Adapting work from screen to stage can be tricky, even more so when it is a beloved animated feature. Thankfully, the hit family-friendly Broadway musical Frozen rises to this challenge, with lavish production design, stunning costumes and impressive special effects to astound as much as entertain. The musical, adapted from the Disney film and Hans…
Maddy Pratt loves sex … she loves, loves, loves sex. So, it only makes sense that she would pen an ode to her favourite pastime. She is wild and kinky too, but woe betide anyone who thinks she’s a lightweight. Make no mistake, while her one woman show (with accompanying pianist Ashton Turner) is risqué and heaps of…
A poignant and amusing slice of life musical, it is not hard to see why Fun Home received five Tony Awards for the original Broadway production. That included Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. Now, fortunately, Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company have picked it up and done a wonderful job…
What a thoroughly entertaining showpiece! I last saw The Wedding Singer when it played at the Athenaeum Theatre last May. Now, at the State Theatre, at the Arts Centre, it remains just as fun filled and comedic, but it appears even slicker. The leads are intact among the 20-strong cast and are truly memorable. Collectively, the company sing,…
A family secret is the elephant in the room when three generations of women share luxury hotel accommodation in Copenhagen as one of them prepares to accept a prestigious award. That is Emma (Kate Cole), a middle-aged author, who is about to receive the Hans Christian Andersen Award (the “Little Nobel Prize”) for children’s literature. She is…
A near death experience is revealed as an adventure story in MTC’s comedic drama Touching the Void, which kicks off its 2022 season. The vehicle is the wake in a Scottish pub for climber Joe (Joe Klocek). It is being orchestrated by his potty-mouthed sister Sarah (Lucy Durack). Attending are the two members of Joe’s party on the…
The Oscar-winning writer of the powerful film Juno, Diablo Cody, has crafted another beauty, this time the storyline behind the stellar musical Jagged Little Pill. The result, a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. Like Juno, Jagged Little Pill is a comedic drama, with inclusion at its core. And who can go past the acerbic tongue…
It’s astonishing to think that Bob Dylan unwittingly worked on creating the music and lyrics for Girl from the North Country for more than four decades. For most of his career this vibrant and touching musical lay hidden within his many albums. Finally, in 2013, the creative genius of writer/director Conor McPherson imagined the plot,…
Zodiac mythology binds together 12 acts that are a fusion of circus, burlesque and dance in Oracle. It is the work of the team behind the award-winning Matador. Pulsating, toe-tapping, beats are the order of the day, along with a cavalcade of colourful and risqué costuming and athletic and acrobatic feats on and above the stage. Among…
Littlies (several wearing angel wings) danced and clapped. They cheered and waved their arms about. Truth be told, so did their parents and grandparents. That is because The Australian Shakespeare Company really knows how to tap into audience sensibilities. Tinkerbell and the Dream Fairies, in the magnificent Ripponlea Gardens, is a treat for those after colour, movement,…
