Dance, Events, Musical Theatre, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: 2013 Australian Tour of HOT SHOE SHUFFLE

Tap into this!

By Christine Moffat

The story of Hot Shoe Shuffle, in essence, is of the seven ‘Tap Brothers’ who are called to New York for the reading of their father’s will and to meet April, their long-lost sister.  To gain their inheritance, they must recreate their father’s famous act ‘The Hot Shoe Shuffle’, and it must include the dance-challenged April.

Hot Shoe Shuffle

Hot Shoe Shuffle is an original Australian show, but created in the form of an old-time movie musical, and the current season at Her Majesty’s Theatre is the 21st anniversary production.  Despite the show’s classic format, it is hard to believe it was written two decades ago, as it has all the vibrancy and energy of a debut season.

The first half of the show is like tutti-frutti icecream: a brightly coloured sugar-rush of comedy, condensed plot twists, slapstick humour, great music and dynamic tap numbers.  The second half, mainly the famous review act ‘The Hot Show Shuffle’, is like champagne sorbet.  It is elegant, ritzy, and jam-packed with dance routines reminiscent of a black-and-white Fred Astaire film.

The score is a who’s who of timeless composers, including songs from Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ira Gershwin and Peter Allen.  The costumes for this production by Janet E Hine are a master class in what wonderful costuming can bring to a show, contributing to creating and developing the characters before our eyes.  And the choreography (David Atkins, Dein Perry, Drew Anthony) showcases the versatility of tap, including routines that were romantic, drop-dead glamorous and a sensational drunken dance by the brothers.

Jaz Flowers as April is reminiscent of a young Lucille Ball, using comedy, sex appeal and her knockout voice to full advantage.  Bobby Fox as Spring is surprisingly funny, vulnerable, almost accidentally charming, and refreshingly different to a stereotypical ‘leading man’.

David Atkins (also producer and director) makes a classy transition from his role as Spring in original production to wise mentor/slave-driver Max in this run, and yes, he can definitely still dance!  All of the cast are excellent dancers and their dance solos were fantastic, but stand-out performances includded Morgan Junor-Larwood as the gung-ho Slap and Mason Schaube as the adorable, but a bit slow on the uptake Slide.

The level of entertainment and fun in this show is phenomenal.  At the preview the cast received a well-deserved standing ovation.  A word of caution though – The Hot Shoe Shuffle is infectious: if you see the show, you may feel compelled to take tap lessons…

Melbourne dates: Aug 12 – Sept 8

Show times: Tues 1pm/ Wed 1pm & 8pm/ Thurs & Fri 8pm/ Sat 2pm & 8pm/ Sun 3pm

Venue: Her Majesty’s Theatre, 219 Exhibition St

Tickets: Premium from $110*/ A Reserve from $89*/ Groups 10+ from $69*/ Family from $276*/ Schools/Dance Schools groups 10+ $50* *(*booking fees apply)

Bookings: http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=HOTSHOE13

Official website: www.hotshoeshuffle.com

Events, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Mockingbird Theatre Presents EQUUS

Intensely moving

By Vikki Doig

A mere 40 years after it was written, Equus still packs a powerful punch. Originally penned in 1973, Peter Shaffer‘s play follows the case of Alan Strang, a 17 year-old boy who is taken into a mental health institution to be treated after his pathological religious fascination with horses causes him to commit an act of unspeakable violence. Shaffer was inspired to write the play after hearing a story about a boy blinding six horses, as a means of trying to make such an act comprehensible.

Equus - Scott Middleton

The format of the play is a kind of medical whodunit, with the audience acting as witnesses to the unfolding story and development of trust between the two main characters (which, my partner pointed out, was akin to breaking-in a horse). Equus is Mockingbird Theatre‘s current production, and upon entering director Chris Baldock’s eerie world, which is somewhere between a stable and a temple, I was immediately struck by the wonderful overall design, the image of the horseheads hanging on the wall like trophies and the strong, almost tribal, presence of the horse-chorus.

