Reviews

Looped

By Matthew Lombardo. The Holden Street Theatre Company Inc. Holden Street Theatres: The Studio. 5-20th May 2023

Celebrating 20 years of high quality entertainment for Adelaide theatre-goers, Holden Street Theatres has launched a brand new string to its bow:  the Holden Street Theatre Company Inc. and if this inaugural production is any indication, they have hit the bull’s eye!

Kiss Me, Kate

Music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Book by Sam and Bella Spewack. Hills Musical Company. Stirling Community Theatre. April 28 to May 13th, 2023

Several Adelaide companies have significant anniversary years in 2023 and for the Hills Musical Company they have launched their 50 year celebrations by re-mounting the original, and their first production of Kiss Me, Kate. Directed by the well-known and experienced director Hayley Horton, she has gathered together 22 performers and an excellent 14-person orchestra conducted by Ben Stefanoff to present this musical that ran at a little less than three hours. Kiss Me, Kate was originally produced in 1948, and is considered one of Broadway's great treasures.

Happy Days

By Samuel Beckett. Melbourne Theatre Company. Southbank, The Sumner. 1 May – 10 June 2023

Winnie is woman ‘about 50’, buried up to her waist in a mound of earth.  She is awoken by a harsh bell whereupon she begins her daily routines, beginning with a prayer.  She drinks the last of her medicine.  Her toothbrush has lost its bristles.

The Golden Age of Broadway

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. The Concert Hall and Forecourt, Sydney Opera House. 6th May, 2023

Mind blowing in every sense! The music, the singing, the imagination, the acting … a total ‘wow’!

This was a concert conceived to captivate! Broadway Hits from the 1940s, 50s and 60s. From shows that helped the world recover from a nasty war. Shows that were transferred from the stage to the silver screen then to television sets in living rooms all over the world. Shows with big orchestras, optimistic stories, wonderful songs … songs that were played again and again from treasured record albums.

Just A Boy In A Dress

Written and Directed by Manuao TeAotonga. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth, WA. May 5 and 6, 2023

Manuao TeAotonga’s cabaret Just a Boy in A Dress played a two-night, sell-out season at the Old Mill Theatre, in South Perth. Billed as “A cabaret about a life of gender exploration, sexuality and sequins”, it tells of this popular performer’s life from his premature birth in a small town in New Zealand, through growing up in Bunbury, realising his sexuality and finding love, all while performing.

Full Circle

By Janet Shaw. Directed by Barry Lefort. Limelight Theatre, Civic Drive, Wanneroo WA. May 4-20, 2023

When Wanneroo Repertory’s originally scheduled May production fell through, Barry Lefort came to the rescue with a remount (of sorts) of Full Circle, a play he directed for Stirling Players in November 2020. This interesting little comedy is set in the lounge room of a family, as their daughter Nicola’s wedding day approaches - and a cascade of skeletons emerge from the closet.

Rolling Thunder Vietnam

By Bryce Hallett. Produced by Blake Entertainment. Directed by David Berthold. Sydney Coliseum Theatre. May 6, 2023, and touring.

This concert grabs you by the ears, and by the heart and doesn’t let go.

The first thing to strike me was the phenomenal surround sound of the Sydney Coliseum Theatre. It allowed the audience to appreciate the band, under the direction of Chong Lim, which nailed one ‘60s and ‘70s rock song after another, from artists raging from The Rolling Stones to Simon and Garfunkel.

Thrashing guitar solos were just as thrilling as the singers who were also all in very fine form.

Facing Up

Written & directed by Lynden Nicholls. Theatre Works, St Kilda. 3 – 13 May 2023

Facing up was first performed in Ballarat’s beautiful Botanic Gardens.  A feature of those gardens is a series of busts of all our Prime Ministers since Federation.  Lynden Nicholls’ text juxtaposes statements made by those Prime Ministers about Australia’s First Nations people with contrasting (and often hidden) pieces of First Nations history.  In other words, a mixed bag of white fellas’ good and bad intentions up against what really occurred…

Bard Wars: Hope Renew’d

By John Grey. Directed by John Grey and Tallulah M.E.Grey. Brisbane Arts Theatre. May 4 – 27, 2023.

This very different play, both in staging and storyline, was finally found deep in Da Vinci’s vault beyond countless locks and traps – Shakespeare’s lost manuscript.

Bayou Bart

Written & directed by Kalina Lauer. Theatre Works Fresh Works. Theatre Works, St Kilda. 3 – 13 May, 2023

Two homeless children, Henrietta or, as she prefers, ‘Henri’ (Pippa Asome) and Tristan (Rowan O’Keeffe) long for a home.  They scratch a living catching fish in the longest bayou in the world, in the southern United States.  A dense mist separates the two.  A Siren (Tash Atkins) lures Henri deeper into the swamp where she will meet a variety of creatures – animals who talk, have their own city, and some downriver humans bent on exploitation and destruction...

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