Barnum: The Circus Musical, Sun May 5, 2019, ***1/2

MUSICAL THEATRE

Music by Cy Coleman; book by Mark Bramble; lyrics by Michael Stewart

At Comedy Theatre, until Sunday June 2, 2019  (at present) 

Reviewer: Kate Herbert  

Stars: 3& 1/2
 This review NOT published in Herald Sun. KH

BARNUM-Rachael Beck, Todd McKenney pic Jeff Busby

Todd McKenney plays 19^th century show promoter, Phineus Taylor (P.T.) Barnum with flamboyant pizzazz as he sings, dances, quips and even tightrope walks his way through Barnum’s chequered show biz career and personal life.

 

In Barnum: The Circus Musical, directed stylishly here by Tyran Parke, Barnum is depicted as an audacious ideas man, a frivolous, self-absorbed dreamer whose fantastic ideas sometimes came to fruition on the stage or under a big top, and sometimes turned to ashes – literally, in one case.

However, although the subtitle is ‘The story behind the world’s greatest showman’, the truth about this ambitious and driven man may be darker, his character crueller, more flawed and totally self-obsessed.

Or was he just a great PR merchant born before his time? Social media would have been his best friend now.

The book and score boast big names: Music by Cy Coleman (Sweet Charity), book by Mark Bramble (42^nd Street) and lyrics by Michael Stewart (Hello Dolly!) and Musical Director Stephen Gray leads a tight, on stage band.

The songs in Barnum may not be as memorable as other musicals but There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute, One Brick At a Time and Bigger Isn’t Better, amongst others, are all ebullient and singable tunes.

McKenney is mischievously engaging as Barnum, directly addressing the audience and slipping topical references into the dialogue, while Rachael Beck is dignified and fine-voiced as his long-suffering wife, Charity.

The support cast of circus performers ((Circus Direction, Zebastian Hunter; Choreography, Kelly Aykers) provides a remarkable range of daring and dangerous acrobatic feats, balances, lifts and flips, while Kirby Burgess wrangles and shepherds the show as a sassy Ringmaster.

Suzie Mathers is perfectly cast as the pet and sweet-voiced soprano, Jenny Lind, AKA the Swedish Nightingale who Barnum promotes in his later shows with varying success. Barnum’s other acts are mostly freaks and oddities, such as The Oldest Woman in the World (Akina Edmonds) and tiny Tom Thumb (Joshua Reckless).

Barnum is a playful entertainment for the family, although it may be a bit too dark and adult for some of the tiny tots who were in the audience at this opening weekend matinee.

by Kate Herbert

Cast
 Todd McKenney  Phineus Taylor (P.T.) Barnum

Rachael Beck  Charity Barnum

Suzie Mathers Jenny Lind Swedish Nightingale

Kirby Burgess Ringmaster

Akina Edmonds Joice Heth Oldest Woman in the World

Joshua Reckless Tom Thumb

Creative Team
Director Tyran Parke

Choreographer Kelly Aykers

Musical Director Stephen Gray

Circus Direction Zebastian Hunter.

Dann Barber Set and Costume Design

 Todd McKenney pic Jeff Busby

Jumbo & Tom Thumb pic Jeff Busby

Ensemble Barnum pic Jeff Busby

The Miser, Bell Shakespeare, 28 April 2019 ***1/2

THEATRE

By Moliere with English translation by Justin Fleming 

Produced by Bell Shakespeare
At  Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne, until May 12, 2019 
Reviewer: Kate Herbert 
Stars:***1/3  
This review is NOT published in, or written for, the Herald Sun. KH

The Miser Damien Strouthos, John Bell, Harriet Gordon-Anderson pic Prudence Upton

John Bell is spider-like as the mean-spirited, stingy Harpagon, a wealthy, Scrooge-like skinflint and moneylender who spends his time hiding his cache of cash in his weird, little garden.

The Miser, by French playwright Moliere, was first performed in 1668 and is a comedy that relies on chaotic stage action, social satire, missed opportunities, power plays and caricature rather than social commentary or psychological insight.

