Esther Hannaford, take a bow. What a star! Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is a showcase of all that is great about musical theatre – joyful and triumphant, with Hannaford front and centre. The music is outstanding – hit after glorious hit – with superb voices to match. The story is wonderfully crafted – lovingly populist, with…
A scintillating script by British playwright Lucy Kirkwood and a trio of dynamic performances make for a highly involving two hours of entertainment in The Children. The devastating effects of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 inspired the play. When Kirkwood heard about the heroism of the retired work force returning to the plant to help…
The director of this project, Matt Scholten, had found an artistic compatibility with actor, Noni Hazlehurst, while working on The Heretic for the Melbourne Theatre Company and, as their friendship developed, decided to work together again. The challenge that the actor wanted was that of a one person show. Together they approached the Melbourne writer,…
Before it was a The Rocky Horror Picture Show of 1975, Rocky Horror Show was already a cult classic. It was at once a humorous tribute to science fiction and B grade horror movies and a culturally iconic examination of empowerment and fluid-sexuality. The adults-only musical written by Richard O’Brien tells the story of conservative newly-engaged…
Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” (part of the final movement of his Symphony No. 9) is a thorough examination of the emotion of joy as being heavenly in origin and available to mankind through a loving God. In A Clockwork Orange, however, it represents a thematic extension of 15-year-old protagonist Alex’s psychological conditioning. As the vicious…
Jimi Bani is an actor/artist of big heart and attractive personality exuding a charisma that is all enveloping. His welcome and invitation to hear his story, My Name is Jimi, is irresistible . Jimi was born on a remote island: Mabuiag (Jervis Island) in the western part of Torres Strait to the north of the…
The Alan Ayckbourn play Taking Steps, written in 1979, is the 24th opus from his ‘genius’. He’s now completed some 79 plays, the last one – so far – called Roundelay, in 2014. Taking Steps is part of a faithful commitment by The Ensemble Theatre to his work and underlines the entertainment value that he inevitably…
Well, here it is, a new Australian musical. It’s based on the film Muriel’s Wedding from 1994; an iconic, quirky, favourite of the nation. At its centre is a misfit, Muriel, who embarks on finding a life, an identity, away from the ‘closed’ world of her upbringing in Porpoise Spit, by hook or by crook…
High Fidelity is a musical of 2006, a famous Broadway flop (set in Brooklyn). It is based on the novel of 1995, by Nick Hornby (set in London), and the film of 2000, directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack (set in Chicago). It charts the growth of an emotionally stunted Rob (Toby Francis)….
What Rhymes with Cars and Girls was the timeless first solo album by You Am I’s Tim Rogers. It tells of moving out and moving on, prompted by the ruin of Rogers’ own long-term relationship and relocation to Melbourne. And 18 years after its release, its songs still packs an emotional punch. Now it’s transformed…
