Fiddler on the Roof REVIEW 5 Nov 2026 ****

MUSICAL THEATRE

Fiddler on the Roof, Book by Joseph Stein, Music by Jerry Bock, Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick (Based on the Sholem Aleichem Stories by Special Permission of Arnold Perl)

At: Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne, until 27 Dec 2026

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: **** (4)

This review is published only on this blog. I presented a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, Sat 7 Nov 2026. KH

Troy Sussman as Tevye-image Daniel Boud

This Australian production of Fiddler on the Roof, based on the acclaimed UK production that began its life at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre before transferring to the Barbican in London, is an exceptional piece of musical theatre. Retaining the original production concept, it combines striking design, glorious music, moving storytelling and vivacious, skilfully executed choreography. The result is a richly textured and emotionally affecting production that does justice to this much-loved musical.

 

Joseph Stein’s book vividly evokes the close-knit world of the Jewish shtetl, bringing its inhabitants to life through sharply drawn characters, intimate family relationships and the tensions between tradition and change. Jerry Bock’s evocative score draws on the musical colours and rhythms of Eastern European Jewish and Russian folk traditions, with its exuberant dance music, soulful melodies and haunting lyricism capturing both the vitality and vulnerability of this community. Sheldon Harnick’s witty, perceptive lyrics illuminate individual characters and relationships, revealing the humour, affection, conflict and heartbreak beneath the villagers’ everyday exchanges. Together, book, music and lyrics create a richly human portrait of a community on the brink of upheaval.

 

Tom Scutt’s striking and deceptively simple design establishes the visual world of the impoverished Jewish shtetl with a distinctive theatrical aesthetic, creating an evocative setting for the villagers' domestic lives, celebrations and eventual displacement. A floating “ceiling” over the villagers encloses and entraps them in their shtetl. The design cunningly incorporates massed sheaves of wheat that reference the location of the fictional village of Anatevka in the wheat belt, the breadbasket of Russia that is now Ukraine.

Fiddler-on-the-Roof-Melbourne-2026-image Daniel Boud 

The evocative visual elements complement Jordan Fein’s deft and detailed direction and Julia Cheng’s remarkable, vivacious and athletic choreography, which brings energy and precision to the ensemble sequences. The famous bottle dance, in which the men perform complex movements while balancing huge wine bottles on top of their hats, elicited a roar of appreciation from the audience on opening night.

 

The Australian cast delivers a fine performance, led by Troy Sussman as Tevye, a doughty and sympathetic patriarch struggling to support his family on the meagre income from selling milk from his cow. Sussman captures Tevye’s bluster, humour, stubborn adherence to tradition and mounting frustration and despair as his daughters challenge his expectations of marriage and family life.

 

He leads the ensemble in rousing renditions of Tradition, If I Were a Rich Man and several other familiar songs that are irresistible singalong material. Sussman also handles Tevye’s direct addresses to the audience with warmth and comic timing, frequently turning to God – who seems to reside somewhere above the stage – for advice and consolation.

 

Alexis Fishman is in fine voice as his beleaguered wife, Golde. Their three eldest daughters are played with considerable vocal and performance skill. Freya Boltman is engaging as Tzeitel, who chooses the local tailor, Motel, over the considerably wealthier but elderly butcher, Lazar Wolf (John Waters). Ellen Ebbs brings warmth to Hodel, who falls for a political radical, while Caity Plummer is affecting as Chava, whose marriage outside the Jewish community provokes Tevye’s deepest anguish. The role of Yente, the village matchmaker, is an unforgiving one, and Sigrid Thornton seems an unlikely casting.

 

One of the production’s extraordinary highlights is Ben Adler as the eponymous Fiddler, whose evocative presence provides a haunting, musical counterpoint to the unfolding drama. No spoilers here, but his first appearance at the very start of the show, is astounding.

