Cats & Georgy Girl Reviews to come

I'll be flapping about town seeing/reviewing musicals in the next few days.

This arvo, Sunday Dec 20, I'm seeing a preview of Georgy Girl at 3pm.

I then run round the corner to the Regent to review the Cats opening night, with Delta Goodrem as Grizzabella.

 I will review the Georgy Girl opening night on Tues, Dec 22. kh

Musicals 2016 - What's coming to Melbourne

Musicals in 2016, Melbourne

If you are wondering what major musicals are coming to Melbourne in 2016, here's a list.

A few are not confirmed for Melbourne yet. Some producers haven't figured out that they should open in Melbourne rather than Sydney. 

If it's a musical, Melbourne will line up with granny and the kids for months – then come back again and again with the rest of the family.

Does anyone else recall that, not so long ago, a big musical opened every night between Christmas and New Year in Melbourne? e.g. Billy Elliot opened on New Year's Eve.

Long live the Melbourne Musical Opening! Hussar!

 Kate :-)

Jan 5 - Fiddler of the Roof

Jan 20 - Ladies in Black MTC

Sat Feb 7 Ghost The Musical at The Regent

March - Matilda

May - Sound of Music

Aug - Little Shop of Horrors

Aug- We Will Rock You, The Regent

May  - Singing in the Rain, Her Majesty's

Oct - Kinky Boots

Jan 2017 Book of Mormon

Then in Sydney but unconfirmed in Melbourne:

My Fair Lady? It's opening in Sydney in August 2016

Aladdin? opens in Sydney Aug 2016
 

Dream Lover? Sydney Sept 2016

Ryan, Dec 10, 2015 ***1/2

By Barry Dickins
La Mama Courthouse, until Dec 20, 2015 
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ***1/2

 Review also published in Herald Sun Arts on Fri Dec 12, 2015

Syd Brisbane pic by Sarah Walker

Barry Dickins’ Ryan is a poignant and poetical monologue that leaves one rejoicing that capital punishment is a thing of the past in Australia.

Ryan is Dickins’ second theatrical observation about the hanging of Ronald Ryan in 1967, the first being Remember Ronald Ryan, Dickins’ play that won The Victorian Premier’s Literary Award in 1995.

Syd Brisbane looks vulnerable and alone on a stark platform resembling the gibbet at Pentridge Gaol where Ryan was hanged for killing prison officer, George Hodson, during Ryan and Peter Walker’s 1965 escape.

This play is not an academic analysis of hanging but an emotive, painful and intimate story told by a man in the final last hour before death ties a rope around his neck and drops him through a trapdoor.

Dickins’ writing heightens the anguish and despair of Ryan, balancing lyrical, metaphorical language with Dickins’ inimitable, wry comic style that, in this case, is literally gallows humour.

Daniel Lammin’s direction effectively focuses on the fraught, inner world of Ryan’s mind and Brisbane captures the ramblings of this childlike man as he wrestles with the incomprehensible notion of imminent death.

Brisbane is compelling as Ryan, pacing in the dim light of his cell, praying to his Catholic God for forgiveness, hoping for clemency from Victorian Premier, Henry Bolte, who thinks – says Ryan – that the execution will ensure he wins the 1967 election in a landslide – which he does.

Ryan remembers his crimes of theft, insists that he did not shoot Hodson and that they were friends, reminisces about his loving mother and agonises over the distress suffered by his three daughters.

In a heart-wrenching and ghastly scene, Brisbane as Ryan describes step by agonising step the mental and physical horrors as he is hustled from the condemned cell, marched to the gibbet where he is hooded and hanged.

Dickins’ words are like a perpetual keening, an ode to mourning and a reminder that the murder of a murderer does not make murder right.

The final 10 minutes, although powerful in tone and content, contain some unnecessary repetition of parts of Ryan’s story.

Dickins is a much-loved writer and his passionate commitment to language and to social justice are primary in this new tribute to Ronald Ryan.

