Reviews

Meg Washington

With The Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Sydney Town Hall. 3rd Feb, 2024

Image: Meg Washingto. Photographer: Zac Bayly

Shrek The Musical

By David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeannie Tesori. Old Nick Summer School. Director: David Thomson. Musical Director: Andrew Castles. Puppetry and Properties: Helen Cronin. Lighting: Gareth Kays. Costumes: Helen Cronin. Choreography: Kristy Baker. Set: Chris Oakley. Sound: Andrew Johns. The Don Bosco Performing Arts Centre, Tasmania. 1-11th February 2024

When Shrek, the Musical, was announced as the 2024, 20th anniversary Old Nick Summer School production, a ripple of disaffection went through the community of aspiring actors. A fairy tale? A kids show? Shrek, The Musical, is none of these. This is a well written, well-orchestrated and relevant show, with many interesting and challenging roles for performers.

Groundhog Day the Musical

Book by Danny Rubin. Music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. Developed and directed by Matthew Warchus. GWB Entertainment. Princess Theatre Melbourne. January 4 - April 7, 2024

Well should I, or shouldn’t I watch the movie again before I see the musical? Isn’t that the question everyone asks when they are about to see a stage play that started its life as a screenplay?

In this case the screenplay of the 1993 movie of the same name (staring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell).

My answer, ‘no I didn’t and I am glad I didn’t,’ as this forced the musical to stand on its own feet without (unnecessarily) referencing the film.

In The Heights

By Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes. PACA Productions. Directors: Rodrigo Medina Noel and William Pulley. The Concourse Chatswood. 2 – 11 Feb, 2024

If In the Heights is, as the directors describe, “a poignant portrayal of the immigrant experience, highlighting the struggles, aspirations and triumphs of the Latinx community” in New York’s Washington Heights, then this production is a jubilant celebration of the many migrants from South American countries – and other parts of the world – who have made their homes in Australia.

Home Economics

By Declan Greene. Midsumma Festival. Theatre Works at Explosives Factory. 30 January – 3 February, 2024.

Here is a considerably revised version of Declan Greene’s 2009 play, Home Economics.  Now the play features just three pieces (sketches?).  Filipe Filihia’s set is all gauze and glittering silver curtains – a shimmering, glitzy, show biz look for the very black humour of the show overall.  All three pieces feature food of a sort (candy bars, sausage rolls, tomato sauce, wine, restaurant food that never arrives, and flour - with one character a high school home economics teacher).

The Magic Flute

Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. Opera Australia. Directed by Kate Gaul. Conducted by Teresa Riveiro Böhm. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. February 1 to March 16, 2024.

Austria sometimes gets mixed up with Australia, and you may have seen T-shirts to that effect with a map of the European country and a kangaroo crossed out.

This production, composed by Vienna-born Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, blends both countries in a different way. Director Kate Gaul and playwright Michael Gow translated the German language opera into Australian English, and inserted dialogue in place of some of songs.

Alone It Stands

By John Breen. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. Directed by Janine Watson. 25 January – 2 March, 2024

This funny comedy tells the story of the legendary day in 1978 when Munster, an Irish amateur football side, beat the mighty New Zealand All Blacks, undisputed kings of Rugby, 12-0 in Limerick. The All Blacks were undefeated on the remainder of that tour, so this momentous day really shines through.

Never fear, you need to know precisely nothing about the arcane rules and regulations of the game to enjoy this tumultuous, breath-taking recounting of Munster’s victory. It is great fun and really gets the audience buzzing.

Oh, Yuk, It’s Me

Written & performed by Jessie Ngaio. Midsumma Festival. The Butterfly Club, Melbourne CBD. 30 January – 3 February 2024

Oh, Yuk, It’s Me is a revival of Jessie Ngaio’s successful 2022 Fringe Festival show for which she achieved Green Room nominations for Best Performer and Best Production in the Independent Theatre category.  More recently, she was a co-devisor and performer in Stickybeak which won Best Comedy in the 2023 Fringe.  In that show she demonstrated her astonishing abilities as a clown and a mime – as well as an ability to transform herself and disappear inside the character of a dog, or a nasty old man, and more.

Overflow

By Travis Alabanza. Presented by Arts Centre Melbourne, Darlinghurst Theatre Company and Midsumma Festival. Directed by Dino Dimitriadis. Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd, Southbank. 31 January to 4 February 2024.

A female toilet in a nightclub is the unassuming setting of this powerful play. Rosie, played by Janet Anderson (she/her), finds herself trapped in the toilet and is surrounded by menacing thumps on the walls and door. The presence of trans women in this social space has become not only contentious but also dangerous. The terrible harm of the threat of physical or psychological harm as a result of an everyday act is forcefully portrayed in this show. Overflow provides a strong and emphatic voice to the trans community.

RENT

Book, Music & Lyrics by Jonathan Larson. Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. 30 January - 11 February 2024, then Australian tour

Following the sold-out, 25th-anniversary production of RENT at the Sydney Opera House in 2021, its award-winning Director, Shaun Rennie, is taking a new, exciting cast on a national tour. The opening night in Brisbane coincided, almost to the day, with RENT’s first off-Broadway performance in 1996. And, what began as an inspired idea to adapt Puccini’s La bohème into a rock opera, is now one of the top-10 longest running shows in Broadway history.

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.