sales surged when Tubular Bells’ opening theme was used in the…
Anthony Lapaglia and Alison Whyte shine in a superb rendition of one of the finest plays of the 20th century, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. It won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play in the same year. It is an incendiary look at the American Dream, which relates to…
Two, original, 35-minute works broken by a 20-minute interval, the first involves 22 dancers aged 10 to 17 (the youth artists) and the second 15 adults. Youngsters in various formations – all dressed in parallel versions of white and black – run, leap, tumble and turn in Happily Ever After. A series of vignettes, the scenes…
Club Vegas is a fulsome variety show that would be quite at home on casino stages around the world. It combines modern interpretations of hit songs with rolled gold classics and colourful, bejewelled, bedazzling costuming with feathered headdresses to die for. Quite the spectacle. I couldn’t get enough of it. The dancers take to the stage from the…
The best storytelling comes from showing not telling… that is using action (or lack of, as the case may be) to reveal the emotions intended to be interpreted by the audience. Awareness of this is at the core of Hannah Belanszky’s mainstage debut work Don’t Ask What the Bird Look Like from its very outset…
Faith is put under the spotlight in Jodi Gallagher’s immersive new work Prophet. Is it the story of Christianity? There are certainly elements of it in there. I am thinking of Jesus and one of his disciplines in particular. This journey started with Gallagher writing about Jewish mystic Sabbatai Zevi and his prophet, theologian Nathan of Gaza. Mind…
Ten iconic female voices from different eras, with diverse styles – from husky to angelic. They are the divas in the show title. Songstress par excellence Bernadette Robinson mesmerises with her musical range and artistry. She channels Kate Bush, Shirley Bassey, Karen Carpenter, Edith Piaf, Dolly Parton, Miley Cyrus, Barbra Streisand, Maria Callas, Amy Winehouse and Judy…