 

Although it is set in 1905 in a Jewish shtetl in what was then Tsarist Russia, the story feels remarkably relevant today. Beneath the humour and exuberant musical numbers, lies a profoundly moving story about displacement, religious identity, family and the fragility of belonging. The final pogrom forces the villagers from their homes, scattering them into the diaspora, towards Poland, America and elsewhere.

 

Fiddler on the Roof reminds us that tradition may provide stability, but it cannot always withstand the forces of history.

 

By Kate Herbert

Fiddler-on-the-Roof-Melbourne_To Life_2026-image Daniel Boud

 

Creative Team

Based on the Sholem Aleichem stories, by special permission of Arnold Perl.

Book: Joseph Stein
Music: Jerry Bock
Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick
Director: Jordan Fein
Choreographer: Julia Cheng
Designer: Tom Scutt

Resident Director (Aust): Gary Abrahams 

 

Cast

Troy Sussman as Tevye

Sigrid Thronton as Yente

John Waters as Lazar Wolf

Alexis Fishman as Golde

Freya Boltman as Tzeitel

Ellen Ebbs as Hodel

Caity Plummer as Chava

Ben Adler as The Fiddler

Ensemble: Maxwell Simon, Felix Star, Jacob Steen, Ritchie Singer, Danielle Barnes, Nina Carmen, Romy Juliette Glass, Ksenia Teliatnikova, Andrew Dunne, Damien Bermingham, Mark Doggett, Rubin Matters, Anthony Sheppard, Patrick Whitbread, Alex Mulcahy, Nick Brown, Samantha Stewart, Hanlon Innocent, and Christopher Tendai.

 

 

RADIO REVIEWS-Arts Weekly 3MBS -Sat7NOV2026

  

RADIO REVIEWS - Arts Weekly Sat 7 Nov 2026   Click this link to listen (6-7 mins)

In this radio review spot on Arts Weekly on Sat 7 Nov 2026, I talk to Producer, Nick Tolhurst, about The Gospel According to Paul by Jonathan Biggins, and Fiddler on the Roof that opened on Thurs 5 Nov 2026 at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne.

 

I then give a heads up about Jimmie the Beatle, a new play about Jimmie Nicol, the drummer who replaced Ringo for two weeks of the Beatles’ Australian tour in 1964 (20 Nov to 6 Dec). 

 

Jimmie the Beatle PREVIEW ONLY 20 Nov - Sun 6 Dec 2026

 NBL: This is  a preview of this local production. It is NOT review.

 Jimmie the Beatle written by Tim Byron

Produced by Frankston Theatre Company

At: MECC. Mount Eliza Community Centre  90-100 Canadian Bay Road, Mount Eliza

 Fri 20 Nov  - Sun 6 Dec 2026

Fri & Sat 8pm, Sunday 2pm Tickets at TryBooking 

 Cabaret style seating, 8 per table

If you love the Beatles or live on the Mornington Peninsula or in the southern suburbs of Melbourne, this is a show for you. 

Jimmie the Beatle (the band); image supplied

 The play (from the Media Release)

"When Ringo fell ill, history found Jimmie Nicol.

"This is the story of Jimmie Nicol – the drummer who briefly became a Beatle.

"When Ringo Starr was hospitalised with tonsillitis on the eve of the band’s 1964 world tour, manager Brian Epstein made a frantic call that changed Nicol’s life. Despite George Harrison’s wish to postpone, Nicol was recruited to keep the show on the road. For two extraordinary weeks, he toured Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Australia – stepping from obscurity to global fame and then back again, all in a fortnight at the height of Beatlemania."

Written by Tim Byron.
Co-directors Tim Byron and Eleni Rogers.

Cabaret seating - so BYO wine & beer, cheese platters, charcuterie boards, fruit platters. We will provide the wine glasses & serviettes, as well as complimentary tea and coffee for your enjoyment.

 

=

 

The Gospel According to Paul–REVIEW–20 Oct 2026 ****

COMEDY THEATRE

The Gospel According to Paul by Jonathan Biggins

At Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne, 20 Oct to 1 Nov 2026

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ****

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, Sat 7 Nov 2026. KH

Jonathan Biggins as Paul Keating (Bob Hawke on screen.)

