Reviews

West Side Story

By Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. Babirra Music Theatre (Vic). Director: Paul Watson. Musical Director: Ben Hudson. Choreographers: Leigh Barker/Ashley Tynan. The Whitehorse Centre. May 27 – June 11, 2011.

Babirra’s West Side Story blew me away. Everything about this powerful work was first class.

The initial set looked like a housing commission block of flats with the orchestra in the ground level car park. The orchestra under Ben Hudson was alternatively full and rich, diminishing to an ethereal whisper when required. The treacherous music was no problem.

Breaking Legs by Tom Dulak

The 1812 Theatre (Vic). Director: Robin Miller. May 26 – June 25, 2011.

So excellent is Robin Emmett’s design and artwork for 1812 Theatre’s production of Tom Dulak’s Breaking Legs, that you have trouble realising that you are not looking at the actual scene, a mafia connected Italian restaurant in the USA.

The audience are at the rear of the restaurant’s interior, looking toward the window, and out on the car park with several cars in view. Painted on the rear wall, the cars look most realistic. The interior side walls are views across the ocean, with a large painting of the statue of David on each side.

Cosi by Louis Nowra

Eagle’s Nest Theatre (Vic). Northcote Town Hall. Director: Alan Chambers. May 12 – 28.

The youthful and dynamic Eagle’s Nest Theatre Company is currently presenting an enjoyable and satisfying production of Louis Nowra’s Cosi.

Miss Saigon

Music by Claude – Michel Schonberg, lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. and Alan Boublil, additional material by Richard Maltby Jr. Marie Clark Musical Theatre. Arts Theatre, Adelaide (SA) May 20 to 28, 2011.

Marie Clark has reached for the stars in their latest production of Miss Saigon, and has pleasantly outdone themselves with this staging of a well-known musical.

Directed by Max Rayner, with choreography by Irena Setchell and musical direction by Ben Saunders, one would expect pretty high standards. On most fronts they don’t disappoint, however there were a few glaring issues which took the shine off of this potential gem.

Capture the Flag

By Toby Schmitz. Critical Stages and Tamarama Rock Surfers. Parramatta Riverside Theatre (May 24 – 28, 2011) and touring Regional NSW, Queensland and Victoria.

What is it about our funding bodies that moves them to tour plays about people trapped underground or underwater to regional centres?

This year it is Capture The Flag, a play about members of the Hitler Youth stuck in a drain in Berlin at the end of World War 2. Last year it was about trapped Russian submariners in The Kursk.

Neither, apparently, sets the box office on fire.

Seussical The Musical

By Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. Engadine Musical Society. New Engadine Community Centre. May 20 – 29, 2011.

True to the ability of Dr Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) to engage even beginning readers with his simply expressed and rhymed stories, and entrance them with his drawings, Seussical The Musical is a charm musical, simple and appealing in its storytelling, wit and evocation of those characters.

Parramatta Girls

By Alana Valentine. Director: Annette Rowlison. New Theatre (NSW). May 18 – June 11, 2011.

With eight former inmates of a notorious juvenile detention centre to cast, both indigenous and non-indigenous, Parramatta Girls digs deep into the talent pool.

Since its debut by Company B, the play has been revived just handful of times by community theatre companies, partly because of the casting challenges.

The New Theatre got over the line by drawing on an impressive ensemble, many with professional theatre credits.

My Wonderful Day

By Alan Ayckbourn. Australian Premiere. Ensemble Theatre (NSW). Director: Anna Crawford. Designer: Rita Carmody. May 12 - June 25, 2011

Alan Ayckbourn continues to be the quintessential writer for women in this cleverly constructed play of observation, viewed through the eyes of a young girl as she witnesses the appalling relations of the "adults" in the house.

Miss Saigon

Music by Claude – Michel Schonberg, lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. and Alan Boublil, additional material by Richard Maltby Jr. Director: David Atkins. North Shore Music Theatre . The Civic Theatre Auckland, New Zealand. May 20 - June 11, 2011.

This reviewer sat in her seat on opening night with a certain nervous anticipation. Given the “family “connection throughout the Auckland music theatre scene, I was very aware of the dedication North Shore Music Theatre had invested in the 4 year pre-production period in bringing a “bigger than Ben Hur” production to The Civic Theatre.

From the first notes the audience was captivated by this modern retake on the classic Madame Butterfly story set now in the disaster of the last years of the Vietnam conflict.

An Impending Rupture of the Belly

By Matt Pelfrey. The Kings Fools. Newtown Theatre (NSW). May 20 – June 4, 2011.

This Australian premiere of a rather black American play is surprisingly good. Housed in the small, but not particularly intimate Newtown Theatre, the production, from The Kings Fools, makes the most of the play and the actors.