MIDSUMMA: Michael and the Mascs

MIDSUMMA
Michael and The Mascs: My Vanity Project
Michael Lindner and The Mascs
6 February 2019
Gasworks Arts Park
to 9 February
midsumma.org.au

Michael Lindner

It's not a review rather than a bells-on recommendation for a show that finishes on Saturday.

Michael Linder has been working in musicals and cabaret all over the place since the early 90s, but he's never done a gig.

So it's time to grab a four-piece masc band and fix that. It's also time to sing the songs that he grew up listening to – 1950s and 60s women – and to celebrate the 1970s and 80s kid who pretended to be Ann Margret and Sleeping Beauty, and has never stopped loving Cyndi Lauper.

It's awesome to see artists settle into their true voices and know that making the art that feels right for you is always going to reach the hearts of your audiences.

PS. If you're a Grace of My Heart fan, you have to go.

MICF: Avenue Q

Avenue Q

Trifle Theatre Company

28 March 2015

Chapel off Chapel

to 11 April

comedyfestival.com.au

Trifle Theatre Company

Avenue Q is Trifle Theatre Company's first show. It's already sold out, so it sucks to be you if you didn't book a ticket.

There's not much left to say when there are no seats left, except to hold on tight to your tickets, know that you made the right choice and be excited for independent music theatre in Melbourne.

Avenue Q won the Tony for Best Musical in 2004. By Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty, it's set on a Sesame Street–like street in New York, but the muppet-like rod and hand puppets have their performers visible, and songs like "The Internet is for Porn", "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" and "I'm not Wearing Underwear Today" ensure that it's not for pre-schoolers.

A lot of the jokes are caught back in the early noughties when the internet at home was new and Gary Coleman (What-you-talking-about-Willis?) was still alive (he's a character in the show) but missing the odd reference doesn't make it any less wonderfully funny or delightfully filthy.

The secret to Avenue Q is tone. It has to be as intimate, innocent and loving as Sesame Street and as filthy as the porn that Trekkie Monster loves so much. Director Stephen Wheat and the cast nail it.

The closeness of being in the small Chapel off Chapel theatre leaves little to the imagination, so puppets and performers (including Jordan Pollard, Zuleika Khan, Leah Lim, Michael Lindner, Kathleen Amarant, Brett Fisher, Imogen Moore and Jeff van de Zandt) can add the subtle or obvious that makes the sexy more sexy and the slutty more wonderful – as they let us know that there is no where else they would rather be than on that stage and ensure that it's impossible not to fall in love with everyone: furry, fluffy or smooth.

Produced by Sarah Golding (who also plays Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut) and Andy McDougall (who made the brilliant puppets and plays Nicky and Trekkie Monster), this new company, while running as a co-op, are hoping to develop an indie theatre that can pay equity wages. With such a successful first production, they may well be a company that sticks around and shows some of the commercial shows what great music theatre should be.

Let's hope for a return season because they deserve it and everyone who missed out deserves to see it.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

Review: The 39 Steps

The 39 Steps
Hit Productions
14 September
Whitehouse  Centre
facebook.com
to 13 November: tour dates and places

Yesterday I went to Nunawading to see Hit Production's The 39 Steps. The only other times I've been to Nunawading was driving though on the way to winery concerts in the Yarra Valley.

Hit Productions aren't trying to win awards or entice wordy arguments between the snobby critics. Instead, they produce popular shows with terrific casts for audiences who want enjoy going to the theatre and having an ice cream at interval. And they've been doing it since 1993. A quick look at their Facebook page shows actors like John Wood, Jackie Weaver, Lisa McCune and Amanda Muggleton. Hit know their audience and give them what they want.

This is the stage version of the 1939 film version of the 1914 novel. Written by Patrick Barlow, it won the 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy (the UK's top theatre award). In Melbourne, the MTC gave us an Australian cast in the same production in 2008. It was an absolute hoot.

