Australia - Melbourne Theater Reviews

BWW Reviews: BLAK

From the opening moments of Bangarra dance theatre's Blak it was obvious there was something magical occurring before us. (more...)

BWW Reviews: FLESH AND BONE – An Unexpected, Delicious Exploration of Love, Gender and Connection

On this unseasonably warm night, in this intimate cave of a performance space, the air will soon be ripe with the pungent smell of tomatoes and longing. It turns out the two go well together, unexpectedly, deliciously, when served up in FLESH AND BONE, the latest piece from KAGE Creative Directors and performers Kate Denborough and Gerard Van Dyck. (more...)

BWW Reviews: CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG Is A Bright, Light-Hearted Romp

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is an interesting show to define. Part musical, part children's spectacle, it ultimately settles as a big budget pantomime. It is a clever route for Roger Hodgeman to direct this show as its virtually non-existent script does little for both actor and audience. Everything in this production of Chitty is big and over dramatized, which for the most part works particularly effectively. There are moments and performances however, that aren't in sync with the collective pantomime energy on stage and these become particularly obvious throughout the show. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Melbourne's JERSEY BOYS

Four years after first opening in Melbourne, Jersey Boys re-opened last night for a brief return season. The cast is predominately new but the gutsy and moving story of The Four Seasons remains timeless and entertaining as ever. (more...)

BWW Reviews: GENESIS TO BROADWAY - Creatively Flawed

Fem Bellling, Andrew Dunne and musical director Warren Wills guide their audience on a journey from the beginning of time through varying musical styles and cultural influences leading to the great white way. The show provides few highlights with wills' arrangements and virtuoso accompaniment being one of them. Both Dunne and Belling are seasoned performers with fine voices, however, their harmonies are flawed, their movement awkward and unfortunately for them Frank Howson's dialogue is limited and particularly cheesy. To compound these issues the sound was incomprehensible . How two microphones and a small band can pose an issue for any sound designer is beyond belief, yet it cut in and out all night and was at no moment ever truly balanced. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Charles Dicken Performs A CHRISTMAS CAROL

The wafting sounds of Christmas Carols in the foyer pre performance set the tone for what was to be a beautiful performance by a wonderful craftsman. As Charles Dickens, Phil Zachariah takes us on a journey through four staves, three ghosts and protagonist Scrooge. Zachariah embodies and portays every charcater in the Dicken's masterpiece with acute precision both vocally and physically capturing the true essence of the piece. For 90 minutes it is one man alone on a bare stage telling a story and it is more than enough to hold our attention, make us laugh and empathise with one of the most recognisable characters in literature. (more...)

BWW Reviews: PYGMALION - 5Pounds of Repertory Theatre

Opening 5pound theatres repertory season last night was Daniel Lammin's adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. Lammin's adaptation is a feature of this performance with the 90 minute one act version managing to tell an often drawn out story in a particularly succinct and stylish way. Coupled with this was the theatre in the round-esq stage design which complemented the play and gave it a particularly personal feel. Performances were varied throughout the evening, with Tom Molyneux providing the nights highlight as Colonel Pickering. There were also a couple of dynamic scenes between Jason Cavanagh's Henry Higgins and Freya Pragt's Eliza Doolittle which nailed the dramatic tension required and kept the action humming along. For the majority of the evening however, the play was at that particularly uncomfortable level for both performer and audience where the script isn't fully secure. Lines were dropped and fumbled constantly throughout and on occasion the play was on the brink of stopping due to lost lines. Thankfully it didn't and rounded itself off to be quite a successful performance. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Nothing Worse than Bad Sex in MORE SEX PLEASE WE'RE SENIORS

The bland MIDI tracked 'overture' that opened More Sex Please We're Seniors gave an indication that none of Peter Sullivan's songs were going to be memorable. They were, however, particularly memorable for one reason; being musically and lyrically feeble. The script by Jon-Michael Howson is boring with jokes that have already been overused, don't work or just simply aren't funny. (more...)

BWW Reviews: THE LARAMIE PROJECT - Lengthy and Wordy

The Laramie project, written by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theatre Project, is a play that has been particularly overdone since its opening in Denver in 2000. In part because it deals with real human responses to the tragic beating and subsequent death of Matthew Shephard and in part because it has the ability to illicit a distinct response from its audience. (more...)

BWW Reviews: FORUM An Over Camp Romp

In 1962, the original production of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum was struggling in its off broadway try out. Audiences were not turning up and so producer Hal Prince hired director Jerome Robbins to come in and offer some advice to the creative team. Robbins biggest influence in the piece was to scrap the opening number 'Love is in the Air' and commission Stephen Sondheim to write a new uptempo tune that introduced the piece as a wild bawdy comedy. 'Comedy tonight'was born and so to the show which went on to win a number of Tony Awards including Best Musical. (more...)