      

Jonathan Biggins’ one-man show, The Gospel According to Paul, is insightful, incisive, witty and sometimes surprisingly poignant depiction of Paul Keating, the man and his politics.

 

Biggins’ writing is sharply observed and his performance, deftly directed by Aarne Neeme, is masterly. The opening night audience appeared to be mostly Keating followers: representatives of the educated, grey haired, left-leaning brigade that remember how Keating and Hawke changed the face of Australian politics!

 

Keating’s acerbic wit may seem a political world away, but Biggins accurately and uncannily embodies the man and peppers the show with Keating’s infamously scathing parliamentary barbs that were directed at hapless MPs.

 

As Biggins says as Keating, leaders need imagination and courage; they cannot merely talk about what they want to do but must actually do it - even if this means making unpopular decisions.

Jonathan Biggins as Paul Keating

Perhaps I’m misremembering, but this play reminds me of what political debate, political philosophy and left-wing politics used to be.

 

Such political debate seems to be replaced by opinions masquerading as fact, while politicians, commentators, media and social media babblers aim for sound bites, slogans and mudslinging.

 

Is it my rose-coloured glasses again or were past leaders more statesmanlike?

 

The production, set in a stately study with leather chairs and deep red walls (designer: Mark Thompson) weaves laugh-out-loud satire with details of Keating’s political roots in the Labor Party and his rise to MP, Treasurer, then Prime Minister and tempers it all with some gentler, more personal stories.

 

A quirky song and dance routine as a finale, reminds us that this is comedy with a smattering of vaudeville. Keating was after all a showman – and so is Biggins. Now, there’s a match made in political comedy heaven!

 

By Kate Herbert

Cast

Performed by Jonathan Biggins

 

Creative Team

Writer: Jonathan Biggins

Director: Aarne Neeme

Designer: Mark Thompson

Lighting Designer: Verity Hampson

Sound and Video Designer: David Bergman

 

 

 

xxxx

 

 

 

 

Thank You, Mistress (Radio Play)–REVIEW–15Oct2026

RADIO PLAY

Written by Louisa Panucci, Working Title Prod.

Melbourne Fringe Festival 2026

At Motley Bauhaus, Carlton

 Fringe online & in theatre until 18 Oct 2026

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: *** (3)

This review is published only on this blog. I presented a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, Sat 17 Oct 2026. KH

Louisa Panucci & Marc Optiz in live production of Thank you, Mistress. Image supplied.

 

The title of Louisa Panucci’s radio play, Thank you, Mistress, should give you a clue to the narrative.

 

Mistress Violet (Louisa Panucci) is a 25-year-old medical student, who dominates her clients to make a living while she studies. She has a needy boyfriend (Aiden Gale Miranda) who calls her often – too often. Enter Henry (Marc Opitz), a middle-aged CEO and Violet’s latest client, who is a submissive in Violet’s “dominatrix dungeon” (which doubles as her one-bedroom flat,) but is a dominant, power figure in his corporate life.

 

Henry’s arrival heralds not only a new client for Violet, but a burgeoning, personal relationship between this unlikely couple.

 

In this radio play version that is adapted from the live production, there is plenty of slightly salacious dialogue that is probably depicted more graphically and physically in the live production. Photos of the live version show action that is described for radio. It relies too heavily on narration, explication and detail-laden dialogue which would more effectively be physicalised on stage.

 

The beauty of a radio play is that it can transport a listener to multiple locations, evoke atmosphere and mood with only sound.

 

The first half of Thank you, Mistress feels like a dialogue rather than dramatic narrative, until quite close to the end when the subtext of the story is revealed. There is a conflict and there is a victim – and it turns out to be neither Violet or Henry.

 

By Kate Herbert

 

This 42-minute radio play was part of the Melbourne Fringe 2026, ran until Sun 18 Oct. The live version had the same season.

