Melbourne Theatre Company
18 November–23 November
mtc.com.au
 |
| Vivid White |
Eddie Perfect's new show opens this week at MTC. I joined director Dean Bryant on his morning walk to rehearsals for The Music.
Mostly Melbourne theatre reviews
Showing posts with label Eddie Perfect. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eddie Perfect. Show all posts
19 November 2017
Interview: Dean Bryant
Vivid White
Melbourne Theatre Company
18 November–23 November
mtc.com.au
Eddie Perfect's new show opens this week at MTC. I joined director Dean Bryant on his morning walk to rehearsals for The Music.
Melbourne Theatre Company
18 November–23 November
mtc.com.au
Eddie Perfect's new show opens this week at MTC. I joined director Dean Bryant on his morning walk to rehearsals for The Music.
25 January 2015
Review: Strictly Ballroom
Strictly Ballroom
Global Creatures et al
17 January 2014
Her Majesty's Theatre
strictlyballroomthemusical.com
Strictly Ballroom began when NIDA student Baz Luhrmann led a student-devised piece in 1984. This production went on to play at the Czechoslovakian World Youth Drama Festival in 1986 and, with new designer Catherine Martin, was performed in Brisbane and Sydney in 1988 by the new Six Years Old company, directed by Luhrmann. This led to the film that opened in Cannes in 1992, won a pool room of prestigious film prizes and ran for over a year in Australian cinemas. The musical version opened in Sydney in 2014 and this time the critical acclaim was silent. So it was tightened up before it opened in Melbourne.
I saw the 1988 version in Sydney. I loved this small show and the story of Scott and Fran going against the rules of ballroom dancing to be their true selves. Made with heart and guts, it celebrated an authentic Australian suburban voice and told a story that, despite its inevitable ending, twisted and turned like the dancing it celebrated. It was also made with a budget that wouldn't buy the new seat covers of the musical.
The film took the heart and guts of the play, but let it be bigger and placed it firmly in Sydney so that the famous Coke billboard in Kings Cross is mostly known for being in Strictly Ballroom, and placed it so deeply in the hearts of Australians that it remains one of our most-loved films.
And it let Lurhmann and Martin go on to make more films that are very loved, and equally not loved.
The nostalgic passion for this little-film-that-did will sell tickets to the new stage version, which is, as much as it can be, the film on stage.
From the Coke sign to the dialogue and from the colour of the gowns to Scott's famous knee slide across the floor, this time carried on the shoulders of dancers, everything on the stage is recognisable and referential. Except there's more of it.
There's no new story or extended characters, but there's more music, incuding "Time After Time", from the film; "Perhaps, perhaps", made famous by Doris Day; and the Melbourne addition of a couple songs by satirical wonder Eddie Perfect. Unlike the cultural mish-mash of music that works in Lurhmann's films, on a musical stage, the lack of musical consistency distracts from the story. As characters stop to sing, the story stops and re-starts, losing tension and bringing it into the world of the original music. And that's before the new Baz lyrics; a rhyme is not a lyric. (If only Eddie had been brought in on day one.)
The apparent fear of not being the film also leaves little room for the performers (who are some of our best) to bring themselves to the characters and make them their own. A couple overcome this, but most have the consistent control that ensures that no one will notice when an understudy slips in, and most are copies of performances created over 20 years ago.
Being like the film, it's still set in the 1980s of wacky printed lycra and frizzy hair but it doesn't comment on the 80s or look at that time from today. The film story is known, so why not add something, twist it or tell a new story circa 2014? Scott and Fran running a dance studio that's stuck in the 80s and their own kids rebelling?
At its best, this lavish show celebrates the time and ballroom dancing. It's also at its best when it's satirising the time and the dance. But the tone jumps around so much that it's hard to know what we're meant to be feeling; laughing at them or laughing with them?
Where it can't help but shine is Catherine Martin's design. Glorious gaudy and made from enough sequins to cover Mount Kosciuszko, it celebrates the outrageousness of ballroom and turns the sparkle up so high that that any imperfections are lost in the glare.
But sparklier doesn't mean better. We don't have to look far – cough, Lion King re-opens in Melbourne very soon – to be reminded that a successful musical based on a film doesn't have to look anything like the film.
Strictly Ballroom has the kind of pedigree and talent and support that should let it be astonishing. It should be the sort of show that re-defines Australian music theatre and runs for years. And there are moments, like the Spanish dance scene that closes Act 1 (after the Carmen re-write), where the show comes together and brings the audience into its world, but these moments of magic and heart also highlight how dull the rest of it is.
Sadly no amount of sparkle can cover dull. Let's hope that it keeps changing and is allowed to become the show it should be.
This was on AussieTheatre.com.
Global Creatures et al
17 January 2014
Her Majesty's Theatre
strictlyballroomthemusical.com
Strictly Ballroom began when NIDA student Baz Luhrmann led a student-devised piece in 1984. This production went on to play at the Czechoslovakian World Youth Drama Festival in 1986 and, with new designer Catherine Martin, was performed in Brisbane and Sydney in 1988 by the new Six Years Old company, directed by Luhrmann. This led to the film that opened in Cannes in 1992, won a pool room of prestigious film prizes and ran for over a year in Australian cinemas. The musical version opened in Sydney in 2014 and this time the critical acclaim was silent. So it was tightened up before it opened in Melbourne.
