One of the world’s best-loved musicals, WICKED, has arrived in Brisbane this week to the delight of QPAC audiences. If you’re not one of the estimated 65 million people worldwide to have seen the show since its debut in 2003, WICKED is the untold story of the witches of Oz. An origin story if you…
The spark burns brightly in Hairspray, a delightfully breezy musical with discrimination as its theme. It is colourful and dynamic, with toe-tapping tunes, smooth moves and a stellar cast, with talent to burn. The show positively sizzles, bringing frenzied acclamation from an appreciative audience. We’re in Baltimore in 1962. Teenager Tracy Turnblad (Carmel Rodrigues) is small of stature…
So, you think you know the Cinderella story – the one about the poor “servant” to the evil stepmother and her taunting stepsisters? Well, think again, for the creatives behind the musical have shaken things up, even if the essence of the tale remains unchanged. “Yes”, Cinderella still gets to go to the ball and catch the…
Unsound is an Australian feature film directed by Ian Watson (Doctor Doctor, Janet King). When gigging guitarist, Noah (Reece Noi, Game of Thrones), quits the band of a 90s pop icon Moniqua (Christina Anu), he returns to his mother’s home in Sydney, Australia. Noah soon finds himself swept up in the life of a young,…
While the translation of films for the stage has become routine, screen-to-stage musicals can be troublesome, especially when the source material is not a musical in and of itself. In the case of Shrek The Musical, however, the stage show has everything that made the movie fun and then some. Through David Lindsay-Abaire’s book and…
Fun, funny, light hearted, colourful and energetic, Shrek The Musical surprised me with its warmth, relatability and good natured banter. Of course, the 2001 Dreamworks Animation film starring Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow – upon which it is based, along with the 1990 book by William Steig – was a huge box office…
Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810 – 1891) was the master of smoke and mirrors; the ultimate flimflam man. Although often down on his luck and short of money, he always managed to find a way out. That had something to do with his vivid imagination and a lot more to do with his grounded wife, Charity….