As is this production. With a pinch of the resources of the funded companies, their focus is on the script and the cast, but they still manage to create endless visual jokes with not much more than a pair of ladders and what could be rummaged from an op shop.

The 39 Steps is a spoof of spy films that's made from an obsessive love of early spy films. If you've seen a black and white thriller, you'll recognise the bumbling coppers, breathy femme fatales and upper class morons. If you've missed this world of film, you'll be laughing as much as everyone else and want to see the inspiring film ASAP.

Many of the laughs come from containing the show to cast of four. Mike Smith is the dashing hero in the wrong place at the right time, Anna Burgess is all the women he falls for, and Sam Haft and Michael Lindner are everyone else – and it's a cast of over 100.

It's a super fun and endlessly delightful production of a terrific show, but what I loved most were the audience.

On a Saturday afternoon in the burbs – on the same day that three local footy finals were being played next door – 400 people came to the theatre and loved every moment of the experience and the show.

There was no cynicism and no comparisons that weren't positive. They laughed at every joke (who know plastic fish were THAT funny) and talked during the interval about how much they loved it – and everyone (really) bought an ice cream.

I was the youngest person by about 100 years, the only one in black and the only one updating my Facebook page before the lights went down, but it's impossible to not love this crowd. After the show, a man with a belt not far below his nipples came up to a member of the cast and thanked him. He said that he has a bad back and was only going to stay until interval, but that he was enjoying himself so much that he stayed. It doesn't get much better than that.

So, it may be time to start seeing what's goes on out of our inner city circle of theatres. And for shows to start thinking about grabbing their share of this enthusiastic crowd. More people saw The 39 Steps yesterday than will see a single La Mama show. And when it finishes its tour to 23 regional theatres in Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland, more people will see – and adore it – than see a Malthouse or most MTC shows. That's a lot of people.

And, just so Melbourne fans doesn't have to travel, there are four performances at The Atheneum 26, 27 and 28 September.  And the Ath sells choc tops.

Review: Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins
Disney and Cameron Mackintosh
29 July 2010
His Majesty’s Theatre

www.disney.com.au/marypoppins

The pure delight of Mary Poppins will ignite the love of theatre and story in any child and reminds us grown ups that we should never stop believing in our own dreams.  Or, as only the best people say: it’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – and deserves every standing ovation and sold out sign that it’s going to get.

Throw away your expectations from the 1964 Disney film (with Julie Andrews) or P L Travers’ books. With the rights to both, Cameron Mackintosh joined forces with Disney to create something so new that, once you’ve seen it, it’s hard to imagine it as anything else.

The original 2004 West End production won Olivier Awards and went to Broadway in 2006 to be nominated for Tony Awards. If the heart-felt standing ovation of last night’s opening is anything to go by, the Australian production won’t be closing for a very long time.

Every scene reveals more of Bob Crowley’s spectacular – and Tony winning – design as it captures the nostalgia of a black and white illustrated story, the whimsy of a pop up book, the wonder of a painting and the fantasy of a multi-million dollar movie. But for all the whizz-bang stage effects, the soul of Mary Poppins is the story.

Mary’s magic shows her charges an unforgettable world, but magic of Mary is balanced by the reality of a family who have forgotten how to love each other in a world where banks can kick people out of their homes.  

George and Winifred Banks’ two children have gone through six nannies in four weeks. Jane and Michael are determined and bratty, but only because they want a nanny who will love and play with them and even though George burns their job description for an ideal nanny, Mary Poppins still answers the call.

The cast of musical theatre veterans and our youngest soon-to-be super stars are so fresh that it’s almost impossible not to sing along.  

With perfect comic timing, Marina Prior brings heart to the downtrodden Winifred and Philip Quast lets George realise just what he nearly lost. Matt Lee may not be the best singer, but his Bert is loveable and I think he can dance. Judi Connelli was born to be an evil Nanny and Debra Byrne’s poignant Bird Woman is reminiscent of her Grizabella in the first Australian CATS.