I saw the 1988 version in Sydney. I loved this small show and the story of Scott and Fran going against the rules of ballroom dancing to be their true selves. Made with heart and guts, it celebrated an authentic Australian suburban voice and told a story that, despite its inevitable ending, twisted and turned like the dancing it celebrated. It was also made with a budget that wouldn't buy the new seat covers of the musical.
The film took the heart and guts of the play, but let it be bigger and placed it firmly in Sydney so that the famous Coke billboard in Kings Cross is mostly known for being in Strictly Ballroom, and placed it so deeply in the hearts of Australians that it remains one of our most-loved films.
And it let Lurhmann and Martin go on to make more films that are very loved, and equally not loved.
The nostalgic passion for this little-film-that-did will sell tickets to the new stage version, which is, as much as it can be, the film on stage.
From the Coke sign to the dialogue and from the colour of the gowns to Scott's famous knee slide across the floor, this time carried on the shoulders of dancers, everything on the stage is recognisable and referential. Except there's more of it.
There's no new story or extended characters, but there's more music, incuding "Time After Time", from the film; "Perhaps, perhaps", made famous by Doris Day; and the Melbourne addition of a couple songs by satirical wonder Eddie Perfect. Unlike the cultural mish-mash of music that works in Lurhmann's films, on a musical stage, the lack of musical consistency distracts from the story. As characters stop to sing, the story stops and re-starts, losing tension and bringing it into the world of the original music. And that's before the new Baz lyrics; a rhyme is not a lyric. (If only Eddie had been brought in on day one.)
The apparent fear of not being the film also leaves little room for the performers (who are some of our best) to bring themselves to the characters and make them their own. A couple overcome this, but most have the consistent control that ensures that no one will notice when an understudy slips in, and most are copies of performances created over 20 years ago.
Being like the film, it's still set in the 1980s of wacky printed lycra and frizzy hair but it doesn't comment on the 80s or look at that time from today. The film story is known, so why not add something, twist it or tell a new story circa 2014? Scott and Fran running a dance studio that's stuck in the 80s and their own kids rebelling?
At its best, this lavish show celebrates the time and ballroom dancing. It's also at its best when it's satirising the time and the dance. But the tone jumps around so much that it's hard to know what we're meant to be feeling; laughing at them or laughing with them?
Where it can't help but shine is Catherine Martin's design. Glorious gaudy and made from enough sequins to cover Mount Kosciuszko, it celebrates the outrageousness of ballroom and turns the sparkle up so high that that any imperfections are lost in the glare.
But sparklier doesn't mean better. We don't have to look far – cough, Lion King re-opens in Melbourne very soon – to be reminded that a successful musical based on a film doesn't have to look anything like the film.
Strictly Ballroom has the kind of pedigree and talent and support that should let it be astonishing. It should be the sort of show that re-defines Australian music theatre and runs for years. And there are moments, like the Spanish dance scene that closes Act 1 (after the Carmen re-write), where the show comes together and brings the audience into its world, but these moments of magic and heart also highlight how dull the rest of it is.
Sadly no amount of sparkle can cover dull. Let's hope that it keeps changing and is allowed to become the show it should be.
This was on AussieTheatre.com.
16 October 2013
FESTIVAL: The Beast
MELBOURNE FESTIVAL 2013
The Beast
Melbourne Theatre Company
7 October 2013
Southbank Theatre, The Sumner
to 9 November
mtc.com.au
It's impossible to not adore Eddie Perfect. He sings and dances like an entire 1930s Hollywood musical, he has the best hair and he lets us laugh and cringe at the best and the worst of ourselves. This man had me laughing at a rape joke in one of his shows and made me care about Shane Warne. And I like him on that telly show. As a satirist, Eddie gets middle class, pseudo hipster, moving-away-from-the-inner-city Melbourne. And he mercilessly attacks those things that make us fume or at least roll our eyes at.
If you want to see Eddie doing all of this amazing stuff, he's performing a retrospective of his best solo work (and some new stuff) at the Festival Hub on Sunday 13 October. Even better news: it's FREE! But you can't book. You're going to have to get in line. You can buy coffee and drinks and all sorts while you wait. But the doors open at 5 and I suspect that anyone not there by then will be listening outside.
But, this is a review of The Beast, not a rave about Eddie.
The Beast is Perfect's first play, which was commissioned by the MTCs Artistic Director Brett Sheehy. Who wouldn't want to commission the first Perfect play?! But I'm not sure why a first work is put on in the biggest theatre as the MTC's contribution to the Melbourne Festival.
Three mates nearly die in a boat accident and when they get back to shore, they pack up their wives and lives and head to the Valley for a life of organic bliss with a fairy-light carbon footprint and endless respect for the animals that sacrifice themselves for our plates. There's property price, wine, smoking, pedophile jokes galore and a brilliant calf.
Yes, it's funny and I knew it was about me and my world at the early awkward verjuice joke – I don't have verjuice in my cupboard, but I do have three different types of balsamic vinegar. There's an hilarious, sharp, gut-punch of a play that's getting lost because it's suffering from a lot of first-work issues and tries so hard to shock and offend that it loses any genuine shock value.