Justin Fleming’s English translation, with playful direction by Peter Evans, captures the spirit of Moliere’s rhyming verse in a rhythmic, smart, modernised text.

Sean O’Shea is louche and ingratiating as Harpagon’s servant, La Flèche, while Jessica Tovey is a seductive and dignified Valère.

L-R Sean O'Shea, Harriet Gordon Anderson, Jessica Tovey, John Bell, Elizabeth Nabben, Michelle Doake, Russell Smith pic Prudence Upton

Bell, in his welcome return to the stage, is a compelling presence, playing Harpagon as an obnoxious, grasping, scruffy, grotesque old geezer who lusts after a much too young wife, Mariane, (Elizabeth Nabben) and uses his stash of money as weapon to control his son, Cléante (Damien Strouthos), and daughter, Élise (Harriet Gordon-Anderson).

Some of the other performances feel laboured or even a bit hysterical at times as thy try to make the characters come to life with the very wordy play.

They rely on sometimes laboured delivery of dialogue, overwrought physicality or awkward slapstick, instead of allowing the characters - or caricatures as most are - to play the comedy.

Anna Tregloan’s sleek, stylish set design provides an open space with multiple doors that allow for those predictable, comic exits and entrances that are a signature of the French farce.

This is a suitably frivolous and intentionally camp production of Moliere’s farce that, despite some flaws, is entertaining and true to its origins as a light, social satire.

by Kate Herbert

John Bell

CREATIVE TEAM

Director Peter Evans

Designer Anna Tregloan
Lighting Designer Matt Cox
Composer & Sound Designer Max Lyandvert
Movement & Fight Director Nigel Poulton
Voice & Text Coach Jess Chambers

CAST

 ohn Bell - Harpagon

Michelle Doake – Frosine

Harriet Gordon-Anderson – Elise 

Elizabeth Nabben - Mariane
Sean O’Shea - La Fleche / Signor Anselm
Jamie Oxenbould – Master Jacques
Russell Smith – Master Simon/Commissioner of Police
Damien Strouthos – Cleante son
Jessica Tovey - Valere

Single Asian Female, April 6, 2019 ***

By Michelle Law, production by La Boite, Brisbane
At Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne until April 21, 2019 
Reviewer: Kate Herbert (reviewed on Sun 7 April 2019)
Stars:***
This review also published in Herald Sun in print on Tues 9 April 2019, & online at H-Sun Comedy Festival Reviews on Mon 8 April, 2019. KH

Courtney Stewart, Hsiao-Ling Tang, Jing-Xuan-Chan_Photo Dylan Evans

Michelle Law’s comedy-drama, Single Asian Female, may be about an Asian-Australian family named Wong, but other Aussie families of all backgrounds share many of the socio-cultural issues and expectations confronting the Wongs.  

Pearl (Hsiao-Ling Tang), over-protective matriarch of the Wong family, struggles to keep her Chinese restaurant afloat after her messy divorce, while wrangling her Australian-born daughters, Zoe (Jing-Xuan Chan) and Mei (Courtney Stewart).

Zoe, a 29-year old concert violinist, faces moving home to live with mum on the Sunshine Coast while dabbling in disastrous online dating. Meanwhile, 17-year old Mei, desperate to be accepted by the mean girls at school, tries to deny, or even delete, her Asian heritage.

Law’s play deals with stereotyping of Asian immigrants and objectification of Asian women, as well as the often hilarious consequences of living in a mixed cultural family landscape.

Littered amongst the many laughs are more telling moments concerning racism, sexism, bullying, anxiety and political bias as well as internal issues arising in Asian-Australian families.

The play is most successful when it stops playing stereotypes – both Asian and Aussie bogan – and allows characters to inhabit their story and expand the narrative. This happens in the final 20 minutes of the play, which is a bit late.

The characters are under-developed and remain two-dimensional until the latter part of the play, but the problem is that early scenes often reference the Australia of 40 years ago.

The dialogue – both comic and dramatic – often feels laboured, particularly when it shoehorns information about characters or social issues into scenes.

Claire Christian’s direction pushes the comic elements of Law’s script by aiming for slapstick and a situation comedy style, but the performances do not always reach the requisite comic heights.

