Little Shop of Horrors, May 5, 2016 ****

MUSICAL THEATRE

Music by Alan Menken, book by Howard Ashman
Produced by Luckiest Productions & Tinderbox Productions
Comedy Theatre until May 22, 2016
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars:****

 Review also published in Herald Sun Arts online  on Fri May 6, 2016 & iater in print . KH

The gigantic, flesh-eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors looks like the mutant progeny of an oversized, frill-necked lizard and an enormous pink and green artichoke.

In this horror-comedy-rock musical (music by Alan Menken, book by Howard Ashman), a geeky young florist, Seymour Krelborn (Brent Hill), finds and rears an unusual and seemingly innocuous plant that thrives on human blood and flesh and evidently came down in the last meteor shower.

Lovelorn Seymour names the plant Audrey II, after his ditzy co-worker, Audrey (Esther Hannaford), who he secretly adores, and Mr. Mushnik’s (Tyler Coppin) florist shop goes gangbusters after the public discover this eccentric shrub that just keeps on flourishing on flesh.

Dean Bryant’s taut production, with snappy and audacious choreography by Andrew Hallsworth, captures the quirkiness and absurdity of this parodic musical that became a cult classic after being spawned from Roger Corman’s 1960 B-grade movie.

Esther Hannaford is the stand out with her hilariously idiosyncratic and detailed depiction of the idiotic but adorable Audrey, and she mines huge laughs from her twitchy, angular physicality and from the tiniest snippets of dialogue or Audrey’s effusive squeaks and moans.

Hannaford’s versatile voice is bright-toned and sweet in the ballad, Somewhere That’s Green, but is thrilling when she balances bold, belting notes with softness in her duet with Hill, Suddenly, Seymour.

Hill brings his distinctive, comic talent and impeccable timing to the daggy Seymour and his formidable vocal skill is a highlight when he belts out the raunchy, James Brown-style funk number, Git It (Feed Me), singing it as the voice of the grotesque plant, Audrey II.

Alan Menken’s music, played by Andrew Worboys and his tight band, ranges in style from the Rhythm and Blues of Skidrow (Downtown) to 60s rock, funk, Doo-Wop and Motown.

Coppin is a Chaplinesque clown as Mr. Mushnik, the florist, while Scott Johnson as the sadistic dentist, Orin Scrivello, is like a bizarre giggling Elvis.

The three tough, sassy, powerfully voiced gals played by Angelique Cassimatis (Crystal), Josie Lane (Chiffon) and Chloe Zuel (Ronnette) provide assured, harmonious vocals but also fill in narrative detail as would a Greek chorus.

Audrey II, designed by Puppet Erth, is a vivid, bumptious, manipulative and scary creature that devours people in increasingly gruesome ways.

Little Shop of Horrors succeeds as a kooky, cult classic that entertains the audience with its impudent parody of schlock horror.

By Kate Herbert

SHIT by Patricia Cornelius, May 4, 2016 ***1/2

THEATRE
At fortyfivedownstairs, until May 15, 2016 

Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ***1/2
Review also published in Herald Sun Arts online on Fri May 6, 2016 and in print earlier in this week. KH

Be warned! You would not want to meet these women in a dark alley. Really!

The three characters in Patricia Cornelius’ play, SHIT (all capitals, so shout the title), are tough, mean, violent and damaged by their abusive pasts and limited by their disappointment and rage at the world.

Cornelius’ caustic, provocative and funny play captures the grim and gritty environment inhabited by these marginalised and disenfranchised women.

On a set that resembles an industrial grey, concrete bunker or prison (design, Marg Horwell), Bobby (Sarah Ward), Billy (Nicci Wilks) and Sam (Peta Brady) prowl and crouch like caged animals.

They voice their resentment and frustration as they trawl through their topics of choice: swearing, fighting, foster homes, sexual abuse, crying and not being able to escape their dire circumstances.

Although these women are vile and offensive, the three passionate actors make us love them a little and sympathise with them a lot.