It's over written for the sake of repeating jokes and explaining what we know, the characters sound too similar and there's some clunky plotting that gives the end away early and doesn't feel natural in the created world. But its biggest issue is characters who are hard to care about. They are so hell-bent on being outrageous exaggerations that those moments of empathy and care are too hard to find. And this is what Perfect did so well in Shane Warne, the Musical: we cared about Warney, despite him being a bit of dick. This mob are just dicks.
And on the stage, no one can decide on a tone as it runs the gauntlet from slapstick to farce to bitter satire and sweet comic affirmation. This leaves it getting its laughs by falling from joke to joke, rather than from its bigger story and maybe some self reflection.
The Beast split passionate opinions on opening night and there will be rave reviews. But I'd let this one settle into its run and and wait until later in the season.
This was on AussieTheatre.com.
Photo by Jeff Busby.
The Beast
Melbourne Theatre Company
7 October 2013
Southbank Theatre, The Sumner
to 9 November
mtc.com.au
It's impossible to not adore Eddie Perfect. He sings and dances like an entire 1930s Hollywood musical, he has the best hair and he lets us laugh and cringe at the best and the worst of ourselves. This man had me laughing at a rape joke in one of his shows and made me care about Shane Warne. And I like him on that telly show. As a satirist, Eddie gets middle class, pseudo hipster, moving-away-from-the-inner-city Melbourne. And he mercilessly attacks those things that make us fume or at least roll our eyes at.
If you want to see Eddie doing all of this amazing stuff, he's performing a retrospective of his best solo work (and some new stuff) at the Festival Hub on Sunday 13 October. Even better news: it's FREE! But you can't book. You're going to have to get in line. You can buy coffee and drinks and all sorts while you wait. But the doors open at 5 and I suspect that anyone not there by then will be listening outside.
But, this is a review of The Beast, not a rave about Eddie.
The Beast is Perfect's first play, which was commissioned by the MTCs Artistic Director Brett Sheehy. Who wouldn't want to commission the first Perfect play?! But I'm not sure why a first work is put on in the biggest theatre as the MTC's contribution to the Melbourne Festival.
Three mates nearly die in a boat accident and when they get back to shore, they pack up their wives and lives and head to the Valley for a life of organic bliss with a fairy-light carbon footprint and endless respect for the animals that sacrifice themselves for our plates. There's property price, wine, smoking, pedophile jokes galore and a brilliant calf.
Yes, it's funny and I knew it was about me and my world at the early awkward verjuice joke – I don't have verjuice in my cupboard, but I do have three different types of balsamic vinegar. There's an hilarious, sharp, gut-punch of a play that's getting lost because it's suffering from a lot of first-work issues and tries so hard to shock and offend that it loses any genuine shock value.
It's over written for the sake of repeating jokes and explaining what we know, the characters sound too similar and there's some clunky plotting that gives the end away early and doesn't feel natural in the created world. But its biggest issue is characters who are hard to care about. They are so hell-bent on being outrageous exaggerations that those moments of empathy and care are too hard to find. And this is what Perfect did so well in Shane Warne, the Musical: we cared about Warney, despite him being a bit of dick. This mob are just dicks.
And on the stage, no one can decide on a tone as it runs the gauntlet from slapstick to farce to bitter satire and sweet comic affirmation. This leaves it getting its laughs by falling from joke to joke, rather than from its bigger story and maybe some self reflection.
The Beast split passionate opinions on opening night and there will be rave reviews. But I'd let this one settle into its run and and wait until later in the season.
This was on AussieTheatre.com.
Photo by Jeff Busby.
21 June 2013
Review: Shane Warne, the Musical
Shane Warne, the Musical
Arts Centre Melbourne, Adelaide Cabaret Festival
20 June 2013
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
to 21 June
artscentremelbourne.com.au
Oh Eddie Perfect! You gorgeous, sexy, magnificent beast. You're as hot as King Kong and if you had a fraction of the resources that developed the magnificent monkey, Shane Warne The Musical could tour Australia for ever – or until Warnie does something else that begged for a new song.
The original 2008 version of Shane Warne the Musical (review) made me kind of love our Shane. He's our ultimate anti-hero who finally realises that acting like a dick leaves you looking like a dick.
The concert version has cut some of the old to make room for the introduction of Liz Hurley – I remember when the tweets started and I didn't believe that Liz Hurley would ever date Warnie – and the new stuff's as great as the old.
The new concert version (only seen at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and here in Melbourne for two nights) clearly lacks the spectacle of full staging, but continues to prove that this show isn't dependent on anything but its music and writing.
It's hilarious and smart and so full of heart and sass that the only disappointment is its two-night run.
I haven't followed cricket since Kim Hughes was captain, but I know what Warnie gets up to. He's a brilliant choice for a musical hero, and Eddie Perfect wrote (and stars in) a show that celebrates the spin bowler who changed cricket, without denying that he's been a bit of a douche along the way; all the while laughing and totally loving everything about the public and media's obsession with his celebrity.
And having what may be the most gorgeous mass of talent ever is just a bonus. There's Perfect, Shane Jacobson (Kenny), Verity Hunt-Ballard (Mary Poppins), Christie Whelan Browne (A Funny Thing happened...), Rohan Nicol, Mike McLeish (Keating), Jolyon James (Moonshadow), Amy Lehpamer (Margaret Fulton), Andy Conaghan and Lisa McCune (easier to list what she hasn't been in). Throw in tight direction from Simon Phillips and music direction from Iain Grandage (whose conducting leads the enthusiasm and joy) and it's hard to get a better night in a concert hall.