 

Cast

Louisa Panucci – Mistress Violet

Marc Opitz - Henry

Aiden Gale Miranda – the boyfriend

 

Creative Team

Writer: Louisa Panucci

Director: Daxie-Carnay-Hanrahan

Sound Engineer: Sirak Keeghan

 

KATE HERBERT–RADIO REVIEWS_ Arts Weekly 3MBS -Sat17Oct2026

In this radio review spot on Arts Weekly on Sat 17 Oct 2026, I talk to Producer, Nick Tolhurst and host Phillipa Edwards about ELIZA by Tom Holloway at MTC.

 

 I then mention Thank you, Mistress, a radio version of a live action play in Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Click this link:  Reviews Arts Weekly Sat17Oct2026

Approx 9 mins.

 

Eliza REVIEW 6 Oct 2026 **** (4)

THEATRE

Written by Tom Holloway, Melbourne Theatre Company

At Southbank Theatre until 31 Oct 2026

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: **** (4)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, Sat 17 Oct 2026. KH

Dan Spielman- Eliza.-image Pia Johnson

 

Tom Holloway’s play, Eliza, is at first interesting, then fascinating and finally, alarming. Dan Spielman’s depiction of the emotional and psychological trajectory of the central character, Joseph Weisenbaum, is at the very heart of this play and its success.

The play is set in 1964 when Weisenbaum, a German scientist, was invited to MIT to explore how humans might endow a computer with human qualities. He did this by creating an early form of chat bot – i.e. AI – which he dubbed Eliza after the character in My Fair Lady.

 

He programmed the bot to simulate a Rogerian psychologist by echoing the human’s comments and questions and then replying with open-ended, simple queries that elicited personal responses from the human. Weisenbaum also wanted to test whether a person could determine if the subsequent dialogue transcript was from a human or a machine.

 

In the play, Weisenbaum views his experiment as a joke, a parody of psychology and of the fictional character of Eliza. It’s like theatre to him. What he does not expect and what terrifies and alarms him is that the people around him – his assistant, colleagues, academics and psychologists – invest Eliza with human qualities: they anthropomorphise his computer program and take ownership of it.

 

The psychological disintegration of Weisenbaum is in direct correlation to the increase in others’ faith in his creation.

 

Holloway’s writing has a cunning dramatic structure, credible characters and raises compelling contemporary issues about AI and its invasion of our lives.

 

Eliza MTC- Dan Spielman, Hamish Michael, Manali Datar- image Pia Johnson

By looking at the inception of AI, Holloway challenges the artificial intelligence creators of our time who are framing an environment that is incrementally compelling people to rely on computer programs for their everyday lives and investing these programs not only with names, but with human qualities.

 

Just think what happens when you do a search on your phone, an AI gives you an answer and offers politely to provide more information. Even the most sceptical or cynical start to feel they are really communicating with a pen pal who, if they’re not convinced is a human, at least has human qualities.

 

Spielman is masterly as Weistenbaum, a gifted scientist who is also a traumatised survivor of the Holocaust. Spielman embodies firstly Weistenbaum’s elation and joy, then his increasing obsessional behaviour and confusion that culminate in delusions and the crumbling of his fragile psyche.

 

Manil Datar as Becky, Weisenbaum’s office assistant who is not a programmer or a scientist, shifts from naïve obeisance to self-confidence – or is it overconfidence? Hamish Michael transforms in multiple roles including Ronald, Weisenbaum’s resentful assistant lab programmer at MIT, the ponderous department head, and a manipulative psychologist.

 

Paige Rattray’s deft direction focuses on the friction and fracturing of Weisenbaum’s relationships and highlights the creeping changes in their status and the escalating dramatic tension, disturbance and chaos.

 

Dale Ferguson’s design composed of stacks of archival file boxes, creates a labyrinth that swallows then spits out the characters as they disappear and reappear in its corridors. Paul Jackson’s lighting begins with a stark, clinical brightness in the chilly laboratory, then conjures an uneasy atmosphere as the play progresses.

