Reviews

Dead Air

By Tom Reed. Bitten By Productions. Directed by John Steven Erasmus and Ashley Tardy. Lighting Designer: Megz Evans. Bluestone Arts Space – 8A Hyde Street Footscray. 14 – 23 June 2018

Appealing to a smart young and vibrant audience, Dead Air, presented at the Bluestone Arts Space by Bitten By Productions, has all the hallmarks of an engrossing story that has been put together with clever care and precision by some inspired, up and coming theatre makers.  It was certainly worth catching.  (Apologies for not being able to get this response online sooner due to extenuating personal circumstances.)

Nosferatutu…or Bleeding at the Ballet

By Tommy Bradson. A Critical Stages and Virginia Hyam Production. Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Banquet Room. 22-23 June 2018.

Kevin is having a bad day…a very bad day.  Having been in love with the ballet his whole life, Kevin got himself a ticket to see the one-man Swan Lake.  But Kevin’s night doesn’t pan out quite the way he envisaged when, rather than simply enjoying the show, Kevin is compelled to ‘enjoy’ its star (Brandyn Kaczmarczyk)…with his teeth. You see Kevin is 437 years old, as old as ballet itself, and all his life he has dreamt of being a dancer.

The Merry Widow

Music: Franz Lehar. Libretto: Victor Leon & Leo Stein. English Translation: Justin Fleming. Opera Q. Director/Choreographer: Graeme Murphy. Queensland Symphony Orchestra conductor: Vanessa Scammell. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. 22-30 June 2018

The Merry Widow was written in 1905 during the heyday of operetta and is one of the few titles from that age that are still produced in modern times. The reason is simple – Lehar’s ravishing score. It’s a classic of the genre and it’s the musical element that most excites in the new Graeme Murphy production which was commissioned by The Opera Conference.

John Cameron Mitchell – The Origin of Love

2018 Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Adelaide Festival Theatre. 22 June, 2018

Hot on the heels of Patti Lupone for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival comes another Broadway ‘legend’ – John Cameron Mitchell. Although also based in Musical Theatre this is a completely different show. Whereas Ms Lupone blew us away with her renditions of popular and conventional Broadway classics, John Cameron Mitchell blasts this convention apart.

The Legend of Queen Kong. Episode 2 In Outer Space.

Narrated by Yana Alana. 2018 Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Space Theatre. June 22-23rd, 2018

Yana Alana is the alter ego of Helpmann award-winning artist Sarah Ward. Her show, The Legend of Queen Kong Episode 2 In Outer Space is not for a faint hearted performer or a prudish audience. It is advertised, appropriately, as being suitable for a 16+ age group. Ward, who has a well-established cult following, makes Yana Alana, her regular main show character for all pieces, the focus; the cabaret star and story teller of this 70-minute creative and courageous show.

Homme Fatale

Sven Ratzke. Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Dunstan Playhouse. June 21st-23rd, 2018

Sven Ratzke, the Dutch-German cabaret performer, personifies everything that true cabaret is about. He is sexy, flirty, audience focused and uniquely entertaining. In fact, he reminds me that I have seen a number of other cabaret performers do great shows, but Ratzke’s show is true to the cabaret genre and he is a quintessential cabaret style performer.

Don’t Monkey With Broadway

Patti Lupone. 2018 Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Thursday 21 June 2018

Patti Lupone is a Broadway legend. Making her Broadway debut in 1973, Patti Lupone has successfully played a wide variety of roles in plays and musicals. It is, however, her musical theatre performances for which she is most known and that secured her place in the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2006.

Dresden

By Justin Fleming. bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company at KXT. Kings Cross Theatre, Level 2, Kings Cross Hotel. June 15 – 30, 2018.

According to Hitler's memoirs, it was his teenage viewing of Richard Wagner’s Rienzi –  about a Roman tribune who led a proletariat revolt against the nobles of Rome – that made him understand for the first time his destiny: to strengthen and unite the German Reich. Hitler had the autographed score of Rienzi with him in the bunker where he took his life in 1945.

Perfect Wedding

By Robin Hawdon. Adelaide Repertory Theatre. Arts Theatre, Adelaide. June 21 – 30, 2018

“Marriage is like a hot bath; once you get used to it it's not so hot anymore.” This is the message of the Adelaide Repertory Theatre’s latest offering Perfect Wedding.

Cake

Johanna Allen. 2018 Adelaide Cabaret Festival. June 20-21st 2018

Johanna Allen’s 70-minute show Cake is a salacious celebration of reckless consumption and excess. She is coquettish, bawdy, flippant, flighty and passionate, all within minutes. She gambols through the works of musical geniuses including Cole Porter, Madonna, Abba (a particular favourite of mine in this show), Kylie Minogue and the Eurhythmics, demonstrating a powerful, soaring and compelling vocal range through a myriad of styles including musical theatre, pop, jazz and light opera.

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