By Kate Herbert

Syd Brisbane pic by Sarah Walker

RICERCAR, FULL REVIEW ***1/2

RICERCAR by Present Tense Ensemble & Twoks
TheatreWorks, until Dec 12, 2015
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ***1/2

RICERCAR- Laura Buzacott and John Howard

RICERCAR begins with a violinist leading the audience along Acland St. and into the neighbouring church where J. S. Bach’s music swells and the leadlight saints glow as the evening light fades.

This performance investigates and is inspired by the musical form of Bach’s Fugues and Preludes and is divided in two parts: Book One - Alpha in the church and Book Two - Omega performed in the theatre.

A church is the ideal space to hear Bach’s choral and instrumental music because the acoustics and religious atmosphere are evocative of Bach’s own work in the Thomaskirche (Thomas Church) in Leipzig.

The church organ, a piano, violins and guitar blend with the chorus, soprano (Shauntai Batzke) and tenor (Simon Gilkes) to create surging waves of sound that shift into almost imperceptible ripples of distant harmonies.

In Book One, the company creates a surround-sound by singing and playing in the balcony choir, the pews, on the altar and in darkening or candlelit corners.

The repertoire includes exhilarating pieces from some of Bach’s best-known works such as St. Matthew Passion, The Well-Tempered Clavier and Ricercar a3 from Musical Offering.

Book One is more cohesive both musically and theatrically, but Book Two has some stirring, even thrilling sections, particularly those soaring pieces that layer all the voices and instruments to create a swelling soundscape.

The performance is abstract in form with no linear narrative but, in some sections, characters and relationships emerge to explore romantic moments or feelings of loss, death or inspiration.

In a gently comical scene, the white-clad chorus members sing as they dance a quirky aerobics routine, while another witty musical moment has the soprano singing the hymn, Ave Maria, against a rich, pounding, rhythmic and very contemporary score.

There are some inspired musical pieces in RICERCAR, but some of the more performative or theatrical elements let it down by trying to add character, relationship or gesture where it is not needed.

The production, directed by Nathan Gilkes and Bryce Ives, is atmospheric and rich with echoes of Bach, but the second half is patchy and too long which reduces the impact of the whole.

Present Tense Ensemble and The Twoks deserve applause for this inventive and unusual work that challenges our notion of operatic performance.

By Kate Herbert

 RICERCAR-(L-R)  Aubrey Flood, Shauntai Batzke, John Howard, Daniel Han (standing)

RICERCAR, Dec 2, 2015

By Present Tense Ensemble & The Twoks
At TheatreWorks, until Dec 12, 2015
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: TBC

 Full review also online in Herald Sun Arts on Thurs Dec 3, 2015. KH

(L-R)  Aubrey Flood, Shauntai Batzke, John Howard, Daniel Han (standing) pic Lachlan Woods

 

RICERCAR begins with a violinist leading the audience along Acland St. and into the neighbouring church where J. S. Bach’s music swells and the leadlight saints glow as the evening light fades.

This performance investigates and is inspired by the musical form of Bach’s Fugues and Preludes and is divided in two parts: Book One - Alpha in the church and Book Two - Omega performed in the theatre.

A church is the ideal space to hear Bach’s choral and instrumental music because the acoustics and religious atmosphere are evocative of Bach’s own work in the Thomaskirche (Thomas Church) in Leipzig.

The church organ, a piano, violins and guitar blend with the chorus, soprano (Shauntai Batzke) and tenor (Simon Gilkes) to create surging waves of sound that shift into almost imperceptible ripples of distant harmonies.

In Book One, the company creates a surround-sound by singing and playing in the balcony choir, the pews, on the altar and in darkening or candlelit corners...continues after publication. K

The Listies Ruin Xmas, Nov 27, 2015 ***1/2

By The Listies; devised & performed by Richard Higgins & Matthew Kelly 
Malthouse Theatre,  Nov 27 to Dec 13, 2015
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars:***1/2
Full review also published in Herald Sun in print & online on Mon Nov 30, 2015.KH

Richard Higgins & Matthew Kelly

In the domain of children’s theatre, The Listies are masters of audience participation that mainly involves kids and parents excitedly chucking stuff at these relentlessly cheerful performers.

