For some people food is fuel, and then there’s Margaret Fulton. This food icon has been teaching Australians how to cook for seven decades. She’s also the subject of the rollicking musical, Margaret Fulton: Queen of the Desserts. The show had its Sydney premiere this weekend and is every bit as tasty and kitsch as…
“There is a Fire, a bright flame that was lit in the past, it is still burning but the woods are burning out. My job is to put new woods in to keep the Fire burning.” This is a quote created and practiced by Jimi Bani‘s late grandfather, Adhi Ephraim Bani Jr. The fire represents…
Raw, real and deeply emotional, New Ghosts Theatre Company’s YEN gives us life as we’d rather not know it. Featuring some exceptionally talented new actors, who are expertly directed by Lucy Clements, this is heartfelt theatre at its most authentic. Fourteen year-old Bobby and his older brother Hench spend their days in their mother’s council…
Being a woman in this modern age can suck. The expectation to keep that waist small, to get those likes on instagram and to have those Kylie Jenner-esque lips. The expectation to be more or less perfect. It’s unreasonable, isn’t it? Sometimes the way we move about in society and the pressures we put on…
Delightful, different and refreshing, real life funeral singer Phoebe Deklerk‘s show Funerals with Phoebe proved to be the perfect ending to my amazing month of Melbourne Fringe Festival shows. Have you ever wondered what songs you’d like to have at your funeral? Or noticed just how similar wedding and funeral songs can actually be? Would you consider…
The film Funny Girl is celebrating its golden anniversary but this story feels so young and vital it could have been made yesterday. Theatre & Co. present their version of Funny Girl at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre. It’s something often associated with Barbra Streisand because it once catapulted her to fame. These are some big shoes to…
It’s a tale that is – by its own admission – one that is as ‘Old as time’. The story of Beauty & the Beast has inspired two-hit Disney films and the stage production has played all over the world. Stage Artz reprise their production to deliver an entertaining and family-friendly charity event. Stage Artz…
The first thing that hit me when I entered the dimly lit room in the midst of Sydney Road is the enveloping smell of incense. Basking in a red hued light, an array of flowers had been artfully placed around the area. The stage had been set and Consciously Kyah’s “Seeping” was about to begin….
First, there was the Complete Works of William Shakespeare – Abridged, and now we have Potted Potter – The Unauthorised Harry Experience – A Parody by Dan and Jeff (a title that, like the eponymous show, tries desperately to cram as much as possible into a very short space). Covering all seven Harry Potter books…
Take a much-loved child star known for her angelic voice, throw in some musical theatre heavy-weights and a modern opera/musical whose composer is celebrating a milestone year, and you have a revival that could very well be the hit of Opera Australia’s 2018 season. The 40th anniversary restaging of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita,…
The Wharf Revue have been proudly entertaining audiences by skewering politicians since 2000. This year’s instalment was the troupe’s first without co-founder and musical director, Phil Scott, but the show remained strong and funny. The opening night at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre was a rollicking one with a vaudeville feel that hit some really high notes….