Keeping up with these old-timers are ten performers sharing the pivotal roles of Jane and Michael. If the rest are as professional and ridiculously talented as Kurtis Papdinis and Haley Edwards, they too will be the stars of the show.

And everyone is supported by an ensemble who bring this irresistible world to life by creating the atmosphere, emotion and joy that flows from the stage to even the furthest god-seat. Watching the ensemble, audiences lucky enough to see an understudy perform will be in for a treat.

But as practically perfect as everyone is, Verity Hunt-Ballard’s Mary is the performance to remember. With a voice that will rightly be compared to Julie Andrews and a lightness of foot that equals Matt Lee, Hunt-Ballard makes Mary her own by adding mystery to her sternness and a hint of regret and sadness to her love. Even with the most brilliant of scripts, it’s the performer who makes an audience love a character and Hunt-Ballard ensures that everyone leaves the theatre wanting to dance and knowing that they will start looking for the best in all people.

Bring every child you know to Mary Poppins because they deserve to see something this gorgeous – and bring all the grown ups you know because they deserve to feel like a child again.

This review appears on AussieTheatre.com

Whoopi at the 2008 Tony Awards 

"Step in Time" by the Broadway cast



And if you love Philip Quast (George Banks) here's a bit of him in one of my favourite TV shows Ultraviolet.  (This is from ep 5, so there are some spoilers)

Review: [title of show]

[title of show]
Magnormos
5 May 2010
Theatreworks

Melbourne company Magnormos are presenting the first international production of the meta-hit [title of show]. With four chairs and a keyboard, this work has re-invigorated the idea of independent original Broadway musicals and given hope to countless 'nobodies', and the Australian production is guaranteed to make you fall in love with musical theatre all over again.

In [title of show], Hunter Bell (character and creator) says he is striving for something that makes people want to pay attention. And he found it.  Hunter and fellow-nobody/friend Jeff Bowen decided to enter the inaugural New York Music Theatre Festival in 2004, but the application deadline was three weeks away. So they grabbed their friends Heidi and Susan and wrote a show about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical.

If you don't know the story, I don't want to ruin it for you. So get to Theatreworks for this can't-stop-smiling-as-you-watch-it production and see what can happen when artists trust that tiny voice inside of them that is kicking the shins of at the vampires of self-doubt.

[title of show] is self-referential – in a Judy and Micky meet Seinfeld at a meta-fiction book club way – but its freshness and original voice force it to leave self-indulgence behind. Not that the creators haven't indulged in a bit of self-gratification ... but it doesn't matter if you don't get the Aspects of Love joke or recognise the CATS ring tone or haven't even heard of most of the shows in the song about flop musicals – these are the bonus laughs for musical theatre buffs.

These creators indeed know and love musical theatre. They know it has moments of fluff and foggy dream sequences. They know the endless auditions, the factory-mentality of big shows and the countless performers who want someone to pay attention to them.  And they love the quirks and high kicks, while understanding that it's substance, content and guts that sustain the great shows far more than tulle frocks and high Cs.

[title of show] is full of gorgeous fluff, but it also questions art and the quest for fame, exposes raw self-doubt and explores the consequences of success – and has a song about filling in forms! Is it any wonder I loved it?

Re-creating a Broadway success with a story firmly planted in New York culture could have been dangerous, but director, and Magnormos founder, Aaron Joyner has captured the joy and hope of the original show and injected it with a spirit that could keep it running for months. Shame they only have two weeks.

And the cast are as perfect as a cast can be. It's too easy to forget that [title of show] isn't about David Spencer (Jeff), Michael Lindner (Hunter), Lara Thew (Susan), Laura Fitzpatrick (Heidi) and Sophie Thomas (musical director/Mary). Make the most of seeing these folk on a small stage while you can. (David and Michael were recently in Priscilla and Michael is about to start rehearsals for Mary Poppins.)

If you sit and watch this show saying "why didn't I do that?" – well why don't you? If there's something in you screaming to get out, let it. Just please don't try and copy [title of show], because it'll never be this original again. Take some sage advice and know it's better to be nine people's favourite thing, rather than 100 people's ninth favourite thing.

