The Addams Family

Sunday, 6^th March 2011

Lunt-Fontaine Theatre, New York

While waiting in line at chilly Times Square, snaking our way to the head of the TKTS booth; I overheard one of the security attendants say to the family man ahead of me that today’s matinee would be Nathan Lane’s last performance as Gomez in The Addams Family.

Buoyed by that insider tip, we booked tickets quick smart for that afternoon’s performance and scored enviable seats so close to the front, we could see every sarcastic eyebrow raise by leads Bebe Neuwirth (Morticia) and Broadway superstar Nathan Lane.

The interior of the theatre was subtly dressed to evoke the gothic retro look of cartoonist Charles Addams’ belovedly macabre creations, with flickering lights throughout and a spooky fun feel that tickled the crowd determined to enjoy themselves.

The show itself was fun and cute, it’s bizarro weird bent built around the light plot of Wednesday Addams being all grown up enough to invite her boyfriend and his parents to meet the family – and as expected, wackiness ensues. While simple, there was a nostalgic comfort in seeing characters and stars doing what they do best – dance and sing, preen and entertain.

Being Nathan Lane’s last show, there were a couple of “tricks” played, or more, shall we say, deviations from the script – which had the rest of the cast (some more successfully than others) struggle to keep a straight face. Bebe Neuwirth was most especially amusing to watch as she tried to suppress giggles when Grandma (Jackie Hoffman) ad libbed (Morticia Addams maintains a mostly dour expression at just about everything) but she wasn’t the only one!

At the end of a very entertaining 2 ½ hours, the producers and director came on stage to thank and applaud everyone for all their hard work – they had reached the milestone of their one year anniversary of having their show on Broadway!

Apart from the headliners, other enjoyable performances were from long term Broadway alums Terence Mann and Carolee Carmello as the straight laced suburban parents of Lucas, the “normal” boyfriend of Wednesday. They were glorious in their journey from pompous and meek respectively, to enlightened and invigorated. Nothing like a little freak to turn you on!

Creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky – if you liked it on TV, you’ll love it on Broadway.

American Idiot

Saturday, 5th March 2011

St James Theatre, New York

Essentially a jukebox musical with a nihilistic bent and slacker bravura, Green Day’s Tony nominated American Idiot is a popular concert of songs reimagined into a loose and surprisingly generic storyline.

The three leads were clones in looks to Billie Joe Armstrong and his fellow bandmates in Green Day and collectively have the dream to head out of their hick town for the bright lights of the big city and become alt rock stars.

Will (Justin Guarini) is sidelined before he even gets out of the gate by an unexpected pregnancy; Tunny (Stark Sands) is patriotically brainwashed into joining the military, meeting his dream girl in hospital at the same time he looses his leg; while Everyouth Johnny (Van Hughes) lives the city mouse dream of parties, drugs and passion with his drive of being a musician fading as the months pass.

Although there were some affecting sequences and the punk techno look of the set and projections were pretty cool, overall it just seemed like one long extended video sequence – there was barely enough dialogue between each number, and if you were unfamiliar or (loser!) not a fan of Green Day’s music, you would barely care enough for any of the characters.

The vocals were routinely strong and soaring, and the all ensemble guitar encore to “Wake Me Up When September Ends” was the anthem that brought the loudest roar from the audience.

Overall, a decent 90 minute show, but hardly must-see theatre on Broadway.

Donka: A Letter to Chekhov

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

His Majesty's Theatre, Perth

A folkloric blend of circus and story telling, Donka (Russian for the little bell found at the end of a fishing line - a favourite pastime of the playwright); dazzles and bewitches with a beautifully whimsical showcase of acrobats and poets, aerialists, jugglers, actors and clowns.

I wish I were more familiar with the works of Chekhov, but for one reason or another have only really had the chance to catch The Seagull, performed a couple of years ago at WAAPA. I realised then, to my surprise, that Chekhov had a rather humourous bent in his characterizations and dialogue - an aspect which had initially been overshadowed in the dramatic and somber staging of his original works by renowned director and veritable theatre god, Constatin Stanislavski.

Despite only passing familiarity with Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard, you can still guess at their cultural contributions in this letter to Chekhov.