This production of Holloway’s play raises challenging issues about our contemporary world and the world of scientific research, specifically into artificial intelligence, and its willingness to ignore the human impact and cost.

By Kate Herbert

 

Cast

 Dan Spielman as Dr. Joseph Weizenbaum

 Manali Datar as Becky

 Hamish Michael as Ronald and other roles

 

Creative Team

Writer -Tom Holloway

Director – Paige Rattray

Set Designer - Dale Ferguson

Costume Designer -Matilda Woodroofe

Lighting Designer - Paul Jackson

Composer & Sound Designer - Kelly Ryall
AV Designer - Rhian Hinkley

 

 ..

 

 

 

KATE HERBERT Arts Weekly RADIO REVIEW 3MBS -Sat3Oct2026

   

KateArtsWeeklyReviews5Oct26    

Click the link to listen.

In this radio review spot on Arts Weekly on Sat 3 Oct 2026, I talk to Producer, Nick Tolhurst and host Phillipa Edwards about the 2027 program of production for Melbourne Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre. 

I start by mentioning Eliza, a play set in 1964 that is based on real events that pre-dated current AI. I’ll review Eliza in the next program. 

It's about 7 mins.  KH

The Homecoming_REVIEW_18 Sept 2026 ****

 THEATRE

Written by Harold Pinter

At: Atheneum 2, Collins St. Melbourne until 3 Oct 2026

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: **** (4)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, Sat 19 Oct 2026. KH

Richard Piper image Ben Fon

Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming is a comedy of menace, where seemingly ordinary conversations conceal a seething undercurrent of resentment, jealousy, envy, sexual craving and barely repressed violence. In this tightly controlled Melbourne production, director Greg Carroll keeps the tension bubbling beneath the surface until it erupts.

Teddy (Peter Houghton) and his wife Ruth (Kate Kendall) arrive unexpectedly at his childhood home in North London, where his father Max (Richard Piper), brothers Lenny (Ben Geurens) and Joey (Eddie Orton), and Uncle Sam (David Field) still live. Teddy has been living in America, teaching philosophy at a university after completing a PhD. His brothers have very different occupations: Joey is a boxer and demolition worker, while Lenny’s mysterious profession is revealed much later.

The family’s reaction to Teddy’s return is anything but welcoming.

Peter Houghton, Kate Kendall-Richard Piper image Ben Fon

Pinter’s famous pauses are lethal. The men pause, we wait, and an entire additional layer of the script seems to take place in the silence. A stare can become a threat; a seemingly innocuous sentence can conceal an attack. Carroll understands this perfectly, allowing the actors to inhabit the pauses rather than rushing to fill them.

Act One is disturbing but peppered with black comedy as the family’s rivalries and resentments surface. Act Two is shocking and alarming, with startling revelations and sharp turns in the narrative. It is a triple somersault with pike.

Richard Piper, Ben Geurens, David Field-image Ben Fon

Written in 1964 and first staged in 1965, The Homecoming still feels remarkably contemporary. This is a house full of men engaged in an escalating power game, with aggression and bullying masking weakness and ineffectuality. The family hierarchy, once apparently fixed, begins to shift as the characters test their status and power.

Piper’s Max is mercurial and volatile, alternating abuse with praise and sudden affection. Houghton’s Teddy responds with intellectual superiority, while Kendall’s Ruth is a fascinating presence, employing manipulation, flirtation and seduction rather than physical aggression.

Most sympathetic is Field’s Uncle Sam, the one man who seems least equipped for this brutal contest and consequently becomes its victim.

Carroll’s direction creates a volcanic atmosphere: we hear the rumbling, see the wisps of smoke and remain on tenterhooks waiting for the next eruption. Misogyny, sexism, toxic masculinity and family dysfunction are embedded in this brutal household.

What does marriage mean? What are the expectations of love and family? And are these people immoral, or simply amoral? Pinter leaves us with unsettling questions rather than comfortable answers. 

