Reviews

Les Misérables: The Arena Spectacular

Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg. Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Original French text by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg. Additional material by James Fenton. Adaptation by Trevor Nunn and John Caird. Presented by Cameron Mackintosh, and Nick Grace Management, in association with Live Nation Australia. ICC Theatre Sydney from 1 May 2025, then Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne from 14 May and Brisbane Entertainment Centre from 28 May 2025

Photograph above by Danny Kaan.

The Black Woman of Gippsland

By Andrea James. Melbourne Theatre Company. May 5 to 31, 2025

The Black Woman of Gippsland, written and directed by Andrea James (Sunshine Super Girl) is a brilliant dramatization of historical events seen through the eyes of a budding black historian.

Tomas Clifford Got Stood Up

By Tomas Clifford. Directed by Tomas Clifford and Alexandria Henderson. The Rechabites Hall, Northbridge, WA. May 4, 2025

Tomas Clifford Got Stood Up, winner of Fringe World’s Martin Sims Award for Best New Western Australian Work, returned for a single performance as part of the Perth Comedy Festival.

This highly polished fusion of stand-up, rock concert, biographical drama and musical, feels like it is being played in a much larger venue (think Arena Concerts) and keeps its audience highly engrossed throughout.

Grand Horizons

By Bess Wohl. Directed by Phil Carney. New Farm Nash Theatre, Brisbane. 9 – 31 May, 2025.

Set against the backdrop of a tidy retirement community, Grand Horizons invites us into a world where appearances are deceptive and emotional complexity lurks just below the surface.  After fifty years of marriage, Nancy calmly announces she wants a divorce.  Her husband, Bill, responds with quiet indifference but their two adult sons are blinded.

Drinking Habits

By Tom Smith. Wyndham Theatre Company. Director: Cody Riker. Lighting and audio: Sam Victoria. Costume design: Amy Lowe. Crossroads Hall, Synnot St., Werribee. 9th – 17th May, 2025

Drinking Habits is high farce with secrets, lost loves, people pretending to be someone else, lightning costume changes, hiding places behind doors, under the table and in a trunk, all contributing to the mayhem. The setting in a very small convent during prohibition in America aids the necessary misunderstandings.

The Lady in the Van

By Alan Bennett. Directed by Barry Park. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth WA. Apr 26 - May 10, 2025

Alan Bennett’s “uplifting, bittersweet comedy” perhaps best known as the film starring Helen Mirren, played to full houses at Old Mill Theatre, presented by Old Mill’s resident company.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

By Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Spotlight Theatre, Benowa, Gold Coast. May 9 – 31, 2025

This all singing, all dancing production is a great experience at Spotlight - part of their 70 years of bringing quality theatre to the Gold Coast.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s infectious score sets the pace for the story of Joseph to delight audiences of all ages.

Beans Means Love

Writers and directors: Alannah Costello and Kailan Tyler-Moss. Sandgate Theatre, Qld. May 9 to 30, 2025.

With a name like this, it would have been foolish to believe the play would follow the norms. It didn’t. Basically a can of beans comes to life mysteriously to bring a couple together and that couple don’t even know each other’s names.  The other influencers are Commonsense, Caution, Impulsivity and Crystal Home and that covers the range of actions and emotions that we go through in life with some crystal thought to guide us. So the Beans Means Love was born from pain and suffering but ultimately the sense of humour we have.

Hadestown

Music, lyrics & book by Anaïs Mitchell. Presented by Opera Australia & Jones Theatrical Group. Developed and directed by Rachel Chavkin. Her Majesty's Theatre, 219 Exhibition St, Melbourne. 8 May – 6 July 2025.

The evolution of this production has seen it grow from a DIY theatre project to an off-Broadway show and has now become a hugely successful Tony award-winning full-scale musical. The show transforms ancient Greek mythology into a tragic love story. Orpheus (Noah Mullins) and Eurydice (Abigail Adriano) must contend with the ruthless ruler of the underworld Hades (Adrian Tamburini) and his wife Persephone (Elenoa Rokobaro). Their love must overcome the rules that govern these two opposing spheres and the demands they face prove to be too trying for the young couple.

And Then There Were None

By Agatha Christie. Presented by John Frost for Crossroads Live. Directed by Robyn Nevin AO. Theatre Royal Sydney from May 8 to June 1, 2025, then His Majesty’s Theatre Perth, and Her Majesty’s Theatre Adelaide.

Whoever said that crime doesn’t pay? In the case of Agatha Christie, the genre of murder mystery has been a literary gold-mine.

As an ironic observation of what was to come, one of the guests arriving at Soldier Island stated that something peculiar was taking place on their weekend away.

One by one the toy soldiers on the coffee table disappear as the corresponding character shuffled off their mortal coil, in this theatrical adaptation of what was recently voted as Christie’s most popular novel.

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