Cornelius’ dialogue is liberally peppered with expletives, vulgarity and barely repressed violence that echoes the real world of these women as they struggle to make sense of, or even survive their wretched lives.

Ward is big, bold and bolshy as Bobby, the petite Wilks is feisty and shrill as Billy, while Brady balances the trio as the warmer, more vulnerable character, Sam.

Director, Susie Dee’s production maintains a cracking pace to match Cornelius’ searing, rapid-fire dialogue and she intercuts the volatile, verbal scenes with dialogue-free vignettes that employ a gestural language that is effective in part but not always fully integrated or cohesive.

However, this physicality provides breathing space between the women’s relentlessly angry interactions and also a visual representation of their audacious and dangerous actions that take place behind the grey wall, almost out of view.

We can laugh with these women but, ultimately, their story is poignant, tragic and reminds us that many are left behind in our world of progress.

By Kate Herbert

Bad Jews, April 28, 2016 ***

THEATRE
Written by Josh Harmon

Produced by Aleksandar Vass with VASS Theatre Group 

Alex Theatre, St Kilda, until May 14, 2016 

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on April 28, 2016 

Stars: ***

This review also online at Herald Sun Arts on Fri April 29 (or Mon May 2) and in print later. KH

  Matt Whitty, Maria Angelico, Simon Corfield, Anna Burgess

Bad Jews, the title of Joshua Harmon’s play, may sound controversial or anti-Semitic but some Jews use this term to describe Jews who do not observe the traditional practices of their religion.

The play is set in a well-appointed, New York City apartment (designer, Jacob Battista) that is a pressure cooker for the volatile relationships between three cousins who, on the night of their Poppy’s (grandfather’s) funeral, argue ruthlessly about who should inherit an heirloom that has religious significance.

Matt Whitty plays quiet, mild-mannered and unassertive Jonah who is unwilling to voice an opinion in order to avoid conflict between his older, non-observant brother, Liam (Simon Corfield), and their overbearing, religious cousin, Daphna (Maria Angelico).

The situation worsens when Liam introduces Melody (Anna Burgess), his good-hearted, shiksa (non-Jewish) girlfriend who struggles to comprehend the ugliness of this family argument.

With swiftly paced direction by Gary Abrahams, Harmon’s play is peppered with barbed jokes that trigger laughs and groans at the expense of every character and his dialogue highlights the absurdity of the argument between the equally stubborn and uncompromising Liam and Daphna.

However, these stereotypical characters are not fully rounded and, although Jonah and Melody garner some sympathy with their more moderate and sensitive attitudes, Liam and Daphna are extremely dislikeable and unsympathetic.

Their rigid and opposing representations of what constitutes a bad Jew provide little light and shade in this argument.

With her wild mane of hair and feisty physicality, Angelico effectively embodies Daphna’s brutal, self-absorbed rudeness and her often hilariously incessant babbling about any topic, but it is hard to resist running on stage to slap this offensive character.

Corfield’s Liam is brittle, entitled and single-minded while Whitty plays Jonah with subtlety, successfully capturing the accommodating peacekeeper who is probably the only one in the room grieving for his grandfather.

Burgess is suitably ditzy and stereotypically blond as the pleasant, accepting Melody and she gets a huge laugh when we realise that Melody is totally deluded about her singing ability.

Harmon’s final resolution to all the vehemence and vigorous conflict seems too convenient but the production is entertaining and its issues should generate plenty of post-show discussion.

By Kate Herbert

Maria Angelico, Simon Corfield, Anna Burgess

 Maria Angelico, Simon Corfield, Anna Burgess

Cast

Maria Angelico - Daphna

Simon Corfield -Liam

Anna Burgess - Melody

Matt Whitty - Jonah

Directed by Gary Abrahams

Designer Jacob Battista

Lighting Designer Rob Sowinski

Sound Design by Dave Ellis

Costumes by Kelsey Henderson

Executive Producer Helen Ellis.

