Zaffé 26-30 Nov 2023 – Re-post of 2023 REVIEW ***

Zaffé Runs Tue 26 – Sat 30 Nov 2024 at Arts House North Melbourne 
Tue – Sat, 8.30pm  

THEATRE

Conceived & directed by Stéphanie Ghajar

Melbourne Fringe Festival

At The Tower, Malthouse, until 15 Oct 2023

Reviewer: Kate Herbert 

Stars: *** (3)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 14 Oct 2023. KH

image supplied

Zaffé is a delightfully chaotic celebration of love and joy, as well as the loss and grief experienced by the show’s creators who are all artists part of the Middle Eastern diaspora in Australia.

 

Conceived and directed by Stéphanie Ghajar, Zaffé invites the audience to participate as guests in what appears to be a wedding celebration that takes place is an abandoned building in Beirut, but the wedding table remains unoccupied throughout – an ominous detail. 

 

During this immersive theatre work, the audience is seated at tables decorated with flowers and place cards bearing secret messages, visited by cast members for a one-on-one chat, served with pomegranate and soda beverages and entertained with traditional and modern music by the musicians and singers.

image supplied

As the 80-minute show progresses, we meet other performers from the Middle East via long-distance video calls, one of whom teaches us to make tabouli and the other who demands we all stand up while he teaches us to belly dance. The party has now started in earnest; there is dancing, games and stories ,both joyful and tragic, about life in war torn countries and life lived in this new country without loved ones who remain in those countries.

 

Zaffé is an experience like those much earlier Community Theatre performances that celebrated immigrant communities; I’m thinking of Emma: A Celebrazione, everything created by Brunswick Women’s Theatre, and multi-lingual company, Sidetrack, in Sydney in the ‘80s. And for immersive, participatory theatre, you can’t go past Jack Hibberd’s Dimboola that did it decades ago.

 

The intimacy and authenticity of these performers telling their personal stories and the joyous dancing, ululation and partying makes Zaffé a special and memorable event.

 

by Kate Herbert 

 

Conceived and directed by Stéphanie Ghajar
Produced by Lara Week and Stéphanie Ghajar
Created by Taj Aldeeb, Jean Bachoura, Rawya El Chab, Camille El Feghali, Stéphanie Ghajar, Ayman Kaake, Julia Landberg, Hadi Moussally, Meena Shamaly, Mia Shouha, and Lara Week
Scenic design by Ayman Kaake and Lara Week
Lighting design by Giovanna Yate Gonzalez
Stage managed by Julia Landberg 

 

KATE HERBERT RADIO REVIEWS Arts Weekly 3MBS Sat16 Nov2024

In this radio spot on Arts Weekly, on 3MBS, on Saturday 16 Nov 2024, I talk with Phillipa Edwards and Nick Tolhurst about the musical, Sister Act, Peter and the Starcatcher and My Brilliant Career at MTC. 

My Brilliant Career REVIEW 12 Nov 2024 ***1/2

MUSICAL

Book by Dean Bryant & Sheridan Harbridge, music by Mathew Frank, lyrics by Dean Bryant

Adapted from the novel by Miles Franklin

By: Melbourne Theatre Company

At Southbank Theatre, The Sumner, until 18 Dec 2024

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ***1/2

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 16 Nov.2024. KH

6 Kala Gare, My Brilliant Career. Photo by Pia Johnson

Based on Miles Franklin’s 1901 novel of the same name, My Brilliant Career is a brave, new Australian musical with a vivacious lead performer in Kala Gare who shone playing Anne Boleyn in SIX the musical.

 

This exuberant production, energetically directed by Anne-Louise Sarks, has many vibrant and engaging moments, several bold and compelling songs, and strong and compelling performances from the entire cast of multi-skilled artists.

 

The narrative, like the novel, focuses on Sybylla Melvyn, a restless, young girl who aspires to be a writer but she feels that the world conspires against her ambition. Sybylla lives on her family’s failing, drought-stricken farm and the impressive set design (Marg Horwell) transports us into the dry, desolate heart of the Australian outback.