In their joyfully shambolic show for the Malthouse, The Listies Ruin Xmas, Richard Higgins and Matthew Kelly scramble around their scruffy stage indulging in all manner of madcap, pre-Christmas escapades.

In the best tradition of slapstick comedy duos, Higgins plays the obliging and tolerant straight man to Kelly’s adorable goofball, but to the audience they are simply Rich and Matt.

These eternal man-boys conjure the spirit of Christmas Eve with a spindly, plastic Christmas tree, piles of colourfully wrapped presents, bikkies and milk for Santa, twinkling strings of lights and their big bed smack in the middle of it all.

Their dialogue is littered with a trail of bad puns, goofy Christmas jokes, some adult references and apologies for gags that don’t work.

The physical, comic business is the highlight, starting with the present wrapping that leaves Matt trapped in sticky-tape with gifts stuck to his hands.

They dress in giant, green, Chrissie tree costumes (Marg Horwell) covered with velcro so that, when the enthusiastic kids hurl puffy Christmas baubles at them, they stick hilariously to their jolly targets.

Higgins and Kelly are charming and engaging, chatting directly with the crowd, crawling across seats to get comments and hauling volunteers of all ages on stage to participate in songs and stories.

With Matt wearing a shoddy, grey wig to play Rich’s Nan, the pair presents Karaoke by Candlelight, teaching everyone the Aussie Seven Days of Christmas with three child volunteers burping in unison to punctuate the chorus.

Instead of ‘A partridge in a pear tree’, we sing, ‘Two mozzies biting and a roast when it’s 40 degrees’, then the lyrics just get sillier and accompanying gestures more provocative.

To the delight of the kids, there are enormous water guns, even bigger snow making devices and a bubble machine.

The Listies delight in poo and fart jokes and they simply annihilate a fairy tale, renaming it Jack and The Beans Talk, a story that features a dad playing the front half of a huge, green cow-dragon thingy.

The Listies Ruin Xmas is rough and ready kids’ theatre that will tighten up as they sort out the gags they like and elevate the chaos even further, but it’s sunny entertainment from two chirpy and clever performers.

By Kate Herbert

Jerry's Girls, Nov 21, 2015 ***

Jerry's Girls; concept by Larry Alford, Wayne Cilento & Jerry Herman; music & lyrics by Jerry Herman; produced by The Production Company
Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne, Nov 21 to Dec 6, 2015
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ***
 Review also published in Herald Sun Arts online on Monday Nov 23, 2015 & later in print,KH

In his musicals, Jerry Herman wrote plenty of outstanding roles for women – and for men dressed as women – and Jerry’s Girls is a glitzy celebration of his greatest show tunes for gals.

With a repertoire of over 30 Herman songs, Jerry’s Girls is the perfect showcase for female talent and director, Dean Bryant, has cast some of Australia’s musical theatre giants including veteran, Nancye Hayes, the inimitable Rhonda Burchmore and ever-gracious Silvie Paladino.

The songs come from Herman’s renowned musicals that include Hello, Dolly! Mame, Mack and Mabel, Parade and the cross-dressing La Cage aux Folles.

One audacious highlight is Debora Krizak as the saggy, grotesque and aged stripper in Take It All Off, singing the cruel but hilarious inversion of the title, Put It Back On.

Burchmore shines with If He Walked Into My Life, the poignant tune from Mame, while Paladino demonstrates her impeccable tone and vocal control singing the hymn-like Milk and Honey.

Virginia Gay, known more for her television work than musicals, shows she can sing, act and be funny when she cunningly plays both Mack and Mabel in I Won’t Send Roses.

Hayes shows her continuing versatility as a singer-dancer in Two-A-Day (Parade) and I Was Beautiful (Dear World) while Kirby Burgess, a genuine triple-threat, performs Showtune with a vivacious dance.

The audience is champing at the bit by the time the glittering song and dance chorus numbers finally arrive at the end of Acts One and Two.

Hello, Dolly! is a classic, classy display of 11 sassy gals wearing bold, scarlet frocks (Owen Phillips) and singing their hearts out accompanied by a fine orchestra led by Mathew Frank.

