The Seekers were Australia’s first international supergroup (they have sold tens of millions of records), so it is only fitting that their story makes it onto the stage as a musical in Georgy Girl: The Seekers Musical. With Judith Durham as their centrepiece, their arrangements and pure sound saw them score hit after hit in…
Hollywood has a lot to answer for, and Maria Schrader’s She Said delves into one of its most high-profile scandals. The behaviour of Harvey Weinstein, the high-profile founder of Miramax, is now well-documented. But it wasn’t always so. Someone had to uncover the truth. The story was blown open by a New York Times investigation…
“I have to say it was a completely amazing and beautiful thing that happened to me, completely out of the blue,” admits classical composer David Lang. Lang was chosen by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty, etc) to create the musical score for his latest film Youth, a poetic meditation on life and ageing….
If tables could talk, I think most of us would want them to shut up pretty quickly. They just sit there watching, year after year, recording all the great events that take place around them, on them and, apparently, under them. In Tanya Ronder’s Table, secrets of the Best family are aired publicly and without…
As cultural touchstones go, few are as storied – or problematic – as Dune. Frank Herbert’s dense 1965 novel was (and is still) regarded as a breakthrough in the sci-fi genre, spawning a sometimes-fanatical following. The book was often considered unfilmable – something reinforced by Alejandro Jodorowsky’s failed attempt at it in the 1970s. Then…
A dynamic lead, some stirring and familiar numbers and a moving story with which I wasn’t familiar make Dusty: The Musical well worth attending. Director Jason Langley was one of the actors who workshopped Dusty back in 2004. Written by John-Michael Howson, David Mitchell and Melvyn Morrow (the team that also wrote Shout! The Legend…
This re-imagined production of Peter Schaffer’s Tony Award winning drama about the fictional rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri is being staged as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations for the Sydney Opera House. Classical music and opera are incorporated into Schaffer’s drama. Snippets of Mozart’s famous compositions and his operas, such as…
One of the most complex and sophisticated animated features I have seen, Zootopia pits a high achiever rabbit alongside its natural predator, a cool and wily fox. The studio has a long and storied legacy of talking animals – from Mickey Mouse’s debut short, Steamboat Willie to Bambi, Dumbo, The Jungle Book and The Lion…
John Krasinski – that all-round good guy from The Office (US) – never struck me as an action hero. But somehow he makes it work in Amazon Prime’s spy drama Jack Ryan (or to give it its full title: Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan). Remember, this is a character that’s been played by Alec Baldwin (in…
Monopoly now has its own localised version for one of the most picturesque parts of Australia, Victoria’s stunning Yarra Valley. Local businesses have gotten together to support a new iteration of the classic board game, which is the most played in the world. In fact, according to the Australian licensee, more than 250 million copies…