NOTE: There's a show on MONDAY night for everyone who is performing in all the other shows on in town.


This review appears on AussieTheatre.com.

What to see this weekend?

If you have two free nights this weekend, book in both of these. One will make you weep and the other make you sing.


That Face
Red Stitch
until 29 May

Astonishing script, stunning direction and a cast who will make you cry. It's the best thing I've seen Red Stitch do (and I like everything they do). After again being disappointed by the MTC, this show reminded me what it was like to sit on the edge of my seat close to tears.

[title of show]
Magnormos
Theatreworks
until 15 April

It's so meta it makes Seinfeld look like The Brady Bunch. This is the Australian premiere and the first production of [tos] with a new cast - and they (and the show) are fabulous.  If you've ever hated musical theatre, this'll make you fall in love with it all over again.

Full reviews soon.

Coles Girls

Coles Girls
Michael Lindner and David Gauci
24 January2008
Northcote Town Hall

Cole’s Girls is laugh ‘til it hurts stuff. Sometimes it hurts because it’s just so wrong, sometimes it hurts because it’s little bit close to home and sometimes it hurts because you haven’t had time to draw a breath between jokes. Satirical, crude and just damn hilarious; these cheap drag scrags are as special as the Boxing Day sales with an unlimited credit card.

Meet Leesa Allopecia and Lysa Nads. Leesa knows she’s large framed, but why should she care when she works with her best friend and has the achievable dream of stroking Johns Wood’s Logie. Lysa yearns for a pearl necklace that doesn’t wipe away and is worried about the possible consequences of waking up one morning in a sperm donor clinic. Their jobs aren’t glamorous, but they have each other and the ongoing inspiration of Lisa Mclune. Like Lisa their careers started with a supermarket. Lisa went on to Aussie TV fame after being the advertising face of Coles. Leesa and Lysa are still scanning at the checkout, but they have dreams and Aussie TV is always looking for new reality show contestants.

Nothing is sacred in this show. Good satire reflects a thorough knowledge of your targets. These girls know Cole Porter, musical theatre, supermarkets, outer suburbs, Centrelink, reality TV, lost Aussie soaps and everything that is, was and ever shall be the cult of being an Aussie starlet (and there are one or two gay references).

If you don’t remember Arcade or Chances, there’s a generous combination of wit, word play and innuendo to keep anyone smiling. Now add the music of Cole Porter, a pianist and a couple of dancers. Cole’s Girls may be the definitive Bogan musical. Naturally “Love For Sale” opens the show. Cole may be cringing from beyond with what they’ve done to the lyrics, but I’m sure he’s wishing he could have had this much fun.

Under the muff, hole and 69 jokes Michael Lindner and David Gauci have developed an original, local and relevant work. What takes Cole’s Girls beyond a series of drag sketches is the complex characters, drama and well structured and balanced story (Yes, I am actually sticking to my belief that these things matter. I just hope I’m not being too sophisticated for the readers…..)

It’s hard not to compare Cole’s Girls to Little Britain. It’s by no means derivative of the British sketch show, but if you love the Britain boys, you shouldn’t miss the Cole’s girls. I’m not sure why men dressing up as women can be so funny (as it can also be pretty offensive). Perhaps it’s because there is more distance between the actor and the character. Would Dame Edna be so fabulous if Barry was really Betty?

Drag aside; the humour works because the characters aren’t that far from reality. Take away the jokes and the extremity and what’s left is a world that is raw, honest and a bit sad. This is what makes great humour so good. David Brent, Basil Fawlty, Eddy and Patsy, Kath and Kim. If we didn’t know people just like them, they would never be so funny. If we didn’t see just a bit of ourselves in Leesa and Lysa, we may not laugh so hard.

This is Cole’s Girls second Melbourne season. It’s now much tighter and deserves to be seen widely. And the closing line is as brilliant as the film it references.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.