Reviews

Biddies

By Don Reid. CDP. Director: Wayne Harrison. The Street, Canberra, 8 to 12 May 2012 and touring.Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide from August 14 - 18, 2012.

Biddies is an exploration of the womanhood of six women.  It looks beyond the external descriptions we use of ourselves and others—such as dux of school; marriage; children; loss of a spouse; and doing one’s duty in society—to the essentials within each of us that lie beyond those external factors.

All That I Will Ever Be

By Alan Ball. Fly-On-The-Wall Theatre. Director: Robert Chuter. Chapel off Chapel. May 9 – 20, 2012.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

By Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Engadine Musical Society. Director: Kerrie Hartin. Musical Director: Valerie Hull. Choreographer: Kirstie Bell. Sutherland Entertainment Centre. May 9 – 13, 2012.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s retelling of the biblical story of the ‘coat of many colours’, initially a cantata for schools, later expanded into a longer musical, remains a relatively short, simple storytelling piece, with a score which parodies a wide range of popular music genres.

Engadine Musical Society has staged a happy, energetic production.

Naked Boys Singing

Director: Jonathon Worsley. Musical Director: Sheena Crouch. Choreographer: Adam Williams. Malthouse Theatre (Vic). May 4 - 12, 2012.

The title, Naked Boys Singing, really said it all, though they were men, not boys. From part way through the opening song, that’s what we had for the rest of the show. After a while it lost its shock value. There was no plot, no political points made. This was meant to be a fun night out for those who like to push the envelope.

When Dad Married Fury

By David Williamson. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. Director: Sandra Bates. 9 May – 16 June, 2012. Additional Performances at the Theatre Royal, Sydney on June 22 & 23.

With three major productions to his name, David Williamson is the Ensemble’s house dramatist for 2012. The year started with Greta Scacchi in Nothing Personal and will end with Garry McDonald in Managing Carmen. Meanwhile here’s Nick Tate in When Dad Married Fury, already booked out before the first night and extended ‘due to overwhelming demand’.

On The Rocks

Vertical Shadows Dance Group. Director / Choreographer: Stephen Agisilaou. Chapel off Chapel. May 9-12, 2012.

They’re young, they’re beautiful, and they are totally committed to the idea of narrative contemporary dance as envisioned by director Stephen Agisilaou. They are the dancers of Vertical Shadows.

Stephen’s latest work On The Rocks shows us how to think outside the square where dance is concerned. It’s about as far away from anything you will see at the Arts Centre as it could possibly be, and far more refreshing.

Reasons To Be Pretty

By Neil LaBute. Director: James Beach. Featuring: Julia Grace, Andrew Henry, Stephen James King and Lucy Maunder. Darlinghurst Theatre (NSW). May 4-June 3, 2012.

Sunset Boulevard

By Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Christopher Hampton. CLOC Musical Theatre (Vic). National Theatre, St Kilda. May 4 – 19, 2012.

From May 4 to 19, the National Theatre at St Kilda is the proud host of CLOC Musical Theatre’s extravagant production of Sunset Boulevard. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical is set in 1950s Hollywood, where struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis meets and forms a dependent relationship with silent film era star Norma Desmond.   

Vikram and the Vampire

Zen Zen Zo. Studio 3, Old Museum, Brisbane. 3 – 19 May 2012

This was my first experience of Zen Zen Zo. Lynne Bradley and Simon Woods formed the company in 1992 and passed on the mantle to recent inductees to Brisbane’s Theatre Hall of Fame, Michael Futcher and Helen Howard.

As first production under their direction Futcher and Howard reworked their 1995 success The King and the Corpse, this time using stories from Indian folklore.  Hence Vikram and the Vampire.           

Avenue Q

By Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty. JYM Theatre Co. (Vic). Phoenix Theatre, Elwood. May 5 – 19, 2012

Sold out before opening night (extra performances now scheduled), Avenue Q at the Phoenix Theatre is a delight. Professional, riveting, moving; JYM Theatre Company’s purpose is achieved. 

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