Sydney Opera House, August 26, 2022 One of the stranger side effects of Covid has been Opera Australia’s double dip into The Phantom of the Opera. First up was the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour extravaganza directed by Simon Phillips earlier this year. Now a new production – new to Australia, at least – has taken…
Tag: Sydney Opera House
Sylvia, The Australian Ballet
Sydney Opera House, November 8 The dash for bathrooms and bars was substantially less frantic than usual after the close of Act I of Stanton Welch’s Sylvia. Heads everywhere bowed over their synopsis sheets. What in the name of all the gods in Ancient Greece was going on? How does one show via ballet that Artemis…
There will not be light
Next to Normal, Doorstep Arts in association with Hayes Theatre Co, Sydney, January 15. Sweet Charity, Sydney Opera House, January 16, 2015 IF there is a choice to be made between darkness and light, musical theatre will tend to go for the latter. It’s just how it is. Indeed, Next to Normal, a musical in…
Top 10 in dance for 2014
DANCE is my great passion but this year there wasn’t a huge amount to bowl me over.Certainly I saw plenty of fine dancing – when does one not? – but in classical ballet there were few new works of substance. Well, none actually. There were pleasing new versions of existing ballets, although they didn’t quite…
Horrible Histories; Random Musical
Horrible Histories: Awful Egyptians; Random Musical, Sydney Opera House, July 4. CHILDREN’S theatre is usually expected to have some educational value. Horrible Histories: Awful Egyptians certainly had that for me. Before yesterday I had never heard of Horrible Histories! I was a complete and utter novice among the eager group of initiates crowding out the…
Bangarra Dance Theatre, Nederlands Dans Theater
Bangarra Dance Theatre, Sydney, June 13; Nederlands Dans Theater, Sydney, June 12. TO its eternal credit Bangarra Dance Theatre has never shied away from difficult material. Yes, it wants the riches of Aboriginal culture to be widely seen and appreciated, but it also tackles the seemingly intractable issues facing many indigenous Australians: the grog, violence,…
Frankenstein
Ensemble Theatre, Playhouse, Sydney Opera House, April 3. FRANKENSTEIN is a name that despite one’s best efforts to resist brings forth mental images of freaks and bogeymen. Perhaps nothing quite as silly as a lurching giant with bolts through the neck, but something not quite human. Nick Dear’s over-weening scientist Victor Frankenstein is not this…
Blaze
The Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, January 12 I SINCERELY hope there was no one I knew in the house at the Saturday matinee performance of Blaze because when we all stood to perform Atomic Food – interpreting various comestibles including broccoli, celery and baked beans (you can imagine that one) – I didn’t do…
deborah jones: FollowSpot 