We meet Dr. Martin Dysart, portrayed by a wonderfully well-cast Jeremy Kewley, who expresses his frustration at his profession and questions his own purpose. After a bit of a shaky start to the show (I found myself willing him to slow down his dialogue) his commitment to the role was absolute. Scott Middleton portrayed a beautifully vulnerable and fragile Alan Strang – menacing at first, but more human as the play went on – and the growing relationship between these two characters was a real strength of the show.

Other characters joined and left the action seamlessly, creating a very immediate space in which the motivations of the young boy, his relationship with his parents (played exceptionally well and, at times, comically, by Soren Jensen and Amanda McKay) and his eventual violent contact with the horses could be played out and reflected upon. The horse chorus, all-seeing and all-knowing, mirrored Alan’s emotion in their every movement and maintained strength and focus from the minute the audience entered the space (it was a nice touch to bring them out last at the curtain call!). Particular mention should go to Maggie Chrétien, whose portrayal of the sassy Jill Mason was, although only having a small amount of stage time, one of the strongest performances of the night.

Chris Baldock has created a production faithful to Shaffer’s original script and clearly has great passion for the words and concepts explored in the text. However, having seen an extremely powerful contemporised interpretation of the play in the UK a few years back, I personally felt detached from this version which seemed to historicise the key themes of reason versus passion and rehabilitation versus medication rather than present them as significant and culturally relevant questions which still resonate with contemporary audiences. For this reason and for me, I felt that the production didn’t quite have the power and impact it could have and this was compounded by the questionable English accents from some of the cast.

Despite this, I certainly enjoyed the show and was left with a poignant comment from Dysart running through my head: “Passion can only be destroyed by doctors. It cannot be created”, for working with children in education and the arts always makes this play and its conflict between (seemingly) necessary medication and a natural capacity for passion and emotion profoundly affecting. Because once that passion is gone, can we ever really get it back?

VENUE: Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre, cnr Glenlyon & Sydney Rds, Brunswick

DATES: 3rd – 17th Aug

TIME: Tue 6th – Sat 10th 8pm, Wed 14th – Sat 17th 8pm

TICKETS: $30 Full/ $25 Con or Groups 10+/ $20 Tue 6th

BOOKINGS: www.trybooking.com/40833 or bookings@mockingbirdtheatre.com.au

Events, Performances, Review, Theatre

REVIEW: Blue Cow Theatre Presents ART

We know what we like

By Myron My

How many times do we see a movie with a friend and we love it and they hate it? Or we go to a museum and are taken in by a piece of art but our friend thinks it’s rubbish. Generally we put it down to a simple difference of opinion, but not in Art.

Art

Produced by Blue Cow Theatre, Art is a French language play by Yasmina Reza and translated here by Christopher Hampton, and aesthetic conflict is at the heart of this comic yet dramatic play.

Serge (Jeff Michel) has bought a painting: a very expensive painting. A painting that is completely white. He loves it but one of his best friends Marc (Robert Jarman) thinks it is awful– to put it mildly – and can’t move on from this. Yvan (John Xintavelonis) is stuck in the middle of this argument trying to pacify the two, but eventually gets embroiled in their fight.

Michel, Jarman and Xintavelonis are perfectly cast in their roles. Their rapport and the strength with which they take on their respective characters was imperative for the success of a play such as this, as it relies so heavily on an emotional response from the audience.

I was particularly impressed with Xintavelonis’ nuanced performance as Yvan, especially in the excellent scene when he’s explaining why he is late for dinner.

The play uses a mixture of monologues, duologues and then ultimately a group scene to tell the story. As an audience member, your state of mind is constantly fluctuating between feeling like an uninvited voyeur to being made the privileged listener in a confessional.

This unease keeps you intensely engaged and wondering what is going to be revealed next and how the characters’ personal thoughts will compare and contrast to their conversations with each other .

Art looks at the fragility of friendship and how vulnerable we can become by letting people in. With a lovely blend of comedy and drama, this play explores the value of friendship, through the issues of art, personal opinion and aesthetic appeal and the importance we place on them.

This production was performed at GasWorks Arts Park on August 1st to 3rd 2013.