BWW Reviews: PROMISES PROMISES Promises a Wonderful Cast

Promises promises is a 'musical' of two halves. I say 'musical' loosely as it is more a play with songs that don't particularly enhance the story. On top of this Burt Bacharach's score never reaches any great soaring heights, it is more a commentary of the action taking place. Its highlight is Turkey Lurkey Time at the conclusion of Act 1, by this stage, unfortunately, the audience has already been lost by some pretty uneventful script and direction. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Trevor Ashley's FAT SWAN - Wickedly Funny

Trevor Ashley returns to the Arts Centre in his riorous four hander Fat Swan. The writing is some of the most wickedly funny, sharp, edgy work to be presented on an Australia stage and is performed to perfection by Ashley himself, along with Genevieve Lemon, Brendan Moar and Danielle Barnes. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Conflict-Light BARASSI Loses Interest, Even With Hard-Working Cast

Sport and theatre collide in this biographical depiction of AFL legend Ron Barassi written by Tee O'Neill and directed by Terence O'Connell. The play is long...too long, with very little conflict to keep you interested. The cast tries hard and is aptly led by Jane Clifton as narrator, Melba, a fanatical Collingwood supporter who commentats on both the action and the statistical facts of the time. Steve Bastoni as Barassi, whos monologues as the inspirational coach of Carlton, North Mebourne and Melbourne are perfectly executed and Matt Parkinson as Norm Smith, whose calm and effortlessness are particularly resfreshing for a show whos cast are trying too hard throughout to save it. Special mention to former AFL footballer Russel Robertson who provides a sea of highlights in his featured ensemble role. (more...)

BWW Reviews: A Rare and Beautiful SOUTH PACIFIC For Australia

There is a rare kind of production where each element is so in synch, so finely tuned that this particular production eclipses other casts, other interpretations, and goes on to be considered a defining moment in the history of that show, and indeed of musical theatre itself. The current Australian production of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic SOUTH PACIFIC is that rare and beautiful kind. (more...)

BWW Reviews: 5Pound Theatre's KISS THEM ALL SOUNDLY is New and Gritty

5Pound Theatre's Jason Cavanagh directs his original work Kiss Them All Soundly, an Into The Woods esq look at the darker, grittier side of three re-imagined nursery rhymes. Cavanagh delves into the realm of fantasy versus reality, digging into the sub-conscious of four famous childhood characters, Simple Simon, Georgie Porgie, Mary Had A Little Lamb and Alice (In Wonderland). It is an insighful look at the darker side of these characters and their stories, their motivations and their existence. (more...)

BWW Reviews: CHESS at The Production Company - Checkmate

Gale Edwards' Production of Chess is without a doubt one of the best shows of the year and has to be one of the greatest of the show since its West End opening in 1986. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Rhonda Burchmore Sizzles in CRY ME A RIVER

Let's not beat around the bush, Rhonda Burchmore is a sultry sizzling smouldering smoking hot siren. From start to finish she filled the show with a combination of presence and flesh, matched with a voice that transports you back to the time of the smokey jazz clubs of LA. (more...)

BWW Reviews: 5pound Theatre's THE BLUE ROOM

David Hare's The Blue Room is a study of sexual desire through the interconnecting web of life. Two actors play over ten characters all of whom share sexual experience both proximately and or indirectly. It is an accurate snapshot of sexual connection by Hare and a fascinating insight into the predisposition of society. (more...)

Inside the Melbourne Cabaret Festival

Over the past 3 weeks the Melbourne Cabaret Festival has been entertaining audiences. I was fortunate enough to see two great cabarets along the way! (more...)

BWW Reviews: THE NUTCRACKER ON ICE - An Energetic, Engaging Take on a Winter Classic

Back in the 1980's I harboured a small ice dancing obsession. I was captivated, as many were at the time by those innovators of the art, Torvill and Dean. Their combination of grace and athleticism defined ice dancing for me - an art form that could be joyful, moving, romantic and gasp-inducing spectacular all in the course of a single routine. (more...)

BWW Reviews: THE PRODUCERS - All It's Cracked Up to Be

Having never seen The Producers, but having heard so much about it, I was genuinely excited to see a performance of this show on a stage. The lasting impression that I took from The Production Company's version is that Mel Brooks is one very funny man who's writing stands alone in the musical comedy genre. Whether on the expanses of a full scale broadway stage, on the West End or on the minimalist stage confronting us at The Arts Centre, this show genuinely works and is so clever in its nuance and wit that you can't help but admire its creator. (more...)

BWW Reviews: The Art of being Babs - SIMPLY BARBRA at Chapel off Chapel

As the world's most acclaimed Barbra Streisand impersonator, Steven Brinberg is so SIMPLY BARBRA that the star once sent him in her place when she couldn't attend a party. And tonight I could hear why. (more...)

BWW Reviews: A Curious, Clever Journey with MISFIT and CABARET WHORE

If cabaret holds up a mirror, it is the fun house kind. Certain features are made larger than life, but there is still a truth to be seen in the distorted reflection. So it is with the exaggerated characters encountered in MISFIT and CABARET WHORE, the Luckiest Productions double-bill presented at Chapel off Chapel last night. (more...)

BWW Reviews: GLORY BOX - The Burlesque Hour's Latest Treasure is Sexy, Twisted and So Much More ...

Finucane & Smith's GLORY BOX is the latest incarnation of The Burlesque Hour, the Australian cabaret that has gone on to redefine - defy even - the genre around the world. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Moonshadow in Melbourne - Haunting

It is so hard to know what to make of last nights world premiere of Yusef/Cat Stevens musical Moonshadow. I would like to talk to you about the story but unfortunately there is no delineated plot to speak of. I would like to tell you what it's about, but at interval I was unsure, by it's conclusion I had no idea. The script is so banal, devoid of purpose and meaning that a concert version would have been far more enjoyable. However, this was not the case and so we delve a little further. (more...)