Reviews

19 Weeks

By Emily Steel. Directed by Nescha Jelk (original direction by Daisy Brown). The Pool at COMO - The Treasury, for the Blue Room Theatre Summer Nights, Emily Steel and Fringe World. Jan 30 - Feb 10, 2018

19 Weeks feels different from the outset. Played in the pool at COMO - The Treasury, the audience sit with their feet in the water, and are soon submerged in this fascinating, gripping and heartbreaking story. 

Oliver!

Music, Book and Lyrics: Lionel Bart. Spotlight Theatre, Gold Coast. Director: Andrew Cockcroft-Penman. Feb 9th - Mar 4th, 2018

Lionel Bart’s popular musical returns to the stage at Spotlight with all the unsavory characters that we have grown to love or hate as the case maybe. This show has had a number of additional performances added to the originally planned season due to the demand for tickets.

Sharing the title role are Flynn Nowlan and Zander Engel-Bowe, two talented youngsters with great futures in the business. Also, there are two Artful Dodgers: Jake Binns and Luke Harrison and two Charley Bates: Kieran McGinlay (cover for Oliver) and Connor Otto (cover for the Artful Dodger).

Josephine

By Scott McArdle. Second Chance Theatre. Fringe World. Directed by Scott McArdle. The Blue Room Studio as part of Summer Nights, Perth, WA. Feb 6 - 17, 2018

After the death of her beloved Auntie, shy and timid Josephine lives in the vents of an apartment building and observes the lives of the residents.  She meets William who plays violin and offers to be her friend. When William goes missing, Josie sets off on the adventure of a lifetime. 

Second Chance Theatre’s rip-roaring adventure feels like a favourite children’s book - very appropriate seeing as Josephine is a voracious reader. The show is a gorgeous journey play, full of colourful and exciting characters.

Carmen

By Bizet. Opera Australia. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Feb 10 - Mar 23, 2018

Critics savaged Carmen when it premiered in Paris in 1875.  Bizet was dead from a heart attack three months later, at just 36, and so never had an inkling he’d written the world’s most popular opera.

Discarding its traditional setting in Seville, director John Bell turns to Havana, with Michael Scott-Mitchell’s evocatively detailed classic square, streaked with decay and rusting roller doors. It shifts between carousing public square to smuggler’s warehouse, under Trent Suidgeest’s dramatic lighting.  

Four Flat Whites in Italy

By Roger Hall. Castle Hill Players. The Pavilion Theatre. Feb 2 - 24, 2018

A visit to the spacious foyer of the Castle Hill Players with free tea and biscuits at interval is always a pleasure. Long may the cranes of redevelopment (seen ominously just a few hundred metres away building a new railway station) keep their distance from this oasis of well-produced comedy and drama.

Four Flat Whites in Italy is a comedy written by Roger Hall, who can be best described as New Zealand’s equivalent of David Williamson. In this play he presents a smorgasbord of first world problems endured by tourists to Italy.

Seventeen

By Matthew Whittet. Turquoise Theatre. Directed by Susannah Thompson. The Blue Room Studio as part of Summer Nights, Perth, WA. Feb 6-10, 2018

Billed as “Saggy skin, youthful dreams”, Turquoise Theatre’s Seventeen casts actors “over sixty” as teenagers celebrating their emerging adulthood.

Glorious!

By Peter Quilter. Therry Dramatic Society. Arts Theatre, Adelaide. 8-17th February, 2018

Therry’s latest offering, Glorious! pays homage to the surprisingly successful career of the late Florence Foster Jenkins. Playwright Peter Quilter journeys through the later part of her success in the 1940s leading up to her sold-out show at Carnegie Hall.

What makes Jenkins’ story so unique is the enthusiasm and confidence she possessed despite her lack of talent; she is remembered by many as ‘the worst opera singer who ever lived’- or died…pun intended.

Joan

By Lucy J. Skilbeck. Milk Presents in association with Derby Theatre. Directed by Lucy J. Skilbeck. The Round at State Theatre Centre as Part of Summer Nights, Perth WA. Feb 6-10, 2018

Joan, presented by Milk Presents in association with Derby Theatre, is a simply stunning piece of theatre. A unique take on the story of Joan of Arc, this solo performance, with music, keeps its audience rapt, with its energy, ferocity and joie de vivre.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Music and Lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin. Conceived by Rebecca Feldman, with additional material by Jay Reiss. Gosford Musical Society. Director: Ruth Tiffen. Choreographer: Carolyn McNamara. Musical Director Ben Ross. Don Craig Room, Laycock Street Theatre. Feb 9-17, 2018

Unwieldy. Def: Awkward and cumbersome. To use in a sentence: “Unwieldy Is one of those words that is not only hard to spell, it also is the perfect word to describe the title of this deceptively cutesy-sounding play”.

This is the first viewing of this show for this reviewer, but it has been on the list for quite some time, due to the cult status it has attained in recent years. The show’s glowing reputation is totally justified - it’s a deliciously sharp and relatable satire. Spoiler alert regarding the plot: it’s about a spelling bee!

Amazing Grace

Manilla Street Productions. Creator / Director: Karen Jemison. Musical Director: Luke Hunter. Choreographers: Jeanne Sorich/Lucinda Williams. National Theatre, St Kilda. February 9 - 11, 2018.

Sometimes it pays to read the fine print. Three music theatre stars and a large ensemble. Should be a great night.

It was a calisthenics concert! Not my main line of expertise.

It was amazing!

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