I called my boyfriend just after four o’clock. He was leaving his boring office to get on the boring train with the potential of taking a squiz at the boring financial review before eating a boring dinner and you get the gist. His flamboyancy was lacking, but lets not tell him that just yet. “How…
The acclaimed touring West End production of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time wrapped up its Sydney last night, before it heads off to Adelaide and Perth. Based on the celebrated book of the same name by Mark Haddon, the play tells the story of Christopher Boone (Joshua Jenkins in a masterful performance),…
The acclaimed touring West End production of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time wrapped up its Sydney last night, before it heads off to Adelaide and Perth. Based on the celebrated book of the same name by Mark Haddon, the play tells the story of Christopher Boone (Joshua Jenkins in a masterful performance),…
It takes extraordinary strength of character (both in personality and portrayal) to deliver a flawless performance while one of your leads is being rushed to hospital with a serious injury, but that is what the cast of Assassins did on opening night at the Sydney Opera House this week. A sharply designed, brilliantly performed production,…
Round and round the Brisbane Ferris Wheel goes, why tourists pay $30 to ride it nobody knows. At least, that’s what occurred to me while watching the visual piece in the background set the backdrop for TAM and Metro Arts latest production – Wheel of Fortune. Loosely based on the Austrian play La Ronde, which…
I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting walking into Hayes Theatre to see Gypsy, a musical based on the memoirs of famous burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee. All I know is this wasn’t it. The performance focuses heavily on the early life of Gypsy Rose Lee, growing up in the shadow of her sister…
Despite being penned by arguably the world’s greatest playwright, the convoluted storyline of Troilus & Cressida can prove a significant challenge for even the best theatre practitioners. Secret House have tackled this problem play with their usual gusto, gaining many ticks from this reviewer, but unfortunately the source material proves a difficult sell and, as…
Narelle (Sheridan Harbridge) skirts across a converted factory floor, all brushed concrete and industrial chic, flanked by an eager estate agent (Nikki Shiels). It’s an all too common scene as Sydney’s working class havens make way for heritage apartment conversions, hip cafes and pet-owning professionals. Narelle however stalks the space with a touch of melancholy,…
It’s been over a decade since Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert made its theatrical debut. And the film itself doesn’t look a day over 24. This feel-good story about three drag queens leaving Sydney’s big smoke to go west to Alice Springs is still one fun, glittery and rollicking bus ride. The latest production brings…
The quiet suffering of grief can be as soft as gravel crunching underfoot to some and as loud as a car crash to others. No matter how it feels it is always heard. Perhaps that is the intended message of Lot Vekeman’s Poison? Catarina Hebbard, the director of this production, interestingly enough compares the characters…
Padraic’s long been away from his home of Inishmore, fighting with the Irish National Liberation Army. Too mad even for the IRA, he’s built an epic thirst for murder and torture, picking small-time pot dealers and bombing chip shops in his spare time. His father Donny calls to inform him his beloved cat is ill,…
After Jane spectacularly quits her awful job, she and housemate Kel decide it’s time to rent out the sunroom. Roy seems to be the perfect candidate. He’s quiet and he cooks and he’s not looking to impose on the girls’ karaoke nights any time soon. But Kel isn’t so sure and she’s ready to put…
America has an interesting and contentious relationship with soccer. Where the world game has been at the centre of global sports (and often politics) for centuries, Americans sidelined the sport during the depression years, only to resurrect it in the 1960s as a high school game. With many young boys choosing American football (the nation’s…
What do you get when you combine a much-maligned American religion, Disney-movie songs and the writers of a politically incorrect adult cartoon? A ridiculously so-wrong-it’s-right musical called The Book of Mormon. As close to Broadway as you’re likely to see on the Australian stage, this show is an all-singing, all-dancing, joke-filled tribute to American musical theatre….
When news first broke of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical making its way to Australia, the buzz was high. But who would play the coveted role of Carole King? In what has to be one of the best casting triumphs in Australian musical theatre history, Esther Hannaford was the prized winner. It’s safe to say…
The Chinese restaurant is a bastion of our urban culture. Birthdays in the suburbs spent with red lanterns, lazy susans and honey chicken dot our collective memory. While contemporary Australia’s lust for foodie culture and an ever refining palette may have moved away from the Red/Golden Phoenix/Centuries in the 00s, they still form culinary centres…
In Muriel’s Wedding, Muriel wishes that her life was as good as an ABBA song. Presumably, that life looks a lot like Mamma Mia – a glittering Greek Island paradise where beautiful young men and women burst into song and dance at the drop of a hat, fall in love, have a wedding and live…
From the very first riff at the beginning of the title track, American Idiot sounded different. Even in 2004 – when baggy jeans were still cool and I was still using a CD Walkman (because iPods were too expensive) – I knew this was going to be huge. Not being old enough to have experienced…
Seeing is believing. Especially when you are watching a theatre show like, The Unbelievables. This variety show comes from the producers of The Illusionists and Circus 1903 and promises to be the “greatest” one on earth. The finished product is a grand assortment of different treats and tricks, with performers from multiple disciplines and presentations…
