Reviews

To Lonely, With Love

Created by Jennifer Monk, Perri Cummings and Lisa Dallinger. La Mama Theatre (Vic). March 21 – 25, 2018

There is a lot to be said about the art of letter writing, especially between the incarcerated and lonely people on the outside.

To Lonely, With Love, created from real letters by the director and performer Jennifer Monk, with Lisa Dallinger and Perri Cummings, is having its second season after its Explorations run at La Mama in 2016.

This is a genuinely entertaining nostalgia-driven piece of drama meeting physical theatre.

Beauty and the Beast

Music by Alan Menken. Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. Book by Linda Woolverton. Miranda Musical Society. Sutherland Entertainment Centre. March 21 – 25, 2018

With Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, one’s first thought is of magic; the magic of Disney, the magic of music, and the magic of imagination.

It’s story of the arrogant young prince and his castle's servants falling under a spell that won’t be broken until he learns to love and be loved in return. When the beautiful and headstrong Belle enters his castle, along with the help of his enchanted servants, she begins to draw the cold-hearted Beast out of his isolation.

Flight Paths

By Julian Larnach. National Theatre of Parramatta. Riverside Theatres. March 16 – 24, 2018

“This is a world where men and birds fall from the sky, where young women are judged by the colour of their skin and where power can be ordained by a line of succession … where most of the characters genuinely want to create a better, fairer world than the one they were born into.” (Anthea Williams, Director)

The Crucible

By Arthur Miller. Directed by Matt Edgerton. Geoff Gibbs Theatre, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, WA. March 16-22, 2018

WAAPA’s The Crucible, performed by Third Year Acting Students, feels very different to the typical production of Arthur Miller’s classic script, with director Matt Edgerton’s desire to encourage the audience to look at the play with fresh eyes fully realised.

21

Written and directed by Mollie Earnshaw. Hayman Theatre, Curtin University, Bentley, WA. March 18-23, 2018

The new short play, 21, written and directed by Mollie Earnshaw, is presented as part of Curtin University’s Sunday Night and Lunchtime Theatre series.

A very nicely written relationship drama, it tells of a young man Jimmy who contracts penile cancer. Despite the serious subject matter, there is lovely use of light and shade and beautifully drawn likeable characters. Mollie Earnshaw’s writing of dialogue is very clever, especially her use of rapid patter.

Opera By The Lakes

Nyerimilang Hertiage Park East Gippsland. (Vic). March 18, 2018

Opera By The Lakes on Sunday March 18th - what a wonderful day - with the most amazing program performed by singers from Opera Australia and Vic Opera, plus Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Victoria. Patrons came from all over Australia and overseas, including a tour group from Hamilton, New Zealand, waited eagerly to pass through the gates of Nyerimilang Heritage Park to enjoy the vocal talent awaiting them.

Dogfight

Music & Lyrics: Benj Pasek & Justin Paul Book: Peter Duchan. Bankstown Theatre Company. Director: Meg Day, Musical Director: Clare Moroney, Choreographer: Lauren Nalty. Bankstown Arts Centre. March 16 – 24, 2018.

Bankstown’s Dogfight is not just a great show, it’s a powerful and emotional experience.

Meg Day’s direction and set design, Clare Moroney’s musical direction, Lauren Nalty’s choreography, Rod Bertram’s evocative lighting and sound, the orchestra’s playing, and John Plaege’s props all combine to make an effective and professional-looking production. Add to that a cast in which there is not one weak link and you can get ready for the heartstrings to be pulled.

Oedipus Schmoedipus

By post (Zoë Coombs Marr, Mish Grigor and Natalie Rose). The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. 14 March 2018 and touring thereafter

Imagine taking all the “important” plays of the great Western Canon and stripping them right down to the meaty bits—the bits where people die. Well, you don’t have to imagine, because it’s been done already by Zoë Coombs Marr, Mish Grigor and Natalie Rose in Oedipus Schmoedipus.

La Bayadère

Music: Ludwig Minkus. Libretto: Sergei Khudekov & Marius Petipa. Queensland Ballet and Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Director & Choreographer: Greg Horsman, after Marius Petipa. Conductor & Musical Arrangement: Nigel Gaynor. Playhouse, QPAC, 17 March 2018

It’s been nine years since Queensland ballet-lovers have had the chance to see La Bayadère, when Paris Opera Ballet staged Rudolf Nureyev’s production of it at QPAC for the first International Series in 2009.

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change

Music: Jimmy Roberts. Book & Lyrics: Joe DiPietro. Savoyards - Name of Project (NoP) initiative (Qld). Director: Gabriella Flowers. Musical Director: Danika Saal. Choreographer: Desney Toia-Sinapati. Star Theatre, Manly. 17 - 24 March 2018

This long-running Off-Broadway revue was a perfect fit for the Savoyards audience - a middlebrow look at male-female relationships presented in a series of sketches and songs that covered nerds on a date, macho posturing, baby-talking parents, geriatric romance and others. Not the wittiest or incisive work in the world, the music mines the pastiche basket and lite rock, the lyrics rhyme (even if falsely at times), but it’s genial and undemanding.

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