Reviews

Mary Coustas - This is Personal

The Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne. June 27 – July 2, 2023

Mary Coustas gets personal in new one-woman show

The woman behind Australia’s beloved ‘Effie’ from Acropolis Now and Wogs out of Work got personal last night at the Arts Centre Melbourne in front of what seemed to be a full house in her new exciting and highly entertaining one-woman show This is Personal. I grew up watching Effie on TV and I have also seen Coustas’s show Effie The Virgin Bride, which toured a few years ago. 

City of Angels

Book by Larry Gelbert. Music by Cy Coleman. Lyrics by David Zippel. Joshua Robson Productions and Hayes Theatre. Directed and choreographed by Sam Hooper. Musical Directors: Abi McGunn and Damon Wade. June 23 – July 23, 2023

Once again, a beautifully boiled down production of a rarely performed Broadway classic is on show up close at the Hayes Theatre.

Although in this case it has only been boiled down a little, as the ensemble includes 18 members of the cast, and seven members of a hot band that are on stage surrounding the cast in a semi-circle.

That is a ratio of just under one cast member/musician for every four members of the audience!

Home, I’m Darling

By Laura Wade. Canberra Rep. Directed by Alexandra Pelvin. 22 June – 8 July 2023

Post-WWII 1950s London.  Movies featuring such luminaries as Doris Day and Rock Hudson portrayed the ideal wife as feminine in fashion — typified by tight bodices and flowing, full skirts; sparkling jewellery and the single or double strand of pearls; and swept-up hair — and as making the home cheerful, colourful, and restful for her husband.  The pretty wife made the perfect nest for her breadwinning husband, who, of course, brought her gifts and took her to magnificent dance halls, where they twirled their way across the floor until the small hours, when they returne

Common Dissonance

Created by Na Djinang Circus. Cremorne Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC). Brisbane, 22 June to 1 July 2023

Part Dreamtime, part dance, part skilful acrobatics, the Brisbane debut of the award-winning Common Dissonance by Na Djinang Circus is a moving exploration by two bodies of what dissonance, conflict, love and reconciliation look like from a visual perspective.

Reaching for the Moon

Lorina Gore & Alex Raineri. Opera Q Studio, Brisbane. 23 & 24 June 2023

Award-winning Australian superstar soprano Lorina Gore has performed for Opera Queensland, Opera Australia, and a range of international companies. Accomplished pianist Alex Raineri is a soloist, collaborator, producer of the Brisbane Music Festival, and has been partnering with Opera Queensland for a number of years. Together these artists have created a special event for Opera Queensland’s Studio Series – Reaching for the Moon – and it was a perfect pairing for a magical performance.

Midnight – The Cinderella Musical

Music & lyrics by John Foreman and Anthony Costanzo and featuring an exclusive song by Kate Miller-Heidke. Direction/Book: Dean Murphy and Pip Mushin. Musical Direction/Arranger: Anthony Barnhill. Presented by Aspect Entertainment, Sounds Write Productions & Impresario Productions. Comedy Theatre, Exhibition Street, Melbourne. June 22 – July 18, 2023.

In the last 35 years writers of Australian musicals have had a great track record producing dozens of successful new works. The Boy from Oz, Hot Shoe Shuffle, Strictly Ballroom, Priscilla – Queen of the Desert, The Sapphires, King Kong, Muriel’s Wedding, and Moulin Rouge!

Konstantin: Grandmother’s Tongue

Text: Alison Richards. Music: Nela Trifkovic. Performance dramaturgy: Irine Vela. Design and visual Dramaturgy: Dagmara Gieysztor. The Loft Theatre, Chapel Off Chapel, Prahran. 23-25 June 2023

The mythic rooster Konstantin and his protective and enlivening role in a small, safe village is introduced by Grandmother Babcia (Alison Richards) and provides a backdrop for the compelling story of the hardships of Grandmother Babcia and her hen, Kazia’s journey from safety to displacement. Their story throws light on the role of animals as companions, myths and in some of the play’s most difficult moments, as food.

SHHH

By Clare Barron. Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre. 20 June – 16 July 2023

In a series of thematically linked vignettes, SHH gives us women’s experience of their bodies – of their bodies’ violation, manipulation, fluids and excretions.  One irony is that the women here refer to their bodies almost as if they do not inhabit them – as if they are unconnected to them.  The title – Shhh – might mean, ‘don’t talk about these things’ – or it might mean, ‘No, we must talk about these things in order to change them.’

Disney Frozen Kids

Music and Lyrics by Kristen Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez, book by Jennifer Lee. Scripted Drama. Directed by Sian Wake. Pinjarra Civic Centre, WA. June 24, 2023

I was fortunate to catch the very short season of Scripted Drama’s production of Disney’s Frozen Kids. Featuring a huge enthusiastic cast of young people aged 7 to 14, this was a show with high production values, lots of enthusiasm and joy of performing.

This cut down version of Frozen condenses the famous story, largely with the help of a team of storytellers. Scripted’s version featured the talent and teamwork of Eveii Coles, Ava Westley, Emma Rob, Lamika Koroheke, and Holly Thorburn.

In His Words: Voices of Fatherhood

Created by Creswick. The Street Theatre, Canberra City, 23–25 June 2023.

A multimedia work emerging from The Street’s Early Phase program, In His Words sets words to half a dozen riffs interspersed between on-screen fragments of interviews with nine fathers. It was certainly a refreshing change to see explicit appreciation for the value of fatherhood.

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