 

Kala Gare is ebullient, audacious and full voiced as Sybylla, and belts out the songs about her ambition, dissatisfaction, her barely concealed contempt for her father, her disappointment in her mother and her delight at getting away to live with her gran. Gare makes a feast of her big leading role.

 

The exceptional versatility of the cast is a highlight of this production who are acting, singing, playing instruments and even dancing. Christina Smith is sensitive and sympathetic as Sybylla’s disheartened mother, and it is a pity she didn’t sing more than just one solo; she is a musical theatre star with a fine voice and magnetic presence.

 

The show is not without some drawbacks: the narrative and song lyrics became repetitive, and the show was spinning its wheels for the last 20 mins. It felt too long and might benefit from an edit and restructure. The character of Sybylla did not develop or change a great deal in the story.

 

Comparisons with Judy Davis in her breakout role as Sybylla in the movie of 1979 are inevitable, but this is an entertaining, ambitious and exuberant production and the writers deserve praise for bringing us a new and original Australian musical: a unicorn. Give it an audience.

 

by Kate Herbert

My Brilliant Career. Photo by Pia Johnson

Cast

Frank/Ensemble Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward
Jimmy/Horace/Ensemble Lincoln Elliott
Ensemble Victoria Falconer
Sybylla Melvyn Kala Gare
Harry/Peter/Ensemble Raj Labade
Father/Jay-Jay/M'Swat/Ensemble Drew Livingston
Gertie/Blanche/Ensemble HaNy Lee
Grannie/Rose Jane/Ensemble Ana Mitsikas
Mother/Helen/Mrs M'Swat/Ensemble Christina O'Neill
Ensemble Jarrad Payne

 

CREATIVE TEAM

Director Anne-Louise Sarks
Musical Director Victoria Falconer
Choreographer Amy Campbell
Set & Costume Designer Marg Horwell
Lighting Designer Matt Scott
Orchestrator / Vocal Arranger James Simpson
Sound Designer Joy Weng
Assistant Director Miranda Middleton
Assistant Musical Director Drew Livingston
Assistant Set & Costume Designer Savanna Wegman
Additional Music Arrangements Victoria Falconer
Voice & Text Coach Matt Furlani
Track Producer (‘Make A Success’) Jarrad Payne
Specialist for Whip Cracking/Blanket Throw Nicci Wilks

Offsite Standby Cover Alister Kingsley
Offsite Standby Cover Imogen Moore

Stage Manager Whitney McNamara
Assistant Stage Managers Tom O'Sullivan, Annie Gleisner

 

Sister Act REVIEW 8 Nov 2024 ****

MUSICAL

Music by Alan Menken, Lyrics by Glenn Slater, Book by Cheri Steinkellner & Bill Steinkellner, additional book by Douglas Carter Beane

At Regent Theatre until 26 Jan 2025 (at present)

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: **** (4)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 16 Nov 2024. KH

Sister Act_CAST_Casey Donovan front- credit_Daniel-Boud

This Melbourne production of Sister Act is a feel-good musical based on the 1992 film with Whoopi Goldberg and Maggie Smith that was set in 1968 and 1992. It is a rollicking musical romp that boldly pokes fun at nuns, the Catholic church, dangerous gangsters and low-level lounge singers.

 

This musical stage version has original songs and music (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater) and book (Cheri & Bill Steinkellner) and is a replica of the 2022 West End revival that followed the original production in 2009 on the West End and on Broadway in 2011.

 

The musical is set in 1977, which changes the tone, the style of music, costumes, language and the cultural references.

 

Casey Donovan is sassy, brazen and audacious as Deloris van Cartier, a try-hard, minor lounge singer who relies on the support of her gangster boyfriend, Curtis (James Bryers) who owns the nightclub she sings in.

 

When she witnesses Curtis murder a witness for his upcoming trial, the cop (Raphael Wong as Eddie Souther) leading the investigation hides Deloris in plain sight, in a convent, which is an absurd but strangely plausible location to hide a raunchy lounge singer with gangster connections.