As the last week has been filled with ridiculous fighting over the value of King Kong, Shane Warne, the Musical is an apt reminder that there are you-bloody-beauty musicals made in Australia about Australians and Australia (Keating, Margaret Fulton) that don't need squillions to be created.
And let's not forget the absolute gorgeousness of Flowerchildren by Melbourne's Magnormos that finishes on Sunday! (I don't understand how everyone who sees this show falls in utter love with it, but it's not getting the sold out signs that it so deserves.)
But tonight's all about Warnie. If you missed it in 2008, you have to see it to get what the raves were about, and if you loved it then, you'll love it again.
I'd love to see this show out of expensive velvet concert halls and into town halls and local theatres all over the country. It's an awesome work for us theatre snobs, but it reaches way beyond us. This is a show that blokes come to and get up during the show to get another beer. It happened in 2008 and happened in Hamer Hall last night. Dudes got up during the show and came back with beers to watch their Warnie. I scowled at their lack of theatre etiquette, but I fucking love the intent. Yep, this is a show that can be watched while drinking beer and I now wish that I'd asked them to get me one.
Photos by Meredith O'Shea
Arts Centre Melbourne, Adelaide Cabaret Festival
20 June 2013
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
to 21 June
artscentremelbourne.com.au
Oh Eddie Perfect! You gorgeous, sexy, magnificent beast. You're as hot as King Kong and if you had a fraction of the resources that developed the magnificent monkey, Shane Warne The Musical could tour Australia for ever – or until Warnie does something else that begged for a new song.
The original 2008 version of Shane Warne the Musical (review) made me kind of love our Shane. He's our ultimate anti-hero who finally realises that acting like a dick leaves you looking like a dick.
The concert version has cut some of the old to make room for the introduction of Liz Hurley – I remember when the tweets started and I didn't believe that Liz Hurley would ever date Warnie – and the new stuff's as great as the old.
The new concert version (only seen at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and here in Melbourne for two nights) clearly lacks the spectacle of full staging, but continues to prove that this show isn't dependent on anything but its music and writing.
It's hilarious and smart and so full of heart and sass that the only disappointment is its two-night run.
I haven't followed cricket since Kim Hughes was captain, but I know what Warnie gets up to. He's a brilliant choice for a musical hero, and Eddie Perfect wrote (and stars in) a show that celebrates the spin bowler who changed cricket, without denying that he's been a bit of a douche along the way; all the while laughing and totally loving everything about the public and media's obsession with his celebrity.
And having what may be the most gorgeous mass of talent ever is just a bonus. There's Perfect, Shane Jacobson (Kenny), Verity Hunt-Ballard (Mary Poppins), Christie Whelan Browne (A Funny Thing happened...), Rohan Nicol, Mike McLeish (Keating), Jolyon James (Moonshadow), Amy Lehpamer (Margaret Fulton), Andy Conaghan and Lisa McCune (easier to list what she hasn't been in). Throw in tight direction from Simon Phillips and music direction from Iain Grandage (whose conducting leads the enthusiasm and joy) and it's hard to get a better night in a concert hall.
As the last week has been filled with ridiculous fighting over the value of King Kong, Shane Warne, the Musical is an apt reminder that there are you-bloody-beauty musicals made in Australia about Australians and Australia (Keating, Margaret Fulton) that don't need squillions to be created.
And let's not forget the absolute gorgeousness of Flowerchildren by Melbourne's Magnormos that finishes on Sunday! (I don't understand how everyone who sees this show falls in utter love with it, but it's not getting the sold out signs that it so deserves.)
But tonight's all about Warnie. If you missed it in 2008, you have to see it to get what the raves were about, and if you loved it then, you'll love it again.
I'd love to see this show out of expensive velvet concert halls and into town halls and local theatres all over the country. It's an awesome work for us theatre snobs, but it reaches way beyond us. This is a show that blokes come to and get up during the show to get another beer. It happened in 2008 and happened in Hamer Hall last night. Dudes got up during the show and came back with beers to watch their Warnie. I scowled at their lack of theatre etiquette, but I fucking love the intent. Yep, this is a show that can be watched while drinking beer and I now wish that I'd asked them to get me one.
Photos by Meredith O'Shea
02 April 2011
Review: Misanthropology
MICF 2011
Misanthropology may be the wankiest show title around, but not to worry because everyone will recommend Eddie Perfect in the always-gorgeous Spiegeltent because musical cabaret doesn't get much slicker than this.
There's our obsession with the intrinsic goodness of "primitives", the faux caring of eco-lodge visitors and the obscene fashion sense of cyclists. All are easy targets because they are us; or our neighbours if we don't want to admit our own hypocrisies. And this kind of work would be enough to leave most Comedy Festival audiences happy enough to buy another bottle of fizz. But why settle for audience love when you can push them further?
Boob jobs could be controversial and "Daddy's Tits" should become the hold music for every cosmetic surgery. Parents paying for their daughters's fucked personal image is one thing, but it's a brave performer who tackles rape to get a giggle. A failed rape joke is one thing that will assure that I never waste my time seeing a comedian again. I will see Eddie again. His material about professional footballers attacking a child for not being an adult is the best I've seen this issue presented on the stage – and the best Kerrie-Ann ever.