Peddling, April 22, 2016 ***

THEATRE
By Harry Melling, by Melbourne Theatre Company
MTC Southbank Theatre, The Lawler, until May 6, 2016; regional tour May 9-27, 2016
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ***

This review also in Herald Sun Arts in print and online after Mon April 25, KH

Darcy Brown

Peddling reminds us that having a family, a job or even somewhere to sleep are privileges that are out of reach for the disenfranchised in our communities.

In Harry Melling’s monodrama, Darcy Brown plays a homeless, 19-year-old youth who goes door-to-door in London, peddling cheap household cleaning products as part of a scam that his unseen but formidable Boss Man calls “Boris Johnson’s Young Offenders’ Scheme”.

Melling, known for his movie role as Dudley Dursley, Harry Potter’s cousin, writes the Boy’s dialogue in galloping, rap-style, blank verse that echoes the lad’s frenetic behaviour and disordered, often unhinged thinking.

“So I’m doing what I do best. I’m making a f...ing mess,” quips the Boy, and Brown’s feverish performance makes clear that this Boy’s mess is mental as well as physical.

As the Boy, Brown frantically scrambles and slides over a skateboard ramp (designer, Marg Horwell), leaping off it to knock on the doors of affluent or middle-class London homes only to be shunned, patronised or summarily dismissed.

Brown embodies this disaffected young man’s desperation and fear as he tries to scrape a living from dodgy peddling while avoiding the wrath of his Boss Man.

Susie Dee’s dynamic direction intersperses still moments amidst hectic scenes, and focuses on the rhythmic language, vivid characters and shifting locations the Boy visits.

Brown careers around the space, tumbling over and under the skate ramp, spilling the Boy’s addled inner thoughts then reining in his ranting to politely address customers on their doorsteps.

He inhabits a parade of characters that include a shopkeeper who sells him illegal fireworks, the Boss Man, an obliging elderly resident, a helpful, little girl who he calls The Gatekeeper and her mother who the Boy recognises from his troubled past.

The Boy’s poignant craving for redemption and to find a place of love and peace are heart wrenching.

Brown evokes a sense of place as the Boy scampers agitatedly along streets and spends troubled, painful nights sleeping on concrete in a car park, although the skate ramp restricts the space and seems too confining for Brown’s physicality.

Brown could pace himself better and relax a little so that the Boy’s chaotic behaviour does not interfere with the clarity of his dialogue, thereby ensuring that the underlying social commentary is always comprehensible.

Bec Matthews’ rumbling, live percussion underscores the Boy’s anxious journey and punctuates dramatic moments with thumping bass notes, although it occasionally obscures Brown’s dialogue for those seated near the drum kit.

Peddling is a tough story that uses contemporary, lyrical language to inventively investigate life on the streets.

By Kate Herbert

Miss Julie, April 21, 2016 **1/2

THEATRE
By August Strindberg, adapted by Kip Williams from a translation by Ninna Tersman
By Melbourne Theatre Company
MTC Southbank Theatre, Sumner, until May 21, 2016
Reviewer: Kate Herbert on April 21, 2016
Stars: **1/2

Review also in Herald Sun Arts in print on Monday 25 April, 2016 and online by Tues 26 April.KH

 Mark Leonard Winter, Robin McLeavy. PicJeff Busby

There are myriad challenges in updating August Strindberg’s late 19^th century Scandinavian play, Miss Julie, with its central issues of lust between social classes and misogyny.

Strindberg wrote his play in the ‘naturalistic’ style, set it in a single location – the kitchen of Miss Julie’s (Robin McLeavy) aristocratic father’s estate – and focused on the truthful depiction of the scandalous relationship between the privileged Miss Julie and Jean (Mark Leonard Winter), her father’s manservant.

Kip Williams’ adventurous adaptation retains the kitchen setting, the naturalistic acting and the forbidden relationship between Miss Julie and Jean, but it uses contemporary language peppered with expletives and reduces the complexity of the characters’ psychology.