 

In the quiet, melodic confines of the convent, Deloris becomes Sister Mary Clarence and takes on the seemingly impossible task of taming and training the appallingly tuneless nuns’ choir and transforming them into funky, dancing, singing, funny-nunny entertainment.

 

Donovan is magnetic and gives a spirited performance as Deloris and the role showcases her powerful, versatile voice with excellent control and range. If you remember she won Australian Idol at 16!

 

The nuns learn to enjoy singing popular music for the glory of God and their choir medley raises the roof to heaven in Praise of the Lord!

 

These nuns are a deliciously wacky bunch: Rhonda Burchmore is a hoot as bolshy, old Sister Mary Lazarus; Genevieve Lemon is suitably frosty and conservative as Mother Superior; Sophie Montague is Sister Mary Robert, Bianca Bruce as Sister Mary Patrick, is loud, cheerful and yappy; and Sophie Montague is the sweet and retiring Sister Mary Robert who comes out of her shell.

 

Raphael Wong, an opera singer who has crossed over to musical theatre, has a fine voice and is charming as Eddie, the cop who has adored Deloris since their shared high school days.

 

The original songs are an eclectic mix of styles from R and B to Funk and Gospel, with clever lyrics and plenty of religious parody.

 

The idiotic gangster trio routine is hilarious as they wear silly disguises and sing about how to woo a nun.

 

Curtis’s violent thug song that is about how he will get that girl, is comical but we almost feel we can’t laugh as it’s so violent to women.

 

For me, the movie still takes the cake but perhaps that is because of Whoopi and Maggie Smith who will always be my heroes, and because I was in San Francisco when that movie was being filmed in the church outside which I took a bus each day.

By: Kate Herbert.

 

Cast

Casey Donovan- Deloris Van Cartier

Genevieve Lemon – Mother Superior

Rhonda Burchmore -Sister Mary Lazarus

Sophie Montague – Sister Mary Robert

Bianca Bruce - Sister Mary Patrick

‘Raphael Wong- Eddie Souther

James Bryers – Curtis Jackson

Damien Bermingham – Monsignor O’Hara

Emma Powell - Sister Mary Theresa

Sally Bourne - Sister Mary Martin of Tours

 

 

Creative Team

Producer John Frost For Crossroads Live

Music  Alan Menken

Lyricist  Glenn Slater

Book Writer Cheri Steinkellner

Book Writer Bill Steinkellner

Additional Book Material Douglas Carter Beane

Director Bill Buckhurst

Choreographer  Alistair David

Set And Costume Designer  Morgan Large

Musical Supervisor  Stephen Brooker

Orchestrations  Doug Besterman and Mark Cumberland

Lighting Designer  Tim Mitchell

Sound Designer  Tom Marshall

Wig, Hair and Make-up Designer  Sam Cox

Resident Director  Eric Giancola

Musical Director  Daniel Griffin

 

 

Peter and the Starcatcher REVIEW 10 Nov 2024 ***

THEATRE

Peter and the Starcatcher, David Barry & Ridley Pearson

At Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne until 1 Dec 2024

Stars: ***

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 16 Nov 2024. KH

PeterandtheStarcatcher-image Daniel Boud

 

Peter and the Starcatcher is the origin story of Peter Pan and this play with music and songs, is a whole lot of silliness.

 

The script, written by Rick Elice (who famously wrote the memorable Jersey Boys), is based on a novel of the same name (David Barry, Ridley Pearson) and features music by Wayne Barker and a motley cast of actors and comedians playing multiple roles.

 

The show, directed and designed by David Morton of Dead Puppet Society, is fun and exuberant, Its funniest moments feature flamboyant, vivid costumes (Anna Cordingley), demented song lyrics, idiotic rhymes, comic ad libs and playful interactions with the audience.

 

In this story of Peter’s beginnings, Peter, played by Otis Dhanj, is an orphan who is being shipped to a fate worse than the abusive orphanage in which he and his two friends have lived.