In true self-reflection style, the last song of the night is dedicated to the theatre and another great director, our own Barrie Kosky. (And it's an even braver performer who takes on Barrie... ) If you haven't seen a Bazza show, Eddie's "Too Fucking Long" song is so spot on that you might not need to see a Bazza show. It's everything that keeps people away from "serious" theatre and everything that the people who go hate "but say that they love it." If there isn't an Oz Co grant that can send Eddie around to sing it to every director and soon-to-be director, perhaps we can send a collection bucket around during the interval(s) of any show over 90 minutes.
Eddie Perfect in Misanthropology
A Token Event
1 April 2011
The Famous Spiegeltent at the Arts Centre
to 24 April
Misanthropology may be the wankiest show title around, but not to worry because everyone will recommend Eddie Perfect in the always-gorgeous Spiegeltent because musical cabaret doesn't get much slicker than this.
From Shane Warne The Musical to his unforgettable Mack in Threepenny Opera and his musican-next-door sweetness in TV's Offspring, Eddie never fails to impress – but in his solo show he's free to share his concern that our society seems to be stalling in its anthropological progress.
There's our obsession with the intrinsic goodness of "primitives", the faux caring of eco-lodge visitors and the obscene fashion sense of cyclists. All are easy targets because they are us; or our neighbours if we don't want to admit our own hypocrisies. And this kind of work would be enough to leave most Comedy Festival audiences happy enough to buy another bottle of fizz. But why settle for audience love when you can push them further?
Boob jobs could be controversial and "Daddy's Tits" should become the hold music for every cosmetic surgery. Parents paying for their daughters's fucked personal image is one thing, but it's a brave performer who tackles rape to get a giggle. A failed rape joke is one thing that will assure that I never waste my time seeing a comedian again. I will see Eddie again. His material about professional footballers attacking a child for not being an adult is the best I've seen this issue presented on the stage – and the best Kerrie-Ann ever.
Director Craig Ilott (director and and co-creator of the divine Smoke and Mirrors) has ensured Misanthropology is perfected to a level that surpasses most on the cabaret circuit. Working with someone as awesome as Eddie is a good start, but Ilott understands the need for story and connection and shapes a performance that is created to be shared with an audience, which is so different from a show created to be watched. I've only become aware of him this year and will try to make up for missing his earlier works by seeing anything he directs from now on.
In true self-reflection style, the last song of the night is dedicated to the theatre and another great director, our own Barrie Kosky. (And it's an even braver performer who takes on Barrie... ) If you haven't seen a Bazza show, Eddie's "Too Fucking Long" song is so spot on that you might not need to see a Bazza show. It's everything that keeps people away from "serious" theatre and everything that the people who go hate "but say that they love it." If there isn't an Oz Co grant that can send Eddie around to sing it to every director and soon-to-be director, perhaps we can send a collection bucket around during the interval(s) of any show over 90 minutes.
Oh Eddie Perfect ... dammit, you are.
This review appears on AussieTheatre.com
05 June 2010
Review: The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera
Malthouse Theatre and Victorian Opera
2 June 2010
Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse
"The good old diggers, who pull their triggers from Bagdad to Khe Sanh..." There's no doubt that Malthouse Theatre and Victoria Opera have relocated the The Threepenny Opera down under.
And where better than Underbelly Melbourne, where the Peachams gaze at the moon over St Kilda and Mac loves a whorehouse in North Bulleen. Throw in a dream cast of Melbourne favourites and you've got a show sold out before it opens.
Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera was first performed in Berlin in 1928. It went to Broadway and, according to Wikipedia, has had over 10,000 productions since – a number that would probably triple with the uncountable amateur, high school and university productions.
Michael Kantor chose this loved and still astonishing piece of theatre for his Malthouse swansong and what a way to go! From the moment Paul Capsis sings "Mack the Knife" in a yellow dress and a blindfold, there's no doubt that the ride's going to be bumpy and exciting in all the right ways.
As Brecht worked with Weill, Kantor has again teamed with Richard Gill, following from their stunning 2008 collaboration Through the Looking Glass. Gill's Victorian Opera continues to pull down the artifice and misconceptions about this shiny form and celebrates it with incomparable style and invention.
Much of Weill's genius lay in his ability to write extraordinary songs for singers and non-singers, but combining the best performers from the opera and cabaret/musical theatre worlds still offers its challenges. It's impossible to compare the crystal clear vocals of contemporary opera superstar Dimity Shepherd (Lucy) with the husky belting of Capsis (Jenny), but Kantor ensures that this combination of unlikely voices is natural in this world and Gill ensures that they complement each other in unexpected ways.
It's difficult to discuss the cast without using the word perfect, or Perfect. Highlights include every moment Judi Connelli and Grant Smith sing as the Peachams; Capsis giving Lotte Lenya a run for her money; Anna O'Byrne (Polly) and Shepherd's "Jealousy Duet"; and Casey Bennetto (Tiger Brown) and Mac's "Canon Song". Eddie Perfect is Macheath – and yes he is. If you like your Macs cold and brooding, this "sadist and a rapist" may seem a bit nice, but it's hard to be cold when you're wearing glittery braces and by the end of Act 2 there's few in the audience not wanting a filthy lusty moment with Mac.