Single Asian Female may be no masterpiece, but it is identification theatre that allows Asian-Australians to laugh at themselves – and this Melbourne audience certainly laughed.

by Kate Herbert

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Feb 23, 2019 ****1/2

THEATRE
Story by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, script by Jack Thorne
At Princess Theatre, Melbourne, closing date TBC
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ****1/2
This review is NOT published in Herald Sun. KH

Sean Rees-Wemyss & William McKenna 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a sparkling, visual feast filled with tasty, Hogwarts  treats for the Potter aficionado.

The excitable and very vocal crowd cheers and gasps at the remarkable, jaw-dropping special effects of John Tiffany’s production that combines magical illusion, black theatre puppetry, startling appearances and disappearances, and whirling choreographic scenes - oh, and familiar characters as well as new ones.

Tiffany keeps the action swift and vivacious in Parts One and Two that are an endurance test of over five hours for the audience - but nobody seems to mind.

Based on an original new story by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, this new play, written by Jack Thorne, which hurls us back into the world of Hogwarts when Harry (Gareth Reeves) and Ginny’s (Lucy Goleby) son Albus (Sean Rees-Wemyss) begins his less than stellar school years at Hogwarts Academy. 

A cunning twist is that Albus's best friend is the goofy and incompetent Scorpius Malfoy (William McKenna), son of Draco, Harry’s childhood nemesis.

The signs at the theatre say, ‘Keep the secrets’, so this we will do. You will not hear anything of the cursed child, the changing fate of young Albus, Scorpius, Harry and his cronies, Ron Weasley (Gyrton Grantley) and Hermione (Paula Arundell) or the current headmistress Professor McGonagall (Debra Lawrance).

If you loved the Potter books and movies, this is a must-see for you. There are working magic wands, magical creatures, moving staircases, terrifying dementors, villains and heroes, battles for life and death, broken familial relationships and all your favourite characters.

The heroes of this production are the invisible people who manipulate human bodies, puppets, staircases, wands and other paraphernalia to create this fantastic world before our eyes.

As Scorpius, McKenna delights the crowd from start to finish, and Rees-Wemyss, as Albus, is a suitably disenchanted, rebellious teenager.

Appearances by  Severus Snape (David Ross Patterson), Professor Dumbledore (George Henare), Lily and James Potter, Dolores Umbridge (Hannah Waterman), and a delicious bathroom cameo from Moaning Myrtle (Gillian Cosgriff) send the crowd into paroxysms of delight.

Occasionally, some dialogue feels a bit cheesy and uncomfortable, a few characters are a bit shouty and lacking vocal control, and the story is extremely convoluted.

But, ultimately, there is plenty of spectacle to keep the audience cheering and clapping as we witness the continuation of the fight between good and evil that is at the heart of the Harry Potter series. Everyone goes home tired and happy.

by Kate Herbert

 

The Lady in the Van, Feb 7, 2019

THEATRE
By Alan Bennett, Melbourne Theatre Company
At Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne, until March 9, 2019 
Reviewer: Kate Herbert 
This review is NOT published in Herald Sun. KH

 Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes bustles about the stage like a demented doll in The Lady in the Van, bossing and bellowing at her reluctant and conflicted 'neighbour', Alan Bennett - or is he her ‘host’?

 In his play, directed here by Dean Bryant, Bennett depicts himself as two separate aspects of his character: Alan Bennett 1 (Daniel Frederikson) who reluctantly allows this recalcitrant, old lady to park her equally scruffy van in his garden indefinitely and assists her with letter writing and numerous complaints against the society on the fringes of which she dwells.

Alan Bennett 2 (James Millar), dressed identically to his doppelganger, scribbles in his notebook, journalising every eccentric activity of his malodorous subject whose name, she says, is Miss Mary Shepherd.

Margolyes' performance is bold, vigorous and comical, and intermittently reveals a vulnerability that allows us to see the inner turmoil and fractured mind of this peculiar, former nun who lives in her squalid van but still clings to a thread of dignity.

