A brilliant new musical set in racially charged America’s deep south in the ‘60s has just come to town and you only have a few days to see it. An 11-strong cast and “hidden” orchestra (they are behind a black floor to ceiling curtain) tell the story of a young woman who sets out on…
Talk about playing mind games with words. A decade after MTC staged this Tony Award winning musical comedy, the Vic Theatre Company has brought it back to tickle our funny bones again. It is, indeed, hilarious, more than a touch silly and really fun, but not without pathos … for you see the contestants in…
Adapted from the Academy Award-winning 1990 film starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore (it won Oscars for Best Supporting Actress – Whoopi Goldberg – and Best Original Screenplay) Ghost the Musical is a beauty, a real crowd pleaser. Rob Mills’ (WICKED) voice is stronger than ever, dynamic and commanding as banker Sam Wheat, the love…
I am fast running out of superlatives with which to describe the choice of material, the interpretations and the staging of plays at the Owl and Cat Theatre. Gabrielle Savrone, a director and Thomas Ian Doyle, a playwright and director, took over the space in Swan Street, Richmond only 18 months ago. In that time…
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…
The baton has been officially passed to Delta Goodrem as Grizabella, the shunned Glamour Cat and she makes a triumphant entrance to musical theatre, with the audience favourite Memory. What a voice! I remember thinking the same thing when I first saw Debra Byrne in the role in 1985, who, incidentally, attended the opening night…
Provocative. Intense. Disturbing. In Tinderbox you are up close and personal, witnessing the highs and lows (especially the latter) of a nine-month relationship between a pair of 20-somethings that unravels before your very eyes. Violence and mental torment, jealousy and hatred are the stock in trade. There is also tenderness and intimacy, flirtation and ecstasy,…
It was 1995 when Australia first produced the enchanting musical The Secret Garden starring Philip Quast, Anthony Warlow and Marina Prior. With book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize-winner Marsha Norman and music by Lucy Simon, it was based upon the Victorian classic written by Frances Hodgson Burnett in the early 1900s. The Broadway production four…
My second Escape Room experience in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs was just as intriguing as the first I had back in June. I mentioned then that mind-bending activities like this are infectious and apropos of a glass of fine wine or a mouth-watering dessert, it is hard to stop at one.So, I was unashamedly excited to…
It is the 1980s. An elderly woman passes away. She lived with her son, being one of her five offspring. But there was no love lost between that son, Leslie and his sister Maureen. Each has their say in this heartfelt two-act play, with one actor – UK-born Michael Dalton, who immigrated to Australia in…
