A light, lively and joyous family friendly production of Mozart’s final opera before his passing, The Magic Flute is a cavalcade of fun and treachery. For me, four characters turned the beloved opera into something special. Foremost among them was Andrew Moran’s quintessential, knockabout Aussie representation of the bird catcher, Papageno. From the moment he…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 8 November 2024. Best-selling, prizewinning novelist and member of legendary sadcore band Art of Fighting, Peggy Frew has shared her debut album Dial-Up. Dial-Up is Frew’s first solo album. Luminous and ominous, the songs on Dial-Up are full of…
I am faced with a predicament that I can’t say I have confronted too many times after a few decades of reviewing. I have just seen a compelling piece of theatre, which I am about to highly recommend, but I will resist going into detail about the plot. I choose not to do so because…
From the opening words “oh, crap”, uttered by Sister Mary Lazarus, as played by the indomitable Rhonda Burchmore, we know Sister Act will be deliciously irreverent. In fact, it is a buoyant hoot, with some extraordinary musical performances and no shortage of colour and glitter. The show looks and sounds fabulous. What makes it so…
The Belair Lip Bombs are an indie band from Naarm/Melbourne, led by frontwoman Maisie Everett (vocals, guitar, keys) alongside Mike Bradvica (guitar), Liam De Bruin (drums), and Jimmy Droughton (bass). Over the past few years, they’ve steadily built their presence, performing live across Australia and making appearances at SXSW and BBC 6 Music. These efforts…
The supremely talented Washington family come together to keep the legacy of the late August Wilson alive with The Piano Lesson. And in the process, they’ve created one of the most extraordinary films of the year. The Piano Lesson is the third in patriarch Denzel Washington’s ambitious ongoing project to produce films of all Wilson’s…
MARVELous The Show is an irreverent, R-rated, musical parody of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has fans squealing with delight. It is risqué, comedic and delightfully silly and showcases familiar MARVEL costuming with a twist, rock and pop music, dance numbers, stunts, magic and aerial acts. It is a cross between cabaret and circus. A…
The opening of Tim Winton’s new novel Juice cannot help but put readers in mind of Cormac McCarthy’s seminal work The Road. A man, possibly an ex-soldier, and a young girl travel in a vehicle across a blasted future landscape: So I drive until first light and only stop when the plain turns black and…
I must confess that I haven’t seen the first two films in the Terrifier series. But I was drawn to check out the third film in the slasher franchise out of curiosity due to news reports from the US about people fainting, vomiting and fleeing from the cinema due to the intense level of graphic…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 1 November 2024. I Just Need To Conquer This Mountain is an album of late night reflections on goodbyes, grief, new beginnings, and an important friendship that underpinned Sarah Blasko’s childhood, and finds one of Australia’s most revered songwriters…
