Back when I was reviewing for Brisbane’s Spectrum radio show I created the “Scottie” Awards. They were based entirely on my taste in entertainment and collated basically as a tribute the people who gave me a lot of pleasure and whose work I admire. This year I have decided to revive this annual event. So…
Two years ago, we were treated to The Play That Goes Wrong and that was a riotous success. Now the same crew has done it again, with Peter Pan Goes Wrong; a silly but audacious take on J M Barrie’s Peter Pan. A dozen actors deliberately flub their cues, misbehave, run wild and have the audience…
Tina Arena (Chicago) excels as the ill-fated Eva Perón in the revival of Evita at Arts Centre Melbourne. Acclaimed Brazilian operatic baritone Paulo Szot is her husband, Argentinian president Juan. Bringing the threads together as an energetic narrator is Kurt Kansley (The Lion King) as Ché, who represents a cynical member of the public. Also…
Samuel Langhorne Clemens – a.k.a. Mark Twain – visited Australia in 1895. Advertising posters labelled him the funniest man in the world and audiences loved his sense of humour. Chris Wallace, the man responsible for the book, music and lyrics in Huckleberry: A Musical Adventure, isn’t credited. But he “frocks up” as the great man…
It may have premiered on Broadway 22 years ago, but Rent remains a heart-wrenching and energetic show. Of course, it’s won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, along with four Tony Awards; including Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Book. Producer James Terry brings Rent to Chapel off Chapel, and it retains all the hallmarks…
While it’s more common for theatre to be adapted into movies, some have gone the other way. They’re mostly however musicals (a la School of Rock: The Musical) or drawing room dramas. Certainly, the thought of staging a big action movie seems daunting. But the creative team behind North by Northwest have pulled off that…
The Christmas Spectacular is the work of Silvers Circus. This top-notch circus show was my highlight of Santa’s Magical Kingdom, a colourful cavalcade of rides, games and interactive experiences, most inside the Big Top at Caulfield Racecourse. But the extraordinary prowess of the circus performers who feature in this production left my mouth agape. The…
What happens if a woman who’s been married for 30 years suddenly confronts her man with the thought she could be into women? That happens not once but twice to two different 50-something couples in Thomas Ian Doyle’s latest incendiary work, Pins and Needles. Clearly the spark in these relationships when they formed is no…
The Overcoat is a new Australian work – a musical – by Constantine, Michael and Rosemarie Costi – based on the eponymous Nikolai Gogol short story from 1842. The literal translation used is by Alena Lodkina. Gogol seems to be the parent to a writer like Kafka and his more familiar concerns. In this version…
As its title suggests, Queensland Theatre’s Hedda is an adaption (by Melissa Bubnic) of Henrik Ibsen’s realist classic Hedda Gabler. The original story is of a scheming Hedda. Just into a marriage of convenience, she decides to destroy the life of an old lover, jealous of his new love affair. The original story is pretty…