Resplendent with a nostalgic glow and winking at a time of vaudeville, writer/ director/ designer and choreographer Daniele Finzi Pasca with orchestrations, sound design and additional movement by Maria Bonzanigo - has filled the stage with a dream vision of life, infused with giddy child-like joy - a playful, peopled sunny world, full of mystery, adventure, friendship and heart.

My favourite excerpts were the visual trick of musclemen performing acrobatic feats of amazement and wonder... on the floor! And circus artist David Menes spinning, twirling, reeling... as rose petals fluttering from sky to earth, sunset bathing scene to starkly highlight the remaining silhouettes. Like a totem evoking Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man (surely an inspiration in the inception of Daniel Cyr's life size wheel) it was a mesmerizing feat of imagination, and the audience was hypnotized.

Highly recommended, with the broken English spoken by the Teatro Sunil players in turns amusing and charming; and it's very likely the foreign fare box office hit of this year's Perth International Arts Festival.

Donka: A Letter to Chekhov - trailer

The Comedy of Errors

Saturday, 21 August 2010

A fantastically fast paced farce that completes its journey in one act, Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors involves a far slapstickier comical structure than his other twin confusion play, Twelfth Night, figuring that if one set of twins is funny, two will breed double the trouble and twice the fun! (I jest, as one of his earlier works; this Comedy far predates that Night.)

WAAPA’s third year Acting production is a stripped down show, relying on costume and minimal props to evoke time, place and character, updated to a contemporary but still unnamed era. Jeans are paired with sword sharp foils, Laura McIntosh as frustrated wife Adriana is Michelle Pfeiffer circa Tequila Sunrise, while Claire Lovering as her supportive and feisty sister Luciana is mod shift cute in a mini dress and headband. The twin slaves both named Dromio look like something out of Hi-5.

Egeon (James Monarski) opens the play with an emphatic and marvellous exposition giving the audience a familial tale of woe within the circle of players who then return to populate the town of Ephesus. Twin (unbeknownst to each other) master and servants make for much misunderstanding and merriment, and it’s a testament to director Adam Cook as to how well the actors seemed to enjoy living, breathing and loving the words of Shakespeare, as the continuous rhyming and even more outrageous sitcom rhythms are able to be given a relatably contemporary spin instead of descending into complete and utter silliness.

While the flogging of the slaves a times seemed a bit much (AVO alert!), as usual all is explained in the finale - family is reunited, lovers allowed to declare affection (though I suspect Adriana’s Antipholus of Ephesus is a bit of a cad and Luciana has gotten the better brother out of this deal); and the Dromios find some peace at last, Michelle Lim Davidson and Aileen Huynh both stealing their scenes through wit, sympathy and a wink through the fourth wall.

A fraternal fillip of fun.

Twelfth Night

Monday, 26 July 2010

Make of it what you will, but with one of the most famously rhapsodic lines from Shakespeare opening the play, “If music be the food of love, play on…” Black Swan Theatre’s latest comedic oeuvre from the bard continues the trend of updated delight from last year’s joyous Much Ado About Nothing, and washes us ashore upon the Mediterranean inspired resort location of Illyria.

The audience is delivered into a bright pastel zephyr-blue set split in the centre to not only give an alternate entry for the actors but to denote two houses, multiple locations, and of course a more obvious reminder of two halves torn asunder - twin castaways Viola and Sebastian, shipwrecked separately and mourning the death of the other.

Set designer Christine Smith has once again impressed with her intelligent use of space and suggestion, constructing a protruding boardwalk (white sand softly duned at the struts evoking the sea); a slightly unbalanced wooden stage – kingdoms constructed from ships; and later nautical allusions of large twined ropes, hanging installations that inferred trees; all set against textured backdrops of perfect sailing weather skies.

Kirsty Hillhouse as the glamourous Olivia, mourning the recent deaths of both her father and brother wallowed attractively, easily resisting Orsini’s (Kenneth Ransom) consistent advances and later thunderstruck when she falls madly in love with Viola in the guise of Orsini’s page, Cesario.