Events, Musical Theatre, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Four Letter Word Theatre Presents THE WILD PARTY

Let the fun begin

By Bradley Storer

Upon entering the Main Stage area at Revolt, the audience is immediately immersed in the dingy but seductive Prohibition-era charms of the ‘speak easy’, with tables set up close to the stage and lit eerily by candles. The dark cavernous space of Revolt seems an oddly fitting place for this 1920’s tale of a party thrown by a pair of vaudeville performers on their last legs – a potent cocktail of sin, depravity and eventual tragedy.

Rosa McCarty is a knockout as Queenie the party’s hostess, a blonde bombshell past her prime, throwing herself into the fading performer’s depths of hedonism and disillusionment with abandon and a fierce belt.

The Wild Party

James Cutler is continually compelling as the brutish Burrs, her abusive and bullying husband, bringing ferocious energy and sinister glee to the role that makes him exciting to watch. Their volatile and destructive relationship, although disturbing, is vividly invoked by the two performers.

The musical unfortunately has trouble finding its feet in the first act. Despite a cavalcade of strange and curious characters that pour onstage at the beginning of the show, including a charming polysexual predator (Ed Deganos), a lesbian stripper and her borderline comatose lover (Samantha Hammersley and Renee Pope-Munro) and a creepily close pair of male twins (Samuel Dariol and James Worsnop), there is a lack of energy onstage which makes the ‘party’ atmosphere hard to maintain. Maree Barnett as the cunning diva looking for a comeback emits smouldering ambition, while wielding a pair of surprisingly flexible legs like a weapon. The arrival of Kate, a vaudevillian star and Queenie’s best friend/enemy (played with commanding confidence by Alana Kiely), and her lover Black (Christian Cavallo) raises the spirits of the ensemble considerably, culminating in an Act Two ode to gin that explodes with an dynamic vitality that has been missing so far.

A daring move is the inclusion of a secondary ensemble, a collection of malevolent Satanic spirits who seemingly manipulate and corrupt the characters unseen by anyone whilst wandering offstage and through the audience – a very original idea, which has mixed results throughout the evening. While feeling like an unnecessary addition in the first act, director Robbie Carmellotti finds some electrifying tableaus in the second act that utilize them to a better degree.

An evening of daring and boundary-pushing theatre that, while sometimes not entirely succeeding, is nevertheless admirable for the depth of its invention and ambition.

VENUE: Revolt Melbourne, 12 Elizabeth St, Kensington

DATES: 31st July – 3rd August

TIME: Tue to Sat 7:30pm, Sun 3pm

TICKETS: A Reserve $60/Concession $40, B Reserve $45/ Concession $30, C Reserve $25, Table of 8 $900

BOOKINGS: www.fourletterwordtheatre.com, www.revoltproductions.com,  boxoffice@revoltproductions.com , at the door.

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Events, Whats On

REVIEW: Nick Hedger in CRAP I FOUND IN MY ROOM

Promising cabaret just needs a little tidying

By Christine Moffat

Crap I Found In My Room is a cabaret about a young man leaving home: or more precisely, a young man being asked nicely by his parents to move out.  Writer/performer Nick Hedger presents an idea that seems to be a very personal story, but gives it a wide appeal.  Many people have lived through the slightly traumatic move from childhood home into ‘the world’ – or have at least considered it…

Crap I Found In My RoomHedger has transformed the small theatre at The Butterfly Club into (this reviewer guesses) a stage version of his actual bedroom. The space (including the seats) is strewn with laundry, boxes, laptops etc, plus countless toys.  It looks like Gen-Y beat up Toys’R’Us.

These objects really gave the show a sense of place, but Hedger only interacted with a few objects.  To make ‘his stuff’ and the show’s title more meaningful perhaps he needed to use a few more of them more as props, and not just as set pieces.  The same feeling may have been achieved by having a few less objects visible and using more packing boxes: pulling things out of boxes suggests volume, without creating audience expectations that visible props be used.

However, a great moment of meaningful use of props was a funny segment involving a Magic 8 ball.  Hedger’s interaction with the audience and the Magic 8 ball really worked because cabaret is essentially about connection, and Hedger gave the audience something immediate and unique.