 

Two ships embark on their journeys with  their passengers and precious cargos, including a trunk filled with ‘star stuff’: magical sparkly stuff that can do wonderful or alarming things.

 

Molly (Olivia Deeble), who we discover is the mother of Wendy from the Peter Pan story, is the valiant, fearless and sometimes acrobatic heroine of the story. The exceptional actor, Alison Whyte, plays Molly’s toffy British father, Lord Aster (Is Lord Aster a woman to provide more female roles?).

 

Molly rescues Peter and his friends, and protects and salvages the precious ‘star stuff’ that transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.

 

Sound silly enough for you?

 

The highlights come in the second act, after a patchy first half that relies too heavily on snatches of narration. The second half is more colourful and more bonkers, with gaudier costumes, madder songs, jokes and escapades, and a visit to a magical island of weird mermaids and prawn people. The highlight, however, is Colin Lane’s performance as Black Stache, the pirate captain who will become Peter Pan’s notorious adversary, Captain Hook. He is a riot!

 

Peter and the Starcatcher is not a masterpiece, but it’s a fun family event

 

By: Kate Herbert.

 

Cast

John Batchelor Alf / Teacher

Paul Capsis Slank / Hawking Clam

Olivia Deeble Molly

Otis Dhanji Boy / Peter

Morgan Francis Prentiss

Lucy Goleby Mrs Bumbrake

Ryan González Grempkin / Sanchez / Fighting Prawn / Mack

Colin Lane  Black Stache

Pete Helliar  Smee

Benjin Maza Ted

Hugh Parker Captain Scott

Alison Whyte Lord Aster

James Haxby Offstage Cover

Erika Naddei Offstage Cover

Natasha Veselinovic Offstage Cover

Annie Silva-McKnight Musician

Luke Volker Musician

 

 

Creative Team

 

Written by Rick Elice

Music by Wayne Barker

Director and Designer David Morton

Musical Director and Additional Music by James Dobinson

Movement Director Liesel Zink

Lighting Designer Ben Hughes

Costume Designer Anna Cordingley

Sound Designer Matthew Erskine

Casting Director Michael Topple

Creative Producer Nicholas Paine

Associate Director Matt Seery

 

KATE HERBERT Arts Weekly3MBS Sat2 Nov2024

In this radio spot, I talk with Phillipa Edwards about Golden Blood  by Merlynn Tong at MTC, Your Name Means Dream by Jose Rivera at Red Stitch. I also briefly mention Made in China 2.0 upcoming at Arts Centre Melb in Nov.

Your Name Means Dream REVIEW 31 Oct 2024 *****

THEATRE

 

 Written by José Rivera, by Red Stitch Theatre

At  Red Stitch until 24 Nov 2024

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ***** (5)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS on Sat 2 Nov 2024. KH

Lucy Ansell, Caroline Lee - Your Name Means Dream - image James Reiser

 

Your Name Means Dream is that rare thing in theatre: a production in which all the parts create a cohesive, compelling and totally creatively successful and satisfying whole.

 

US playwright José Rivera’s script is complex, intelligent, witty and disturbing; Kat Henry’s direction is meticulous and seamless; the two performers, Caroline Lee and Lucy Ansell, make a perfect duo, with impeccable timing, perfect balance, sensitivity and exceptional chemistry.

 

Lee plays Aislin, a stroppy, hard-drinking, ailing 65-year-old. She fully inhabits Aislin and is completely credible as this belligerent, mouthy, determined, resentful and desperately lonely woman. Her son, Roberto, rarely sees or speaks to her since her husband’s death years earlier and she feels abandoned and guilty.

 

In order to keep his distance, Roberto has organised the ideal carer for his mother: Stacy (Ansell) is efficient, skilful, obliging and a perfect physical specimen. She is also a robot!