Unfortunately, this production favours form over content and, although the simultaneous, live projection of a filmed version of the onstage action is a compelling visual device, the enormous, overhead screen is a distraction.

Initially, the film is a novelty but it becomes an annoyance that draws the eye away from the live performance or even replaces it when characters go so far upstage that we are forced to look at the screen.

These huge, on-screen personae dwarf their live counterparts below and, because the actors must perform to multiple cameras outside the glass-walled kitchen (designer Alice Babidge), they are mostly in profile or facing upstage; back-acting can be interesting, but not for 100 minutes.

While the film focuses on the minutiae of the actors’ performances, echoing Strindberg’s desire for naturalism, it fails to illuminate story, characters and relationships or provide a further dimension to our understanding of the action.

In 1888 Sweden, Miss Julie’s elevated social position would make her fall from grace shattering, but removing the yawning social status gap between her and Jean eliminates the risk and shame that should drive her to flee her home or consider suicide.

Their now peculiarly modern relationship lacks credibility and also the devastating intimacy that should evolve over their passionate, perilous, Midsummer night flirtation.

 

 Mark Leonard Winter, Robin McLeavy. PicJeff Busby

Winter’s portrayal of Jean misses the subtle balance of arrogant, ambitious upstart and cruel peasant, lacks the raw masculine power of the working class that attracts Julie, and relies on shouting to express his cruelty and self-absorption.

McLeavy’s Miss Julie combines a dizzy, flirtatious, contemporary party girl with the naive girlishness and entitled power play of an aristocrat.

Drunkenness increases Miss Julie’s volatility and blurs her boundaries and the escalating conflict between the lovers is epitomised in Jean’s comment that they will “torment each other to death”.

Although Williams dilutes Miss Julie’s hysteria, McLeavy expresses her vulnerable, unbalanced and deluded personality, but Miss Julie’s devolution into desperate suicidal action does not ring true in this contemporary portrayal.

Zahra Newman brings depth and truth to Kristin, Jean’s beleaguered, religious serving-maid ‘fiancée’, and the character provides an objective view on the doomed relationship and grounds the scenes in which she features.

This production is an inventive, modern interpretation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie but it sacrifices dramatic truth and complexity for technical innovation.

By Kate Herbert 

  Mark Leonard Winter, Robin McLeavy. PicJeff Busby

 Robin McLeavy. PicJeff Busby

CROSSxROADS, April 16, 2016 ***1/2

MUSICAL THEATRE
Music & lyrics by Anthony Costanzo, book by Peter Fitzpatrick 
Chapel off Chapel, until April 30, 2016
Reviewer: Kate Herbert on April 16, 2016
Stars: ***1/2

This review also online in Herald Sun on Tues April 19, 2016 and later in print. KH

Alinta Chidzey Stephen Mahy – pic James Terry

There is much to like in CROSSxROADS, a romantic comedy that is one of those rare beasts – a new, Australian musical.

With music and lyrics by Anthony Costanzo and book by Peter Fitzpatrick, CROSSxROADS boasts a small but exceptionally talented cast, featuring three favourite, local musical theatre performers: Stephen Mahy, Alinta Chidzey and Fem Belling.

The story focuses on the evolution of Rick (Mahy) and Amy’s (Chidzey) on-and-off relationship that begins on their 1999 university Graduation Day but, over the next ten years, suffers interruptions, miscommunication, pig-headedness and the tyranny of distance when they live in different countries.

Fitzpatrick’s book cunningly employs the ‘sliding doors’ narrative device that depicts crucial moments in Rick and Amy’s lives when they could have taken alternative pathways that could have led them to different relationship destinations.

Costanzo’s complex lyrics cleverly illuminate characters, develop relationships and advance the story in a repertoire of songs ranging from bold choruses to power ballads, anthems and poignant love duets.

