Reviews

A Brief History of Magic

Wizard Actors. The Butterfly Club, Melbourne. 22 – 26 May, 2018

Comedy duo Wizard Actors, aka Caitlin Yolland and Rob Lloyd, take you back to wizarding school in A Brief History of Magic. Jam packed with Potter-puns, satirical sorcery and the occasional political jab, it’s a place where die-hard Harry Potter fans can indulge their obsession and show off their knowledge (and you need it to enjoy the show).

End of the Line

By Andy Kabanoff. Wyong Drama Group. Directed by Andy Kabanoff and Gabrielle Brooks. Grove Theatre, Wyong. May 25 - June 2, 2018

End of the Line is the second of Andy Kabanoff’s plays to be produced by Wyong Drama Group. Sepia Secrets, staged in 2016, was a drama exploring his family’s life before and after WWII, which was well-received by local audiences. This is a ‘prequel’ of sorts, inasmuch as it delves further back into the life of his paternal grandmother, Elizabieta, a Polish immigrant who grew up in Russia during the revolution.

Jekyll and Hyde The Musical

Book and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Music by Frank Wildhorn. Manly Musical Society. The Star of the Sea Theatre. May 18 - 26, 2018

Fans of Jekyll and Hyde The Musical have had their fair share of disappointments in recent times with no less than three professional productions failing to get to the stage - the latest being Opera Australia's proposed season starring Teddy Tahu  Rhodes and Jemma Rix.

Continental Quilt

By Joan Greening. Tea Tree Players. Tea Tree Players Theatre, Surrey Downs (SA). May 24 – June 2, 2018

Continental Quilt is like a game of Happy Families, except these families are not so happy!

Set in the 80s, Mike is anticipating an erotic evening with his new girlfriend.  His attempts to bed her are hindered by the arrival of his brother/mother/sister-in-law/father/previous girlfriend and neighbours.

A classic door farce requires split second timing and lots of pace. This production had both in bucket loads. There was barely a silent moment on stage with doors opening and closing and characters changing rooms faster than their clothes.

The Walworth Farce

By Enda Walsh. Workhorse Theatre Company in association with Bakehouse Theatre. Directed by Kim Hardwick. The Kings Cross Theatre, Kings Cross Hotel. 18 May – 9 June 2018

Up many stairs at the Kings Cross Hotel, in a small space made more cramped by a huge amount of third-hand furniture, there’s a ritual going on. Three actors are going hammer-and-tongs at a script that is ragged and hard to follow. After a while, with multitudinous wigs, dresses, and entrances and exits from two large cupboards, some sense descends.

Arms and the Man

By G. Bernard Shaw. Canberra Repertory. Directed by Ed Wightman. Theatre 3, Acton, Canberra. 17 May – 2 June 2018

Rousing the social conscience by mocking social and political conventions, Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man, penned in 1894 and set during and after the 1885–86 Serbo–Bulgarian war, opens by introducing us to the character of an enemy officer, the Swiss Captain Bluntschili, fleeing massacre, and Raina — fiancée of Sergius, who led the route of Bluntschilli’s Serbian forces.  From there, tensions between proper behaviour and honourable acts  in

A Chorus Line

So Popera Productions. Director: Amy Copeland. Musical Director: Peter Copeland. Choreographer: Teagan McKeen. Illawarra Performing Arts Centre Wollongong. May 18 to 26, 2018

As a former Director of the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre I am always interested in what happens there. So Popera is a relatively new kid on the block for me although the program notes tell me that the group in its current form has been around for about ten years.

Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom the Musical

Book by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, adapted by Terry Johnson. Willoughby Theatre Company. Concourse Theatre, Chatswood. May 19 – June 2, 2018

Willoughby Theatre Company’s NSW Premiere production of Strictly Ballroom was a smash hit at The Concourse Theatre. Based on the Baz Luhrmann play that became the well- known Classic Aussie Movie, the musical really was a spectacle.

Gypsy

Book by Arthur Laurents. Music by Jule Styne. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Luckiest Productions and One Eyed Man Productions in association with Hayes Theatre Co. Hayes Theatre. Opening Night – May 22, 2018.

The laughs started immediately as Director Richard Carroll showed his panache at making his cast look amateurish.  Just as some of the wittiest moments of his production of Calamity Jane depicted a ham actor, so too did the assembled motley troupe of show business mother Rose (including a hapless hula hoop girl) prompt fits of giggles in the audience by performing ‘badly’.

Les Misérables

Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg. Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Original French text byAlain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel. Additional Material by James Fenton. Directed by JJ Geelen. South Coast Choral and Arts Society. Victor Harbor Town Hall, South Australia. 11th-26th May 2018.

If this reviewer is forced to name one single favourite piece of musical theatre, Les Mis is it. In particular, nothing else on stage (or on record) has been able to match the kind of shivering thrill provided by the climax of Act One. Especially since the cinema adaptation finally materialised in 2012 and became wildly popular (if controversial), one could fairly ask if the show (and its music, thanks in part to a certain Susan Boyle) has finally reached the point of overexposure, unable to avoid looking/sounding/feeling musty and tired.

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