The writing is a great strength of this show. It is written as a combination of universal experience and personal testimony.  However, for this reviewer, overall the script feels a bit too obvious.  The mood changes and corresponding tone of songs are too defined when moving through a fairly straightforward narrative.  Mixing upbeat and sombre songs more elegantly and breaking out of the predictable flow would have given the finale a nice sense of discovery and surprise, as the finish felt a little soft and unresolved.  That being said, Hedger did still close the show with pathos and depth, suggesting real growth in his character.

Hedger has a great voice and in such a small venue can safely throw away his microphone.  Some of the songs involved rather too much prior music-theatre knowledge to truly get the jokes, but Hedger’s original songs and some of his pop interpretations were fabulous.  This show has a great premise, and Hedger has an engaging stage presence.  If you aren’t currently trying to gently shuck your own teenager from their room like an oyster from its shell, this show will definitely entertain you.  If you are, it’ll be great therapy!

Aug 1st – 4th, Fri-Sat 9pm / Sun 8pm

The Butterfly Club: Carson Place (just off Little Collins Street in CBD)

www.thebutterflyclub.com

A Magnetic Hand production

Directed by Jon Stephens

Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Reunion at THE BUTTERFLY CLUB

Clash of an ex-high school quartet

By Myron My

Reunion

In the short play Reunion, four friends organise a catch-up to see what life has been like for each since they graduated from high school five years previously. We meet best friends, Charlie and Phil (Gabriel Bergmoser and Finn Gilfedder-Cooney), Charlie’s ex-girlfriend Sophie (Ashley Tardy), and Jane (Kayla Symons), who seems to be harbouring some strong animosity towards the group. As the evening progresses and the shots are downed, secrets are revealed and the tense friendships are tested even further.

Bergmoser, who is also the writer of Reunion, has created some highly entertaining dialogue between Charlie and Phil. Their rapport is very believable and easily establishes the long-time relationship between the two friends. Both Bergmoser and Gilfedder-Cooney also do extremely well in then bringing Charlie and Phil to life. By contrast, I was disappointed with the dialogue and characterisation of Jane and Sophie. I felt more work was needed to give these two women more depth and emotion.

Unfortunately the story of Reunion is also a bit disjointed and underdeveloped, so when it’s revealed why Jane is so angry with the group, I couldn’t help but feel a bit cheated. As an audience member, you are racking your brain throughout the play trying to determine what Jane’s issue could be, and when the reason comes out, my first thought was ‘Is that it?’

The lighting and sound design by Boden Lee Tennant worked effectively in creating the fluctuating atmosphere and I enjoyed the way the sound worked to set the environment for each scene. In fact it was so appealing, I would have liked this to have been continued throughout, with some traffic noises for scenes set outside or water running in the bathroom.

Reunion is a good attempt at character investigation and interaction: although there are still some creases that need to be ironed out, there is great potential for this show should the narrative and relationships be explored further to allow these characters to reach their full potential.

Venue: The Butterfly Club, 256 Collins St (entry via Carson Place), Melbourne

Season: Sunday 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th August | 9:30pm

Tickets: $23 Full | $20 Conc

Bookings: http://www.thebutterflyclub.com

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Musical Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Jemma Rix with David Young in THE RANDOM VARIETY

Wicked star braves the cabaret stage

By Bradley Storer

Introduced by her accompanist David Young, Jemma Rix, the recently-announced Elphaba for the new Australian production of Wicked, took to the stage of The Butterfly Club with a shy but toothy grin. Here she launched into a wonderful original song investigating the meaning behind the title of the show and ending in a medley of countless tunes shouted out on the spot by Young.

Jemma Rix

A misstep was following this rollicking song with the Eagles’ sombre ‘Hotel California’, an odd choice which drained the energy she’d built up in her first tune. For the first part of the evening Rix was clearly nervous and had trouble maintaining eye contact with her audience – not such a big problem for musical theatre but difficult for the intimacy of cabaret. She asked the audience’s forgiveness for her understandable nerves in her first outing as a cabaret performer.

After seeming a little unsure of herself through the first few pop songs on the set list, resorting to a few stock pop-singer stage moves at some points, one could almost feel her give an internal sigh of relief when she reached the first show tunes of the night – a winning combination of Stephen Schwartz’s ‘Beautiful City’ and Sondheim’s ‘Another Hundred People’, with Schwartz’s idealistic vision of a ‘city of men’ bringing out a surprising beauty in Sondheim’s bleak landscape of urban alienation.