Mahy is magnetic as Rick, allowing his character to grow, albeit slowly, from the brazen, irresponsible and boyish 21-year old, to a driven company executive then to the mature man who wants love in his life.

Mahy’s voice is thrilling when he sings Rick’s impassioned lament about his chequered life journey, Yellow Brick Road, and he provides captivating lead vocals in the chorus numbers.

Chidzey, with her clear, bright but powerful voice, is charming and engaging as the bookish, conservative Amy and her version of Amy’s Moving On is touching.

Mahy and Chidzey are entertaining in the playful duet, That’s My Shit, and their voices blend effectively in the rich and emotional tune, I Don’t Know You.

Belling’s enormous, powerhouse voice is a feature in the show and she plays Hannah, Amy’s eccentric best friend, with a sassy, audacious edginess.

Joe Kosky creates a sympathetic and funny character playing Rick’s best mate, Barrel, a boyish, boozing, good-natured boofhead.

The ensemble relishes the comedy in the satirical tune, The Difference Between, provides swelling vocals and exhilarating harmonies in Paint The Town Green and in the rousing finale, Epilogue/I Don’t Know You.

Tyran Parke’s direction keeps the staging simple and the action moving swiftly while the five-piece band is tight and tuneful under the musical direction of David Wisken.

Th songs may not all be memorable, but the quality of this production, with its fine cast, suggests that CROSSxROADS could be the new, Australian musical to watch.

By Kate Herbert

Alinta Chidzey -pic James Terry

Romeo and Juliet, Bell Shakepeare, April 15, 2016 ***1/2

THEATRE 
By William Shakespeare, Bell Shakespeare Company
Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne, until May 1, 2016
Reviewer: Kate Herbert on April 15, 2016
Stars:***1/2

Review also online in Herald Sun Arts on Tues April 19, 2016 and also in print. KH

Romeo and Juliet - Kelly Paterniti, Alex Williams_pic Daniel Boud

In the first minutes of the opening night of Romeo and Juliet, the electrics failed and director, Peter Evans, diverted the audience with chatter about Shakespeare until the lights came up, accompanied by a cheer, and the crowd was now in the palm of his hand.

Evans’ production captures the passionate spirit of Shakespeare’s play about adolescent ‘star-crossed lovers’ from feuding families, beginning as a playful comedy before veering relentlessly into tragedy after Mercutio’s (Damien Strouthos) violent death, the first of many.

The youthful cast, although older than Juliet’s almost 14 years, embodies the intemperate passions and lack of impulse control of these privileged, young people of Verona; the stage is steaming with hormones.

Some of Shakespeare’s glorious, poetic textures and rhythms are lost amidst the brazen, energetic delivery of famous monologues, but the volatility of these teenage lovers and their exuberant, feuding cohorts enlivens the story, bringing it into our times.

A curtained archway and two high balconies supported by scaffolding, and the elegant, brocaded costumes, evoke the Italian Renaissance town on this stage within a stage designed by Anna Cordingley.

Alex Williams’ Romeo is boyish, petulant, whining (a little too much whining), a victim of his hormones and romantic fantasies that lead him into perils including seducing and marrying his enemy’s daughter and killing her cousin leading to his death and his lover’s. No spoiler alert needed.

Kelly Paterniti is pert and girlish as the besotted Juliet, and her tiny, poppet-like frame and light voice make credible Juliet’s childish flightiness, foolhardy decisions and romantic musings.

Michelle Doake is a comic highlight as Juliet’s Nurse and she relishes her bawdy dialogue, foolish ramblings and slapstick tomfoolery.

Strouthos plays Mercutio as a brattish, brawling fun-lover but his characterisation lacks some of the charm and charisma that are essential ingredients of any unforgettable Mercutio.

Shakespeare’s story is riddled with bullying, thuggery, gang feuds and domestic violence so a contemporary audience needs to suspend any gentler sensibilities and try not to judge characters such as Mercutio, Tibalt (Tom Stokes) and Lord Capulet (Justin Stuart Cotta) as the bullies that they are.