The design team of Peter Corrigan (set) and Anna Cordingley (costume) have coloured a world that supports the characters, but doesn't feel like the Melbourne being sung about, and the designs seem to complete with each other for the dominant images, which oddly mixes agit-prop, boxing and clown-face metaphors. At times they look beautiful together, but it's not too hard to imagine the set with plain black costumes or the costumes in an empty black space.
None of which takes away from this production.
With such wonders on the stage, it could be easy to forget the orchestra, but the vocal/orchestral balance is ideal and Gill's musical direction is so like listening to early recordings of the work, that it is surely how Weill imagined it to sound. And Brecht would have had a proud giggle at the bawdy Aussie interpretation of the text and lyrics by Raymond Cortese and Jeremy Sands.
Once you discover Brecht and Weill, there's no going back to a theatre world without them and great professional productions of The Threepenny Opera should not be missed. This one is officially sold out, but limited tickets may become available, so check the Malthouse website.
This review appears on AussieTheatre.com.
Richard and Eddie
Alan and Cyndi
Lotte
Malthouse Theatre and Victorian Opera
2 June 2010
Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse
"The good old diggers, who pull their triggers from Bagdad to Khe Sanh..." There's no doubt that Malthouse Theatre and Victoria Opera have relocated the The Threepenny Opera down under.
And where better than Underbelly Melbourne, where the Peachams gaze at the moon over St Kilda and Mac loves a whorehouse in North Bulleen. Throw in a dream cast of Melbourne favourites and you've got a show sold out before it opens.
Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera was first performed in Berlin in 1928. It went to Broadway and, according to Wikipedia, has had over 10,000 productions since – a number that would probably triple with the uncountable amateur, high school and university productions.
Michael Kantor chose this loved and still astonishing piece of theatre for his Malthouse swansong and what a way to go! From the moment Paul Capsis sings "Mack the Knife" in a yellow dress and a blindfold, there's no doubt that the ride's going to be bumpy and exciting in all the right ways.
As Brecht worked with Weill, Kantor has again teamed with Richard Gill, following from their stunning 2008 collaboration Through the Looking Glass. Gill's Victorian Opera continues to pull down the artifice and misconceptions about this shiny form and celebrates it with incomparable style and invention.
Much of Weill's genius lay in his ability to write extraordinary songs for singers and non-singers, but combining the best performers from the opera and cabaret/musical theatre worlds still offers its challenges. It's impossible to compare the crystal clear vocals of contemporary opera superstar Dimity Shepherd (Lucy) with the husky belting of Capsis (Jenny), but Kantor ensures that this combination of unlikely voices is natural in this world and Gill ensures that they complement each other in unexpected ways.
It's difficult to discuss the cast without using the word perfect, or Perfect. Highlights include every moment Judi Connelli and Grant Smith sing as the Peachams; Capsis giving Lotte Lenya a run for her money; Anna O'Byrne (Polly) and Shepherd's "Jealousy Duet"; and Casey Bennetto (Tiger Brown) and Mac's "Canon Song". Eddie Perfect is Macheath – and yes he is. If you like your Macs cold and brooding, this "sadist and a rapist" may seem a bit nice, but it's hard to be cold when you're wearing glittery braces and by the end of Act 2 there's few in the audience not wanting a filthy lusty moment with Mac.
The design team of Peter Corrigan (set) and Anna Cordingley (costume) have coloured a world that supports the characters, but doesn't feel like the Melbourne being sung about, and the designs seem to complete with each other for the dominant images, which oddly mixes agit-prop, boxing and clown-face metaphors. At times they look beautiful together, but it's not too hard to imagine the set with plain black costumes or the costumes in an empty black space.
None of which takes away from this production.
With such wonders on the stage, it could be easy to forget the orchestra, but the vocal/orchestral balance is ideal and Gill's musical direction is so like listening to early recordings of the work, that it is surely how Weill imagined it to sound. And Brecht would have had a proud giggle at the bawdy Aussie interpretation of the text and lyrics by Raymond Cortese and Jeremy Sands.
Once you discover Brecht and Weill, there's no going back to a theatre world without them and great professional productions of The Threepenny Opera should not be missed. This one is officially sold out, but limited tickets may become available, so check the Malthouse website.
This review appears on AussieTheatre.com.
Richard and Eddie
Alan and Cyndi
Lotte
11 December 2008
Shane Warne: The Musical
Shane Warne: The Musical
Token Events and TrafficLight
11 December 2008
Athenaeum Theatre
I didn’t care for or about Shane Warne before the musical, and I still don’t, but Eddie Perfect can SMS me any time.
Perfect wrote this great Aussie musical and stars as its fallen hero. Being as Aussie as beetroot on a burger, Shane Warne: The Musical might not make a Broadway away tour, and it’s no good taking it to the West End, cos the poms will just whinge about it – but every Australian state, city and medium-sized country town deserves a leg of the tour.
We all know Warnie – he’s either the greatest spin bowler Australia’s yet to produce (don’t worry if you’re cricket illiterate, there’s a scene that explains that stuff) or he’s that twat who cheated on his missus, couldn’t give up smoking and was tempted by Indian bribes. Shane eventually grasps that these two parts of himself are connected, and is forced to accept, “I’ll never be captain, so I guess that’s that then”. He helped bring back the ashes, but his personal life ruined any chance he had of being a real hero.
