Reviews

Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

Book by Katori Hall, with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins. Music – various. Original Director Phyllida Lloyd. TEG Dainty. Lyric Theatre QPAC. Opening night: July 5, 2024. Princess Theatre, Melbourne from September 24.

Jukebox musicals are a strange creature - they either work or they are a disaster. TINA – The Tina Turner Musical, takes the former and elevates it to a Supernova which makes the sun pale by comparison. I’m going to resist the trap of saying it’s S#m**y T*e B+^t …because every reviewer and his computer literate dog has used that song title – but the fact is it is all that and more.

Dalia Stasevska Conducts Sibelius’ 5th

Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. July 5, 2024

The call of birds and contemplations of nature sweep throughout this beautiful SSO concert of three evocative Finnish compositions, ending with the oldest, Symphony No.5 by Finland’s greatest composer, Jean Sibelius. 

Cut The Sky

Marrugeku. Bay 20, Carriageworks. July 4 – 13, 2024

Climate change raises so many immense and challenging global complexities, that a physical theatre company is naturally overstretched in offering a meaningful perspective in barely an hour.

Marrugeku is well placed to give it a go, as an innovative yet decades-old company of Indigenous and non-Indigenous players, with one foot in Broome WA and another in Sydney. 

Prima Facie

By Suzie Miller. Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA. Directed by Kate Champion. The Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA. July 1-21, 2024

Following hot on the heels of the highly successful one-woman-play RGB: Of Many One, Prima Facie is another one-person show, from the same author, and is similarly stunning and expertly performed.

Vanguard

Australian String Quartet. Elder Hall, North Tce Adelaide. July 5, 2024

What better way could there be to warm your heart and soul than 120 minutes of the Australian String Quartet in their latest production, Vanguard!

Entertaining people from all over the world since 1985, the Australian String Quartet have been dedicated to musical excellence based in their home at the University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium of Music.

To celebrate their almost 40 years of entertainment, they present an evening of contrasting composers and styles; Beethoven, Harry Sdraulig and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

sixbythree

A festival of six dance works by three choreographers. FORM Dance Projects. Riverside Theatres Parramatta. 6-7 July, 2024

Image above from Epilogue. Photo by Yo.

sixbythree brings the rare opportunity to see how three different choreographers interpret the world in contemporary dance. Serious issues, unusual imaginings, personal reactions are told in dance stories that are contained and controlled in movement and rhythm and time. Five of the six performances are described below.

Photographer: Anne Moffatt.

Let’s Murder Marsha

By Monk Ferris. Directed by David Walpole Sinnamon. Townsville Little Theatre. Denise Glasgow Performing Arts Centre, Pimlico State High School, Townsville. 3 – 6 July 2024.

THE PLAYING of farce is a difficult thing – many community theatre companies think it is an easy programme choice. It is anything but. 

Farce requires much precision and the director needs to be aware of – amongst other things - the requisite physical comedy, comic timing and discipline. The actors need to create strong characterisations and be able to perform in a credible larger-than-life way as the absurdities of the plot unfold.

And to do this it can be boiled down to what I term the “ABCDEF” (or alphabet) of farce:-

The Long Game

By Sally Faraday. Glieson-Faraday Productions & Theatre Works. Theatre Works, Explosives Factory, Inkerman Street, St Kilda. 28 June – 13 July 2024

Sally Faraday wants her play to ask questions – big questions – and throw it to the audience to think about the answers.  Fair enough.  Isn’t that what Chekhov said?  The questions The Long Game seems to ask are sadly perennial.  Why do sexism and misogyny persist?  Why does sexual violence persist?  In the patriarchy, how does a woman get to the top?  And what are the consequences when she does?  Why do some ‘realistic’ women go along with this because it’s just the way the world is?

Il Trittico

By Puccini. Opera Australia. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. July 4 – 19, 2024

Short and pithy they may be, but these three Puccini operas remind us how sophisticated this master of storytelling is in aligning musical combinations with so many quick details of plot, theme and rich character.  

Hare Brain

By Aesop and Justin Cheek. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre. Directed by Philip Mitchell. The Ellie Eaton Theatre, Gate One, Claremont Showground, WA. Jun 29 - Jul13, 2024

Spare Parts Puppet Theatre's Hare Brain – A Twisted Spin on Aesop’s The Tortoise and the Hare, is about to open for a school holiday season at Claremont Showgrounds. A fast, frenetic, and fantastical production drawn from Aesop’s fable, it had youngsters screaming advice and giggling throughout its evening premiere and press night this week.

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