The finale of Tap Your Troubles Away leaves us wanting more of its effervescent chorus line of tap-dancing, singing all-stars wearing black lamé and the obligatory, feathered headwear.

There is no narrative in Jerry’s Girls because it is simply a parade of great show tunes, but Bryant creates his own framework by setting the show in the rehearsal room with the 11 women playing themselves and revealing real stories about their lives in musical theatre.

Brent Hill, another capable, musical performer, depicts the frazzled director who plays rehearsal games, allocates songs, referees arguments and soothes nerves.

However, this theatrical device feels clumsy, often stalling the natural movement of songs and interrupting the flow of the show.

Some dialogue feels manufactured and uncomfortable, and there are so many in-jokes and self-referential banter about cast and choreographer, Andrew Hallsworth, that anyone who doesn’t know the performers’ histories and characters won’t get the jokes.

When the band plays and the songs are in full production mode, this show really flies and reminds the audience of Herman’s splendid repertoire and that ‘there’s just no tune as exciting as a show tune’.

By Kate Herbert

Cast includes:

Rhonda Burchmore

Nancye Hayes

Silvie Paladino

Christie Whelan Browne

Virgina Gay

Claire Lyon
Kirby Burgess

Chelsea Gibb

Debora Krizak 
Josie Lane
Natalie O'Donnell

and Brent Hill
 

Creative Team:

Director: Dean Bryant

Choreographer: Andrew Hallsworth

Musical Director: Mathew Frank

Dale Ferguson: Set Design

Owen Phillips: Costumes

Matt Scott: Lighting 

Sound by System Sound.

Rhonda Burchmore, Virginia Gay - photo Jeff Busby

Nancye Hayes - photo Jeff Busby

  

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Nov 13, 2015 ***1/2

Written by Terrence McNally (1987)
At fortyfivedownstairs, until November 29, 2015 

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars ***1/2

 Full review also published in Herald Sun online, Nov 13, 2015. It will appear later in print. KH

Damien Richardson &  Kate Kendall

The two damaged and lonely characters in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune appear to cram the first six months of their newborn relationship into a single, fraught night of love and conflict.

In Terrence McNally’s 1987 play, Frankie (Kate Kendall), a waitress, and Johnny (Damien Richardson), a short-order cook at the same New York restaurant, stumble into bed together only to find that their old, emotional wounds open when they try to communicate genuinely.

The action takes place over an uninterrupted night in Frankie’s dingy, Manhattan apartment that is evocatively and realistically recreated in the dim, cellar-like environment of fortyfivedownstairs (Design by Jacob Battista).

Director, Colette Mann, focuses on the complex and conflicted inner worlds of these two dysfunctional people as they navigate the bumpy ocean of new, mid-life love.

Richardson balances annoying bluster with blokey charm as the nervy, persistent, garrulous Johnny who, despite being a divorced ex-con estranged from his kids, remains naively romantic, although a bit too hasty in his declarations of undying love.

Kendall brings a brittle, suspicious edge to Frankie whose eagerness for Johnny to put on his clothes and leave her apartment stems from a dysfunctional, past relationship that left her fearful and emotionally damaged.

The harder Johnny pushes her to accept that they are soul mates and should marry and have kids, the faster Frankie backs away. 

Richardson and Kendall effectively explore the playfulness, drama and conflict in McNally’s snappy dialogue and flawed characters.  

Mann maintains a cracking pace in the fierce, funny and audacious early scenes although some of the shouting matches are too loud and overwhelming while the sudden emotional shifts are not always credible. 

The final, sweet and intimate scenes are the most touching when Frankie and Johnny finally find their common rhythm in the pale, morning light and settle into an amiable, domestic peace.  

The Clair de Lune of the title refers to Debussy’s soothing, atmospheric music that triggers a poignant moment when a late-night radio DJ answers Johnny’s request for a romantic tune. 

This is a funny and moving performance by two talented, well-known and engaging performers.  

Kate Herbert

Damien Richardson &  Kate Kendall