Warnie’s the archetypal anti-hero, with his larrikin faults and inability to say no to temptation. If Perfect and Co had pulverised him, it wouldn’t be fair to Shane; if they’d ignored his foibles, it wouldn’t be fair to us. Shane Warne: The Musical keeps hitting sixes with a remarkable balance of satire and celebration.
And, to be fair, it also takes the piss out of musical theatre, with numbers reminiscent of stage and screen favourites from Fame to Godspell to Sweeney Todd (it was “fucking beautiful” ) – and who knew AIS was even more fan to dance-spell than YMCA.
Warnie in song works so well because ultimately the jokes on us. Perfect makes us look at ourselves and how we all supported and created the spin around the spin. As the marketing chorus sing, “Everyone’s a little bit like Shane”. We can’t blame him for being just like us.
With a such an impressive creative team around Perfect – director Neil Armfield (demi-god of Australian directing), dramaturge Casey Benneto (Keating), choreographer Gideon Obarzanek (Chunky Move) and designer Brian Thomson (shows too numerous to mention, but this the design is reminiscent of his original Rocky Horror set) – it would have been disappointing if Shane Warne: The Musical wasn’t this good. It proves that sometimes it’s a damn good idea to let those arty-farty types loose on a commercial show.
Perfect lives up to his name as Warne and it’s going to be interesting to see what happens when he’s had enough, as the show is very dependent on his appeal. The rest of the on-stage team are bonza, with Rosemarie Harris a standout as Simone.
Shane Warne: The Musical will become as legendary as its namesake. It’s not a celebration of Warne the cricketer or a gut-punch to Shane the man. It lets you laugh at him, laugh with him and ultimately cack yourself because his ridiculous, media-controlled, fame-driven life led to a Melbourne-based cabaret performer writing a musical all about it.
A note for patrons more used to stadiums
Last night there were a number of Warnie fans in the audience who didn’t get the concept of live theatre. It’s not like the MCG. Getting up in the middle of the first half (or “act”) and coming back into the theatre with beer for your mates isn’t acceptable “theatre” behaviour – and it just encouraged other blokes to do the same. Please wait for half time (or “interval”) and don’t do it again in the second half. Or, at least, come back with enough beers for the people sitting near you!
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com
Token Events and TrafficLight
11 December 2008
Athenaeum Theatre
I didn’t care for or about Shane Warne before the musical, and I still don’t, but Eddie Perfect can SMS me any time.
Perfect wrote this great Aussie musical and stars as its fallen hero. Being as Aussie as beetroot on a burger, Shane Warne: The Musical might not make a Broadway away tour, and it’s no good taking it to the West End, cos the poms will just whinge about it – but every Australian state, city and medium-sized country town deserves a leg of the tour.
We all know Warnie – he’s either the greatest spin bowler Australia’s yet to produce (don’t worry if you’re cricket illiterate, there’s a scene that explains that stuff) or he’s that twat who cheated on his missus, couldn’t give up smoking and was tempted by Indian bribes. Shane eventually grasps that these two parts of himself are connected, and is forced to accept, “I’ll never be captain, so I guess that’s that then”. He helped bring back the ashes, but his personal life ruined any chance he had of being a real hero.
Warnie’s the archetypal anti-hero, with his larrikin faults and inability to say no to temptation. If Perfect and Co had pulverised him, it wouldn’t be fair to Shane; if they’d ignored his foibles, it wouldn’t be fair to us. Shane Warne: The Musical keeps hitting sixes with a remarkable balance of satire and celebration.
And, to be fair, it also takes the piss out of musical theatre, with numbers reminiscent of stage and screen favourites from Fame to Godspell to Sweeney Todd (it was “fucking beautiful” ) – and who knew AIS was even more fan to dance-spell than YMCA.
Warnie in song works so well because ultimately the jokes on us. Perfect makes us look at ourselves and how we all supported and created the spin around the spin. As the marketing chorus sing, “Everyone’s a little bit like Shane”. We can’t blame him for being just like us.
With a such an impressive creative team around Perfect – director Neil Armfield (demi-god of Australian directing), dramaturge Casey Benneto (Keating), choreographer Gideon Obarzanek (Chunky Move) and designer Brian Thomson (shows too numerous to mention, but this the design is reminiscent of his original Rocky Horror set) – it would have been disappointing if Shane Warne: The Musical wasn’t this good. It proves that sometimes it’s a damn good idea to let those arty-farty types loose on a commercial show.
Perfect lives up to his name as Warne and it’s going to be interesting to see what happens when he’s had enough, as the show is very dependent on his appeal. The rest of the on-stage team are bonza, with Rosemarie Harris a standout as Simone.
Shane Warne: The Musical will become as legendary as its namesake. It’s not a celebration of Warne the cricketer or a gut-punch to Shane the man. It lets you laugh at him, laugh with him and ultimately cack yourself because his ridiculous, media-controlled, fame-driven life led to a Melbourne-based cabaret performer writing a musical all about it.
A note for patrons more used to stadiums
Last night there were a number of Warnie fans in the audience who didn’t get the concept of live theatre. It’s not like the MCG. Getting up in the middle of the first half (or “act”) and coming back into the theatre with beer for your mates isn’t acceptable “theatre” behaviour – and it just encouraged other blokes to do the same. Please wait for half time (or “interval”) and don’t do it again in the second half. Or, at least, come back with enough beers for the people sitting near you!
