Reviews

The Show Goes On

Bernadette Robinson. The Playhouse, Sydney Opera House. Directed by Richard Carroll. Duet Productions. 25 August – 10 September, 2017

Bernadette Robinson does mean impersonations of famous singers. Garland, Bassey and Piaf are meat and drink to her; Julie Andrews puts in an appearance, and Patsy Cline; even Maria Callas turns up, top notes and all. She has a large and loyal following who adore her every move.

This is her new show, following the success of Song For Nobodies, and it features her multiple personalities chatting about what motivates them before she launches into song after song. At no stage (before taking her bows at the end) is Bernadette herself allowed to comment.

High Society

Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter: Book by Arthur Kopit. Additional Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead. Based on the play The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry and the MGM motion picture High Society. Lilydale Athenaeum. 17th Aug - 2nd Sept, 2017

For their Season 3, 2017, Lilydale Athenaeum has chosen the ambitious Cole Porter musical High Society. Based on the play The Philadelphia Story and MGM musical of the same name, this was certainly an undertaking by an amateur theatre company, even one as well established as the Athenaeum.

Set in Philadelphia in 1938,High Society tells the tale of Tracy Lord, a rich woman (by family wealth), ecstatic about her impending marriage to George Kittredge, a successful, yet boring,industrialistmanager.

Kinky Boots

Music & Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper. Book: Harvey Fierstein. Director/Choreographer: Jerry Mitchell. Music Director/Conductor: Luke Hunter. Michael Cassel Production. Lyric Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane. Opening night 26 August 2017

Last night Brisbane got to experience Callum Francis’ Helpmann Award Winning performance of Lola when Kinky Boots opened to a thunderous audience reception. And what a performance it was – he strutted, he preened, he wound the audience ‘round his little finger, and sang, danced and acted like a star. Head and shoulders above everyone else on stage, his level of performance is reason enough to see this feel-good musical hit based on a true story about a faltering Northhampton shoe factory who find success manufacturing boots for drag queens.

West Side Story

Music: Leonard Bernstein. Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim. Book: Arthur Laurents. Lumina Theatre Co. Director: Daryl Stevenson. Musical Director: Daniel Aguiar. Choreographer: Narada Edgar. Aquinas College, Ringwood. Au 25 – Sep 2, 2017.

Lumina Theatre Co is a relatively new company based at Aquinas College in Ringwood, and this was their second production. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but what I got was a lot of youthful energy from the mainly young cast, and a lot of pathos, as the drama was fully realised.

Sets were minimal, with a cyclone fence and walkway at the back and various pieces of furniture moved on and off as appropriate. This worked well because of the excellent lighting.

Beep

Windmill Theatre Co in association with Adelaide Festival Centre. Writer and Co-Creator Katherine Fyffe; Co-Creator and Director Sam Haren; Designer and Co-Creator Jonathon Oxlade; Composer Luke Smiles; Puppet Maker/Consultancy Tamara Rewse; Technical Designer Chris Petridis. Apace Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. Aug 24 – Sep 3, 2017.

Beep was a delight from start to finish. It started with my granddaughter asking her mother to photograph her standing by the poster of the show and finished with her going up to meet Mort and Beep at the end of the show. In between, I laughed, wondered, enjoyed and marvelled at how much a “simple” story supposedly created for the youngest of audiences had so much to teach all of us.

My Fair Lady

By Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe. Opera Australia / John Frost. Directed by Julie Andrews. Capitol Theatre, Sydney. 29 August - 8 October, 2017

There are a few moments in Opera Australia’s triumphant production of My Fair Lady that warrant spontaneous applause. A tableau at the Ascot races, with resplendent blacks and whites; rows and rows of chandeliers flown in for the glorious ballroom scene; and, of course, the most fun number of the show, “Get Me to the Church on Time”, set in a very realistic Covent Gardens markets. Rarely has a musical looked so good on an Australian stage.

A Scandal in the Weimar

By Jennifer Piper and Claire Bowen. wit incorporated (Victoria). Bluestone Church Arts Space. Director: Belinda Campbell. August 25 - September 9, 2017 as part of the Due West Festival

‘Family isn’t just people,’ says Ebony McGuire as Irene Adler, ‘it’s place.’

A Scandal in the Weimarfinds its origins in the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes story, A Scandal in Bohemia.

This wit incorporated version flips gender roles and addresses issues of place.

Arché

Melbourne Ballet Company. Directed and choreographed by Simon Hoy. The Q, Queanbeyan. 26 to 27 August 2017 and touring to Melbourne

Adding to music from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake a sequence of disparate pieces by Einaudi, Morricone, and Elgar, Melbourne Ballet Company’s director and resident choreographer Simon Hoy has created a surprisingly integrated soundtrack to which he has choreographed a visually charming and often arresting ballet.

Lip Service

By John Misto. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. Director: Nicole Buffoni. 17 August – 30 September, 2017

Something is wrong. The audience all round is laughing fit to burst while I am unable to crack a smile. The laughs get bigger as the play sets sail and I am left on the shore, lonely and untouched. John Misto’s biographical play about the 1950’s ladies of New York glamour, Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, is not working for me. 

The Father

By Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton. Sydney Theatre Company / Melbourne Theatre Company. Director: Damien Ryan. Wharf 1 Theatre, Sydney. 24 August – 21 October, 2017

There’s so much in The Father that doesn’t seem right. The wall-mounted telephone surely was in the centre of the set a few minutes ago, and now it’s on a stage-left wall. If must have been moved silently during one of intense blackouts that punctuate the production. 

That’s nothing. Soon whole tables disappear, dinner settings, comfortable chairs: the whole room is crumbling, insubstantial. Just like André, the Father himself, played by John Bell.

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