Reviews

Pelican Productions has a reputation for nurturing young talent and there is plenty of it on stage in the company’s latest production, Annie Jr. I was lucky enough to see Cast 1 perform for the afternoon.

The story of ‘Little Orphan Annie’ has become a family favourite and this latest interpretation does nothing to dampen enthusiasm. From the moment one hears those familiar notes of the score you are transported back to the New York City of the 1930s.

This play, first performed in 1994, is challenging for the cast as well as the audience as it tells how Eve leaves her country town to come to Blackrock, a gothic cathedral-like rock in Sydney Harbour, to work for Blue, a children’s writer. He leads her on a journey of self discovery that is magical, sensuous and frightening. It is a study of how men have created the fantasy that their art is more than life - and even death. The implications were obvious when the name Blue fully registered.

Rain clouds that have hovered threateningly over the city all day begin to clear. Late afternoon sunshine begins to filter through. The harbour begins to sparkle. What has been a dull and dreary day turns into a balmy, Sydney, autumn evening. How lucky for the opening night of another Handa Opera on the Harbour!

As the sky darkens above the Bridge and the Opera House, a crescent moon shines through the last wisps of cloud – and the lights go up on a snow-encrusted stage. It is a wintery December night in Paris. La Bohèmeis about to begin.

You can see why Amanda Muggleton would keep returning to the part of Maria Callas in Terrence McNally’s Masterclass. She’s played her a number of times before and is now wrapping up an Australian tour - and still she revels in the role. You can tell that she loves the interaction with the audience, the jokes and the melodramatic character of one of the world’s great opera divas.