 

Ansell makes this non-human creature a living, learning, feeling, almost-human being. It is remarkable to watch the complexity and easy athleticism of Ansell’s physicality, and her total immersion in Stacy’s character, her initially childlike responses, seemingly emotional reactions and her commitment to learning to be human-like and to be the best possible carer for Aislin.

 

Rivera’s play is set in one room in an apartment in the East Village of Manhattan. In this enclosed and isolated space, the powerful relationship between Aislin and Stacy develops in waves, shifting from combative and resistant, through needy and dependent, to warm and familial and finally into what seems to be love.

 

Henry’s production is swift-moving, and her direction is imaginative and richly layered, exploring and exposing the nuances of the two characters and their burgeoning relationship. Your Name Means Dream is as much about the inhumanity of society and the way it treats its ageing population as it is about the potential humanity and emotionality in the inhuman.

 

This may be the future for aged care, or even for social networks, friendships and families.

 

See this!

 

By Kate Herbert.

 

Cast

Caroline Lee

Lucy Ansell

 

Creative Team

Writer: José Rivera
Director: Kat Henry
Set & Costume Design: Hahnie Goldfinch

Lighting Design: Amelia Lever-Davidson

Assist. Set/Costume Design: Louisa Fitzgerald

Stage Manager: Finn McLeish.

 

Caroline Lee - Your Name Means Dream - image James Reiser

 

Golden Blood REVIEW MTC 30 Oct 2024 **1/2

 THEATRE

Written by Merlynn Tong, by Melbourne Theatre Company

At  Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne until 30 Nov 2024

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: **1/2 (2.5)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 2 Nov 2024. KH

Golden Blood.- Merlynnn Tong, Charles Wu- Image Credit Prudence Upton

 

 

 

 

Golden Blood is a two-hander written by Merlynn Tong and performed by Tong with Charles Wu.

 

In a series of episodes, the play tracks a Singaporean girl and her older brother as they renegotiate their relationship after the death of their neglectful, alcoholic mother which leaves them orphaned.

 

The Girl believes her mother left her a significant inheritance, but her brother pressures her into accepting him as her guardian, and he remains her guardian until her 21st birthday.

 

The rituals of traditional Chinese funerals are dotted throughout the play: burning cash and offering gold. Bad omens and unlucky actions or words are woven into the narrative.

 

The play does not glamorise their lives or their culture. These are not the privileged middle class of Singapore. The brother and sister, known only as Girl and Boy, are born of criminals and live the life.

 

The Boy is a criminal working for a crime gang and living a tough life trying to make millions out of lame projects and getting beaten for every failure.

 

Tong’s script has some funny exchanges and some compelling ideas and imagery. However, the dialogue and story are repetitive and laboured in this 100-minute play. It could be done in 30 to 45 minutes.

 

Wu’s performance is animated and charged with anxiety and bravado of a young man living on the edge of a danger with a criminal gang. He manages to give the character more layers than the script provides and bring an edge of danger to the stage when he sees and hears his mother’s ghostly presence.

 

Tong’s performance is more convincing in the latter part of the play when Girl is older and wiser and develops into a wily, 21-year-old businesswoman. However, Tong’s characterisation lacks range and nuance as the young, teenage Girl.

 

Director, Melissa Leong, sets the production on an almost empty stage and focuses on the rapid interactions between the pair. She uses evocative lighting (Fausto Brusamolino) and atmospheric sound (Rainbow Chan) to establish the chaotic, drug-fuelled, anxiety-driven lifestyle of this odd couple of siblings.

 

Golden Blood has potential as a play but the script needs significantly more development.

 

By: Kate Herbert.

 

Cast

Merlynn Tong – Girl

Charles Wu – Boy

 

Creative Team

Melissa Leong – Director

Set & Costume Designer - Michael Hankin
Lighting Designer - Fausto Brusamolino
Composer & Sound Designer - Rainbow Chan
Dramaturg - Jennifer Medway
Effects Consultant - Emily Parsons-Lord

Stage Manager - Jennifer Jackson
Assistant Stage Manager - Liz Bird.

Golden Blood- Charles Wu- Image Credit Prudence Upton