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com
18 November 2006
Babes In The Wood
Babes In The Wood
Malthouse Theatre
18 November 2006
Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse
There we go – another 170 words devoted to one of the best publicity calls made by a theatre company. I’m sure many tickets will be bought just to see this scene. It’s a good reason to go - it’s funny, respectful and relevant. In fact, it stands out as one of the better moments of Babes In The Wood.
If you saw the 2003 production of Babes In The Wood, don’t expect Babes 2 (in the city). This is the same production, with some new material. I missed the original, so cannot compare the two.
It is good old-fashioned pantomime, created intelligently. The opening scenes are enticing and captivating. It is great to openly laugh and enjoy “serious” theatre. How many other mediums allow you to boo at a John Howard joke and scream back “Oh no he isn’t” when the panto dame declares he’s a bold and visionary prime minister.
Sadly the show loses momentum and never recaptures the opening energy (except for the Steve Irwin number). A lot of material would read well in the script, but slows the show down on the stage. I know its hard to cut your good lines, but some people didn’t come back after interval. Much of the material is still relevant, but has lost the impact and power that it had in 2003. Tamper/children overboard, un-Australian, war on terror - is this political comment for 2006?
There is new material, but it seems to have been forced into the old script. The Rumsfeld “known and unknowns” joke was most welcome, "Under the Milky Way" at least referenced the Commonwealth Games and, if you look carefully, you may notice a reference to Steve Irwin.
The original music is terrific and supported by an eclectic and illogical soundtrack of 70s and 80s pop hits. The tradition of panto is to use contemporary music, but these retro moments are not contemporary. If it is a commentary on society today, why not use the music of the starettes that fill our media as much as any politician? Kylie’s return, aging rockers on the Countdown tour, wealthy singers trying to make poverty history, Australian Idol and Brittany are all too easy targets. (Amanda Vandstone singing, “Opps I did it again” instead of Nutbush?) Agadoo is funny – but what is its relevance?
What does sustain the production is the terrific cast. Caroline Craig, Diana Emry, Julie Forsyth, Max Gilles, Francis Greenslade, Eddie Perfect and Lucy Taylor. Each one as perfect as Eddie, having a ball on the stage and making sure the audience also enjoy the absurdity and silliness of the panto.
Babes In The Wood is a fun and irreverent night out, but is not the seditious political satire that I expected.
This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
Malthouse Theatre
18 November 2006
Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse
There has been more media coverage of Babes In the Wood over the last couple of weeks than most Malthouse productions receive for a season. Why? A song about Steve Irwin. It has been misquoted and taken out of context by every story I’ve read (including one on AussieTheatre).
Before September, Irwin was been a ripe target for satire, but now we have to be careful. (If you have just woken from a coma – Steve Irwin died in September). I’ve seen the great controversy. It’s a loving, kind, funny and totally respectful song about an iconic Aussie bloke who sings that we should all try doing the thing we love. He then dies doing what he loves, when three ridiculous stingrays come dancing in. If anything it is satirising the public response to Irwin’s death – who didn’t find themselves saying, “At least he was doing what he loved.” The only person who should be offended is Germaine Greer. Her character is the one singing all the misquoted lines.
There we go – another 170 words devoted to one of the best publicity calls made by a theatre company. I’m sure many tickets will be bought just to see this scene. It’s a good reason to go - it’s funny, respectful and relevant. In fact, it stands out as one of the better moments of Babes In The Wood.
If you saw the 2003 production of Babes In The Wood, don’t expect Babes 2 (in the city). This is the same production, with some new material. I missed the original, so cannot compare the two.
It is good old-fashioned pantomime, created intelligently. The opening scenes are enticing and captivating. It is great to openly laugh and enjoy “serious” theatre. How many other mediums allow you to boo at a John Howard joke and scream back “Oh no he isn’t” when the panto dame declares he’s a bold and visionary prime minister.
Sadly the show loses momentum and never recaptures the opening energy (except for the Steve Irwin number). A lot of material would read well in the script, but slows the show down on the stage. I know its hard to cut your good lines, but some people didn’t come back after interval. Much of the material is still relevant, but has lost the impact and power that it had in 2003. Tamper/children overboard, un-Australian, war on terror - is this political comment for 2006?
There is new material, but it seems to have been forced into the old script. The Rumsfeld “known and unknowns” joke was most welcome, "Under the Milky Way" at least referenced the Commonwealth Games and, if you look carefully, you may notice a reference to Steve Irwin.
The original music is terrific and supported by an eclectic and illogical soundtrack of 70s and 80s pop hits. The tradition of panto is to use contemporary music, but these retro moments are not contemporary. If it is a commentary on society today, why not use the music of the starettes that fill our media as much as any politician? Kylie’s return, aging rockers on the Countdown tour, wealthy singers trying to make poverty history, Australian Idol and Brittany are all too easy targets. (Amanda Vandstone singing, “Opps I did it again” instead of Nutbush?) Agadoo is funny – but what is its relevance?
What does sustain the production is the terrific cast. Caroline Craig, Diana Emry, Julie Forsyth, Max Gilles, Francis Greenslade, Eddie Perfect and Lucy Taylor. Each one as perfect as Eddie, having a ball on the stage and making sure the audience also enjoy the absurdity and silliness of the panto.
Babes In The Wood is a fun and irreverent night out, but is not the seditious political satire that I expected.
This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
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