The first moment where it felt Rix truly connected with her audience was with the song ‘With You’ from the musical Ghost – here her inhibitions melted away  and I felt transported as Rix brought us into the heartbreaking grief of losing a loved one, and from here on out she was on solid ground. Once her nerves were gone, Rix revealed herself as a charming and engaging performer, along with her voice of startling power and floating delicacy.

The later half of the evening brought some surprising and rewarding choices in repertoire. Rix informed us of her uproarious idea of a Romeo and Juliet juke-box musical based around the music of Rihanna (the only thing lacking were some daggy dance moves!). Her banter about the plight faced by youth today in an environment pervaded by cyber-bullying led into a brilliant fusion of ‘Quiet’ from Tim Minchin’s Matilda with David Guetta’s ‘Titanium’ that held the entire audience spell-bound.

A promising first show from an established music-theatre performer which assures us of great things for her cabaret future! 

Venue: The Butterfly Club, 256 Collins St (enter off 5 Carson Place), Melbourne City

Dates & Times: 23rd, 24th, 28th at 8pm, 25th, 26th, 27th at 9pm.

Tickets: Full $28, Concession $25, Group $23, Tightarse Tuesday $20.

Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com , 9663 8107 or at the door.

Events, Musical Theatre, Opera, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Victorian Opera’s SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE

Simply – see this

By Bradley Storer

Victorian Opera undertakes a gargantuan challenge, both technically and artistically, with their production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George.

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE

This Pulitzer Prize-winning exploration of the life of French artist Georges Seurat and his painting ‘A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grand Jatte’, and the life of his fictional descendants, indelibly changed the landscape of the Broadway musical when it premiered in 1984, and the shadow of the original production is hard to escape. An opera company attempting to mount the musical presents even more challenges, given the fundamental differences between the art forms.

I can happily say that Victorian Opera has risen to the challenge and exceeded it spectacularly. The set design alone, inherently important to the meaning of the show, is astonishing. A simple bare scaffold  and a winding staircase unfolds into a continual array of surprising and delightful scenes – trees, buildings, sketches and pieces of George’s work fly in and out, all contained within a frame that resembles the outline of an artwork.

Alexander Lewis as the artist Georges Seurat brings a humanity, vulnerability and anguish to the role, as well as a flawless operatic tenor voice – for this reviewer, he lacked the fire and intensity at times needed to believe him as a visionary artist, but this is a small complaint. Christina O’Neill as his lover Dot overplayed her sensuality and sexuality at the beginning to a strident degree, but in the character’s more reflective moments she was perfection, and as this quality became more pronounced over the course of the show O’Neill created a strong and heart-breaking character who, more so than even George, is the soul of the show.

Nancye Hayes as George’s mother is hilariously understated and her Act One duet with Lewis ravishes with its delicate loveliness. The ensemble of Sunday, a mix of musical theatre and opera singers, are uniformly strong, all bringing hilarious and touching characterizations . The finale of Act One, the culmination of George’s work in assembling his masterpiece, is a glorious tribute to the power of art to create meaning in the human condition.

Having attended a panel discussion with the artistic team for Sunday, it is clear that this is a labour of love from an ensemble of artists that have enormous respect for the work and a singular vision for its creation. Here this union creates a magnificent production, a stunning and original artistic vision expertly executed and a triumph for all involved.

Venue: The Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Rd

Dates:    Sat 20 , Tue 23, Wed 24, Thur 25, Fri 26, Sat 27 July at 7.30pm and Wed 24, Sat 27 July at 1:00pm

Bookings: www.artscentremelbourne.com, Ph: 1300 182 183

Events, Music, Performances, Review

REVIEW: A VERY GAGA VARIETY FUNDRAISING NIGHT

Variety night an exciting preview for new musical

By Scarlett Harris

Last night at their new location on Carson Place in the city, The Butterfly Club hosted a Lady Gaga variety show in an effort to raise funds for the latest creative endeavour of Kin Collaborative’s Melbourne Uni student arm. Kin CoLaboratory’s MUD Festival entry, Gaga & Assange, promises to be a romp of epic pure-pop proportions.

