Reviews

Sophia=(Wisdom): The Cliffs

By Richard Foreman. Phenomenological Theatre. Director Patrick Kennedy. New Theatre. 10-27 January, 2024

In program notes to Sydney’s premiere production of Richard Foreman’s 1972 avant-garde play Sophia=(Wisdom):The Cliffs, director Patrick Kennedy, renowned internationally for his stunning productions of Foreman’s plays suggests you:

“Sit back and allow your conscious mind to be enveloped in the cacophony of visuals, sounds and lights. Don’t expect catharsis and don’t expect a linear narrative.”

Chicago

Lyrics by Fred Ebb. Music by John Kander. Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. Original 1996 direction recreated by Tania Nardini. QPAC Brisbane. Jan 2 - Feb 4, 2024, and touring to Melbourne from March 23, Sydney from June 9 and Adelaide from August 4.

We all know that Chicago is Bob Fosse’s signature piece, embodying everything he had tried to do on stage for almost twenty years. It opened in 1975, and has played somewhere around the world ever since (49 years!!!) but is it too soon for yet another revival (this time of the 1996 Broadway production, already 18 years old) when it is only four years since we saw the last national production?

Dangerous Goods

Directed, Created & Conceived by Lisa Fa’alafi and Leah Shelton. Polytoxic. Cremorne Theatre QPAC. 4th January – 11th February, 2024

Safety has never been sexier in this explosive cabaret.

Il Tabarro

Music by Giacomo Puccini. Libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on the play La Houppelande by Didier Gold. Victorian Opera. Sydney Festival. Australian National Maritime Museum. Directed by Constantine Costi. January 9 – 13, 2024

You would be hard pressed to find a more exciting outdoor location for an opera set on a barge on the River Seine, than the one selected by the Sydney Festival.

This production is staged on board the Carpentaria – an historic light ship built in 1917 – the same year Puccini finished work on the music, on the outdoor deck of the National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour.

Grease - The Musical

Book, Music & Lyrics: Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey. Additional songs by Barry Gibb, John Farrar, Louis St. Louis & Scott Simon. Director: Luke Joslin. Choreographer: Eric Giancola. Music Supervisor & Direction: Dave Skelton. Presented by John Frost for Crossroads Live Australia. Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, January 9 - March 10, 2024 followed by seasons in Sydney and Perth.

Grease - The Musical follows the lives of ten working class teens, set in the fictional school Rydell High. It pays homage to the 1950s era of greasy hair, greasy engines and greasy food!  Beginning in Chicago 1971, performed by a non-professional cast to an audience of only 120, Grease eventually played a record breaking 3,388 performances on Broadway.

Smashed – the Nightcap

Sydney Festival. Sydney Theatre Company Wharf 1 (The Thirsty Mile). 6-27 January, 2024

Victoria Falconer is no ordinary host! She has a vast history of performing and directing across Australia and internationally. But for this month she has left her role as co-artistic director of the Hayes Theatre to become the cheeky, sexy dynamo who fronts the cabaret Smashed – the Nightcap at Wharf 1. She sings, plays multiple instruments, leads the band and controls the show with a bold, defiant hand, deftly reeling the audience in to her contemporary take on the “salacious cabaret dens” of the 1920s and 30s.

Bluey’s Big Play The Stage Show

By Joe Brumm. Music by Joff Bush. Director: Rose Myers. Designer: Jonathon Oxlade. Puppetry Director: Jacob Williams. Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), in association with BBC Studios, Andrew Kay and Windmill Theatre Co. QPAC Playhouse. 30 December 2023 to 20 January 2024

Ditch the lawn grubs and make the most of the school holidays as Bluey's Big Play takes centre stage within the QPAC Playhouse.

Don’t be fooled thinking the show is strictly for kids, this production is perfect for all ages! With incredible life-sized puppetry, you will join Bluey, Bingo, Bandit & Chilli within the 45-minute original storyline as they try & convince Bandit to play with them.

The Choir of Man

Created by Nic Doodson & Andrew Kay. Musical supervision, vocal arrangement and orchestration by Jack Blume. Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd, Southbank. 4 January - 11 February 2024.

Since its first appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017 The Choir of Man has become a global musical sensation. Its enormous success at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2018 also confirmed its suitability and popularity for Australian audiences. A group of hardy and blokey men, who populate a typical British pub called The Jungle, belt out a variety of pop and rock songs with incredible energy, enthusiasm and emotion. They perform renditions of hits by legendary artists such as Guns N' Roses, Adele, Avicii, Paul Simon, and Sia and.

Metaverse of Magic

Presented by Jones Theatrical Group and QPAC. QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane. 5 - 14 January, 2024

With Brisbane being the last stop on this 'magical-mystery-tour' around Australia and its theatrical display of the latest trends in technology, AI and gaming fused with traditional circus acts, card tricks and audience interaction and participation, the show continues to capture the imagination of an appreciative crowd, being well-crafted, suitable for all ages and certainly an intriguing night out with a difference.

Miss Saigon.

Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr & Alain Boubil. Cameron Mackintosh, GWB Entertainment and Opera Australia. Festival Theatre, Adelaide. 5 January to 3 February 2024

‘For men, will always be men; you change the regime, the lust doesn't stop’ – sung with glee by The Engineer, these words reflect the world beyond Miss Saigon. Whether it’s the wars in Vietnam, those wars more contemporary, or even this new production of the Boubil-Schönberg musical. Based on Cameron Mackintosh’s 2014 West End revival and presented by GWB Entertainment and Opera Australia, the show is famous for its spectacle, infamous for its controversies.

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