 Miriam Margolyes

Bennett's characters and narrative gently raise issues of tolerance, community spirit and the failures of the social welfare system, while the middle class characters, Pauline (Fiona Choi) and Rufus (Dalip Sondhi) pretend to be liberal and spout sympathetic, lefty rhetoric while shunning the lady in the van.

The cast is strong, however the episodic structure and lack of depth of most characters, apart from Miss Shepherd, make the play feel like it skims across the surface of the story.

The staging cunningly creates a sense of location by sliding chairs, fences and even vans on and off stage on invisible tracks, but this device becomes distracting.

The Lady in the Van is a gentle, funny and sometimes moving story about a woman whose life should have gone along another track and it reminds us that we are becoming a less caring community that needs to assist and provide for its more vulnerable members.

by Kate Herbert

 Miriam Margolyes, Daniel Frederiksen, James Millar

Miriam Margolyes – Miss Mary Shepherd (Margaret Fairchild)

Daniel Frederikson -Alan Bennett

James Millar -Alan Bennett 2 The Writer

Fiona Choi -Pauline

Dalip Sondhi Rufus

Jillian Murray- Mam

Ricahrd Piper -Doctor/ Garden Workman

Claire Healey - Social Worker/

Set & Costume- Alicia Clements

Lighting -Matt Scott

Composer /Sound Designer- Matthew Frank

Les Misérables, Jan 19, 2019 ***1/2

MUSICAL THEATRE
Music & book by Claude-Michel Schönberg, book by Alain Boublil, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer
By Young Australian Broadway Chorus
At National Theatre, St. Kilda, until Jan 27, 2019 
Reviewer: Kate Herbert 
Stars: ***1/2

 This review also published in Herald Sun on Tues 22 Jan 2019. By the way, I'm back on deck after a hiatus. KH 

This production of Les Misérables by Young Australian Broadway Chorus may have a youthful cast, but their enthusiasm is contagious and the show entertaining, vivacious and often moving.

Robert Coates’ direction takes advantage of the enormous ensemble of young singers, filling the stage with milling crowd scenes and rousing choruses of the soaring tunes from this renowned musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg (music & book), Alain Boublil (book) and Herbert Kretzmer (lyrics).

Les Misérables, based on Victor Hugo’s epic novel, is set in the early decades of 19^th century France, ending in Paris after the tragedy of the failed1832 Paris Uprising.

The lead performers are capable actor-singers, but several give standout performances. Bryce Gibson plays the key role of Jean Valjean, the former convict, now gentleman, pursued relentlessly for decades by his nemesis, the policeman, Javert, played by Nicholas Sheppard.

Gibson and Sheppard may lack the years and gravitas usually required for these ageing rivals, but their commitment is unquestionable. Gibson’s renditions of Who Am I? and Bring Him Home are powerful and heartfelt while Sheppard makes a noble tragedy of the song and scene of Javert’s suicide.

Jordie Race-Coldrey is charismatic as Enjolras, leader of the student revolt, and, with his fine vocal tone, he effectively leads the ensemble in the stirring chorus of the anthemic song, Do You Hear the People Sing?

The rich-voiced Rhea Brendish makes a fine Eponine, Jasmine Arthur’s bright soprano is suited to Cosette who falls in love with Ben Gonsalvez’s rather goofy Marius, while Emily Svarnias breaks hearts as Fantine, singing the heart-wrenching I Dreamed A Dream.

The talented, youthful orchestra skilfully delivers the thrilling music that underscores the spirited, massed choruses and makes this production of Les Miz a musical treat that may be the starting point for a few professional musical theatre careers.

by Kate Herbert

Cast

Jasmine Arthur - Cosette

Rhea Brendish - Eponine

Bryce Gibson - Jean Valjean

Nicholas Sheppard - Javert

Emily Svarnias - Fantine

Ben Gosalvez - Marius

Madeleine Horsey - Mme Thenardier

Jackson Hurwood - M Thenardier

Jordie Race-Caldrey - Enjolras

Director - Robert Coates

Musical Director  -Justin Jacobs

Choreography -Jacqui Greene

Set -Dann Barber

Costume -Jennifer McKenzie

Lighting -Linda Hum