Gaga and Julian Assange both rose to dizzying heights of infamy around the same time: she with her anthem of tolerance, “Born This Way”, and he with the release of U.S. diplomatic cables and apparent “honey-trapping” rape charges.

Gaga & Assange

Gaga & Assange plays on this theme of sex, introducing the two via a sex-tape- and STD-fuelled romp—a “Bad Romance”, if you will—and going on to dissect the egos and dogmas of two of pop culture’s most recognisable names and faces.

But as for last night, it was a riotous tribute to all things Mother Monster, with renditions of “Paparazzi” by Gaga & Assange creator, Will Hannagan; Gaga’s Tony Bennett effort, “The Lady is a Tramp”, with G&A director and MC for the night, Jeremy Russo; and “Bad Romance”, “Alejandro” and “Americano” by Melbourne bluegrass band The Scrimshaw Four.

Alex Frank and Alexia Brinseley had the audience in stitches for “Edge of Glory”, “Hair” and “You & I” (arguably the performances of the night), while Belinda Jenkin remixed “Dance in the Dark” and “Just Dance” into ballads, and James Worsnop and Nicola Guzzardi parodied “Telephone”. The Collaborative topped off the night with a mashup of two original songs from Gaga & Assange, staged by their very own Gaga, Laura Raiti.

After the success of this fundraising event, I’m looking forward to seeing whether the musical deals with our readiness to let certain things about its titular “characters” (because isn’t that what they are—especially Gaga—to an extent?) fly, like Gaga’s alleged cosmetic surgery and Assange’s abovementioned sexual assault, in order to embrace their wider messages of acceptance and freedom of information, respectively. All with a side of Europop club anthems to boot.

A Very Gaga Variety Fundraising Night was performed at The Butterfly Club on Wednesday July 17, 2013

Comedy, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Evgeny Shwarz’s THE DRAGON

Comedy trio Tripod spread their draconian wings

By Ross Larkin

Corruption. Power. Denial. Oppression… Sound amusing? Well, it is.

Toby Schmitz has adapted Evgeny Schwarz’s 1944 satirical play The Dragon into a modern theatrical feast of fiery wit and cleverly apt and poignant dialogue.

From the outset, some skepticism is understandable. Has director, Marion Potts, created a fairy tale? A pantomime? A musical? It’s a little hazy. Soon after, however, it really doesn’t matter.

TheDragon

Melbourne’s ingenious comic trio Tripod (Scott Edgar, Steven Gates and Simon Hall) have not only written the music for the piece, they also perform their catchy soundtrack while portraying the good guy onlookers as well as the contrasting evil three-headed dragon – one hilarious head each.

Sir Lancelot (played with gorgeous charm by Jimi Bani) arrives in a small village to slay said dragon and relieve its inhabitants of the oppression and control inflicted by their so-called ‘almighty’, while rescuing a fair maiden (Nikki Shiels), condemned to wed the manipulative beast.

However, the brainwashed town and its foolishly egocentric and impressionable mayor (the ever-impressive Kym Gyngell), are under the illusion the dragon is to be worshipped as their all-knowing leader, and remain under its spell, oblivious to their repressed existence, and therefore resistant to Lancelot’s quest.

In an Orwellian struggle to revolutionise a totalitarian-wracked culture (coincidently, or more likely deliberately, in line with current Australian politics), Schmitz’s impressively astute and often poetic dialogue, meshed with Tripod’s loveable commentating music and lyrics, is a delightful merry-go-round of tension and fun.

Perched on a very effective revolving set, The Dragon is confronting, thought-provoking, amusing and highly satisfying, thanks to a brilliant script and soundtrack, not to mention a delightfully talented cast.

The Dragon is playing now until July 26, 2013.
Wed to Sat 7.30pm, Sat 2.00pm matinee,
Sun 5.00pm, Tues July 23 at 6.30pm.

The Malthouse Theatre, 113 Sturt Street, Melbourne.

Bookings on (03) 9685 5111 or at www.malthousetheatre.com.au