By Kate Herbert 

Cast

Teddy - Peter Houghton

Ruth -Kate Kendall

Max - Richard Piper

Lenny - Ben Geurens

Joey - Eddie Orton

 Sam - David Field

 

Creative Team

Director & Designer - Greg Carroll

Soundscape – Paul Norris

Lighting Design – Peter Amesbury

Costumes – Amelia Carroll & Margaret Goy

 

.

 

KATE HERBERT RADIO REVIEWS Arts Weekly 3MBS -Sat19Sept2026

  

 Arts Weekly REVIEWS 19Sep26    Click link her.

In this radio review spot on Arts Weekly on Sat 19 Sept 2026, I talk to Producer, Nick Tolhurst, I talk about The Memory Mirror, new local play by Georgina Luck. 

 

I then review The Homecoming by Harold Pinter, directed for this Melbourne season by Greg Carroll, with a cast that includes, Richard Piper, Kate Kendall, Peter Houghton, David Field, Ben Geurens and Eddie Orton. 

 

 

See this if you’ve never seen a Pinter play. Click link above. 11 mins. KH

The Memory Mirror_REVIEW_11 Sept 2026 ***

THEATRE

Written by Georgina Luck

At: Brunswick Mechanics’ Institute, Wed 9 to Sun 13 Sept 2026

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:  *** (3)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS, Sat 19 Oct 2026. KH

Gabriel Partington_Margot Knight_image supplied

Georgina Luck’s The Memory Mirror takes us to a Mind Body Spirit Festival in the Blue Mountains, where memories, trauma, community and a couple of mysterious cockatoos collide. There is plenty of dramatic potential in the concept of the play and Drew Tingwell’s production boasts some fine local actors.

 

Daniel (Gabriel Partington), a paramedic, has avoided returning to the festival and the town for seven years after suffering a traumatic experience there which resulted in a memory gap. Now he has reluctantly returned, accompanied by his long-suffering colleague Myra (Anthea Davis), and new ambo recruit Pip (Christine Husband) whose perky, intuitive energy Daniel finds irritating.

 

The local festival provides plenty of eccentricity, including a memory competition, home-made cakes, candle stalls and Banjo (Don Bridges), the chippy MC, who quotes poetry while attempting to keep the increasingly unruly proceedings on track. Fat chance!

 

Partington brings genuine passion and emotional commitment to the overwrought Daniel as he confronts his past trauma. Jim Daly has an edge of danger as Mr. Monroe, the reigning memory champion, whose controlling behaviour towards his wife is uncomfortable to watch. Margot Knight is sympathetic as Mrs, Monroe who appears to have perfect recall — at least until her husband enters the room.

Margot Knight, Jim Daly, image supplied

Tingwell keeps the action moving, but the production is hampered by excessive exposition, both in a long opening narration by Daniel and at other points in the play. The writing often sounds like prose lifted from a novel so that it lacks dramatic intention and dilutes dramatic tension.

 

The narrative structure shifts from present to past, at times becoming confused. Dialogue is sometimes repetitive, reiterating ideas and memories rather than using repetition as a deliberate poetic or dramatic device, and some interactions also feel awkward and underdeveloped.

 

The loose, pale curtains upstage provide a screen for shadow puppetry, with the cockatoos Huggin and Mummin appearing to offer predictions, warnings or indications of truth and lies. The fantastical ‘memory mirror’ is also presented as a shadow image, but the projections are too blurry to have impact. It is also unclear what the cockatoos are predicting when they turn east or west.

There are intriguing ideas here about trauma, memory and the unreliability of recollection, but The Memory Mirror needs substantial editing and clarification to bring those ideas into sharper focus.

 

Cast

Gabriel Partington - Daniel

Don Bridges - Banjo

Margot Knight - Mrs Monroe

Jim Daly - Mr Monroe

Anthea Davis - Myra

Christine Husband- Pip

 

Creative Team

Director -Drew Tingwell

Puppetry- Scout McDonald