Evans’ direction moves at a galloping pace while the palpably dangerous sword fights (directed by Nigel Poulton) epitomise the hot-bloodedness of these feuding gangs.

Jacob Warner is a dignified Benvolio, Hazzam Shamas opens the play with a comical Samson and later plays the naive, fearful Friar.

Angie Milliken gives grace and vulnerability to Lady Capulet, Michael Gupta plays the County Paris as blissfully ignorant, while Cramer Cain is a goofy Peter, the servant.

In Romeo and Juliet, the characters are on an inexorable march toward the tragic finale in the Capulets’ tomb, but an audience cannot help but want to warn them every step of the way and shout, “Don’t do it!” – to no avail, of course.

By Kate Herbert

Peter Evans director

Design Anna Cordingley

Light Benjamin Cisterne

Sound Kelly Ryall

Fight move Nigel Poulton

Alex Williams Romeo

Juliet Kelly Paterniti

Nurse Michelle Doake

Mercutio Damien Strouthos

Tibalt Tom Stokes

Paris Michael Gupta

Lady Capulet Angie Milliken

Lord Capulet  Justin Stuart Cotta

Friar Hazzam Shamas

Lord Montague Cramer Cain

Alex Williams_pic Daniel Boud

Kelly Paterniti, Alex Williams_pic Daniel Boud

Rhonda Burchmore & Trevor Ashley in Twins, April 8, 2016 ***1/2

Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne, until April 17, 2016

Reviewer: Kate Herbert 
Stars: ***

Review also published online at Herald Sun Arts/Com Fest on April 9, 2016. KH

Trevor Ashley & Rhonda Burchmore in Twins

In Twins, two local cabaret legends, Rhonda Burchmore and Trevor Ashley, wrap their exceptional singing in an odd package that comprises campery, vulgarity, cynicism, sexism, self-deprecation and unfunny, trashy banter.

It’s like watching episodes from two totally different shows of vastly differing quality.

Twins relies on Burchmore and Ashley’s separate prowess and celebrity as cabaret artists, but also on the ridiculous notion that they are identical twins (borne by Maria Venuti), the absurdity of which is emphasised in their duet, I’m Singing With My Twin In The Mirror.

Both are considered sassy, gay icons in Melbourne but Ashley is short, plump and male (albeit famous for drag characters including Edna Turnblat in Hairspray) while Burchmore is tall, leggy and female.

The altered lyrics that they sing to ABBA’s Dancing Queen were, I think, ‘See them dance, that skinny vamp and that fat queen.’ She’s the spaghetti to his dumpling.

They rev the crowd up with their rousing medley of Pointer Sisters songs including, I’m So Excited, Slow Hand and Jump!

Ashley’s parody of Adele is a riot as he flails his arms, tosses his Adele wig and adulterates her poignant lyrics to, ‘Hello, I’m thinking about things I like to eat.’

Burchmore’s impersonation of Sia singing Chandelier is a hoot as she stumbles blindly around the stage wearing her face-obscuring wig while Ashley, in an unflattering white leotard, performs a hilarious interpretive dance.

Rhonda Burchmore as Sia & Trevor Ashley as her 'dancer'

The satirical videos of the Kardashians and Entertainment Today are really entertaining, but the video highlight is the outrageously funny and provocative ad for The Real Housewives of ISIS.

The show has compelling songs, glitzy costumes and a terrific (but scarily young) band, however the banter between the tunes is often unsuccessful, amateurish or crass and the production could benefit from an outside director's eye.

The satire of Ellen Degeneres and her partner, Portia De Rossi, doing a TV seminar called  ‘Nurturing your inner lesbian’, is awkward and mostly unfunny while the mermaid sketch may offend some audience members.

Ultimately, the quality of the musical numbers and the personalities of these two talented cabaret artists win the crowd and compensate for the show’s intermittent failings.

By Kate Herbert