Hillhouse and Amanda Woodhams as Cesario/ Viola made a comical sight, their height difference even more pronounced as the Lady dashed about in tailored heels and espadrilles. Woodhams was utterly convincing in appearance as male page Cesario - add some wire-rimmed glasses and she’d be the spitting image of Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter - and she handled her lead role well, giving us a journey through her emotions, though I did find some of her monologues a little distancing; surprising, considering they are usually intended to draw an audience closer to the character by gaining an insight into their thoughts.

Smaller players Steve Turner as minstrel Feste, Luke Hewitt as happy drunkard Sir Toby Belch, scene-stealing Ingle Knight as the Walter Mitty-ish Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and obnoxious steward Malvolio, played with relish by Geoff Kelso were even more outrageous characters; a guffawing distraction from the more straight playing romantic comedy plot.

As is usual for a comedy, misunderstandings abound, and though there is the modern query of homoeroticism in the attraction between Orsini and “Cesario” (and in this play, a Sapphic hint when Olivia discovers the boy she is in love with is actually a girl), both couples end gender appropriately matched and with happy endings all round.

A sweet voyage in Shakespearean waters.

Rock the Ballet

Saturday, 10 July 2010

The masculine, testosterone fuelled and unapologetically sexy Rock the Ballet opens with a decidedly feel-good vibe (I Gotta Feelin’… Tonight’s Goin’ to be a Good Night), and then proceeds to bring the rest of the audience to the party; impressing and arousing with matchless physical displays of breathtaking leaps, jumps and tricks delivered with an incubus bravura attitude that flips between cheeky, romantic and carnal.

Choreographer and lone female dancer Adrienne Canterna-Thomas has astutely crafted an adrenaline active contemporary production that utilises strong influences from classical ballet and energised by a rock-pop soundtrack that a mainstream audience can recognise and relate to.

Multimedia projections by video designer William Cusick dominated the expansive back wall and gave the show an iPod gen atmosphere, keenly supported by lighting designer Ashley Day’s strong swathes of colour, tone and spotlight.

The stage itself was largely bare and the props minimal (save for the subversively funny ‘ladies’ in the Carmen sequence), but what more do you need when the performers give us their all with skill, sweat and swagger released by a hot hits score that allows them to seriously step up?

With enough variety to allow everyone a favourite, lead Bad Boy and dance director Rasta Thomas nonetheless stole much of the stage with a smouldering charisma that defied you to resist and a sweet back story revealed in the program (that Pretty Girl on stage? His equal in art and life, the childhood sweetheart who became his choreographer wife).

Touting itself as Ballet for the 21st Century, how else can you answer that bold assertion but with applause and encores?

Believe the hype!

Love Bites

Thursday, 24 June 2010

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

A fun date of a cabaret show, Love Bites takes you on a quirky romantic journey from the initial meet cute to the flipside towards mating, matrimony or malaisionship.

Original and (mostly) Australian but with nods to existing musical theatre standards (and one hilarious homage), the entertaining foursome of Amelia Cormack (a busty diva with opera vocals and sitcom timing); David Harris (telegenic and appealingly adaptable); Sophia Ragavelas (Venus as a pocket rocket with a Shirley Bassey belt); and James Millar (leading man postured with a comedian wink), were amorous and ardent.
Portraying love in its many coupled permutations, we glimpse vignettes into the lives of seven couples in Act 1, and in Act 2 find out what happened in the ever after.

With affecting and at times breathtakingly complex music and harmonies written and performed by Peter Rutherford on the baby grand unobtrusively tucked to the side of the stage, the musical gave it’s body, heart and hope to you and captured your brain as well with smart, funny, poignant and yes, sometimes political lyrics crafted by James Millar.

I loved A Plastic Bag, An Urban Legend and it’s equally hilarious sequel but all the chapters were gems in a myriad hue, and the performers gave them lustre with flexible, freewheeling and assured showcases of their skills in aspect.

With Nathan M Wright’s cheeky choreography and direction courtesy of Neil Gooding accommodating an adaptable set by James Browne and sensational lighting and AV backdrop design from Ross Graham and Mandylights respectively, you couldn’t help but buzz it up as you bop your way out of the theatre (don’t forget to buy a CD of the show at the box office!)

Go on; risk the hickey and head to the Playhouse Theatre for a little love bite.