Adelaide Festival Theatre. 31 Dec 2013
Thanks John Frost, for giving Adelaide the pleasure of both finishing 2013 with South Pacific and beginning 2014 with it. The blockbuster's VIP opening night show linked the years with its after-party overlooking the clock-ticking general public's free Elder Park New Year's Eve Party. Those who ended the year with South Pacific now are recommending that everyone else lines up and gets to see it.
It's an old show, so tried and tested, so beloved by the public, that the big producers know that, well done, it will reap profits from which new and risky ventures may be launched. This staging goes all out to give it top gloss. It comes via Adelaide-born Frost together with Opera Australia and in association with the Adelaide Festival centre to deliver nothing less than the Lincoln Centre Theatre's Tony Award-winning production.
Of course, it has stars.
But the magic behind the magic is the depth of expertise, the eye for detail, the keenly-rehearsed synchrony. At the first strains of The Overture, it is clear the Adelaide Art Orchestra is in sweetest good note for the show and everything just shimmers along from there until the audience's moist-eyed standing ovation at the end.
The dancers are as divine as the choreography. The entrance of the male corps in high leaps over the rocks is a spectacle of sheer exuberance. The stage swarms with talent and the characters shine through with Mitchel Butel creating one of the best Luther Billises in the business and, interestingly, one Andrew Hondromatidis who just keeps stealing the eye as Stewpot - an actor gifted with "presence" and very fine movement.
The South Pacific island with its American forces base and the hilltop plantation home of Emile De Becque are smoothly and effectively presented through the sets, the backdrop sea seeming to achieve a certain lifelike texture.
This old Rogers and Hammerstein musical is based on James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of love between cultures and the both serious and silly facets of wartime life on a foreign outpost. Poignant quotations from the Michener text are projected onto the Festival Theatre's safety curtain, neatly contextualising the presentation as well as bookending it.
Surprise of the night is Christine Anu's Bloody Mary. Perhaps the first Australian Indigene to play the Tonkinese role, she took over from Kate Ceberano in Brisbane and made Mary her own. Anu's voice is reedier than familiar embodiments and her look is strongly teeth-stained and pop-eyed. She mutes some of the coarse comicry milked by most performers and delivers a Mary of immense tragic proportions. She searches out the depth of desperation of a woman reduced to selling off her teenage daughter. It is performance from the soul.
Lisa McCune is sweet, vulnerable and altogether appealing as Ensign Nelly Forbush. She is accomplished in a broad range of stage skills and has a lovely melodic voice, albeit in the opening scene she is not only overshadowed by stature but overpowered by the volume of her fellow romantic lead, Teddy Tahu Rhodes playing Emile De Becque. Rhodes' is one great big beautiful baritone instrument. Amplification of such operatic abundance is de trops. And while Rhodes assumes a convincingly thick French accent, he is just a bit wooden as an actor.
By the end of the show, however, no one cares. Young tenor Blake Bowen has blown us away as Lieutenant Cable, Bartholomew John has strutted the stuff of navy authority, Celina Yuen has beguiled as sweet Liat, Jeremy Stanford has been handsome as Harbison, the chorines have delighted and the children have charmed.
A torrent of wonderful songs have been expertly performed
Dunstan Playhouse. 31 Dec 2013
This is how it should be done. No corners are cut in this touring production of the darling little mouse dancer's story.
Angelina Ballerina is one of the superstars of little girl world with scores of books and a rather good British television series featuring the voice of Judi Dench as Angelina's mum. But Angelina is a mouse and the temptation in delivering her live to the stage would be, and has been, to mouse her up with a big animal character head. In this show, written and directed by Miranda Larson, Angelina's mousiness extends only to tail and a dainty mouse headpiece. Thus, she truly comes alive on stage and I didn't hear a single child ask where the big mouse head was.
Larson has treated children with respect in this show. It opens with the sound of an orchestra tuning up and then there is a proper overture. The curtain rises on Angelina and her classmates at the Camembert Academy in Chipping Cheddar, England. That there are hip-hopping boys in the class lends boy cred - evidenced by the number of boys at the opening performance - and there's a bit of classic old boys-versus-girls shtick as the show rolls along.
This is a proper musical. It has wonderful, classy music composed by Barrie Bignold. It has terrific, lively and highly varied choreography devised by Matthew Cole and interesting, vibrant costumes from Isla Shaw who also designed the very versatile sets. The six performers have song and dance skills of West End standard and their rodent personalities shine through.
The Katharine Holabird narrative tells of the Camembert Academy winning a chance to appear in its pupils' favourite television program, Dancing With Mice. To this end, the mouse dancers must create their own dance production. Angelina is appointed Dance Captain and not only has she to try to devise a dance but also to manage her fellow students, all of whom have their own ideas about what should be featured in the show. This gives scope for lots of fun and games and some audience participation. The children would probably have liked a bit more of the latter.
A special highlight is the cameo appearance of a troupe of little local ballet students from Rebecca Mason's Dance Studio. They are little darlings, one of them quite tiny, two of them boys. It's another nice element in a well-devised, well-produced and well-performed touring holiday show. In its genre, it's up there in the five star department.
Samela Harris
When: Closed
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: Closed
Her Majesty’s Theatre. 27 Dec 2013
After the success of The Illusionists in Australia last year a new world premiere with all new magicians, manipulators and illusionists opened in Adelaide on the 27th of December.
Once again showcasing the abilities of a team of 7 performers the slightly smaller scale show used Her Majesty’s Theatre stage rather than the larger Festival Theatre. That being said it was no shorter on production values than the first instalment. Master magician, Luis De Matos of Portugal compared the evening, introducing each of the acts and demonstrating some very clever tricks of his own. The rest of the team was a sort-of ‘mixed bag’ – some outstanding and others perhaps a little less impressive.
The success of the show lies in the selection of artists from a broad range of disciplines; from sleight of hand manipulators to risk taking weapons handlers, there is bound to be something for everyone in the production. For me the best of the performers was South Korean manipulator, Yu Ho-Jin winner of multiple international illusion competitions his sleight of hand technique was so astonishing and well-rehearsed that the entire audience was spellbound.
The Unusualist, Raymond Crowe of Australia was also a highlight with his quirky sense of humour and hilarious pseudo-ventriloquism act. Adam Trent as The Futurist completed my top 3 with his blend of magic and intermediality. Fusing technology with his performance he was able to give the audience a glimpse at what illusion might look like in the future – and his timing was impeccable!
Rounding out the performers were The Warrior, Aaron Crow, who was a talented weapons artist that slightly overworked his stunts for my liking, padding them out with excessive amounts of fluff that detracted from his evident skills – particularly with a bow and arrow; The Deceptionist, James More, a contraptions artist who also overworked his routines with large dance numbers designed to distract us, but who did perform a very convincing ‘compacting man’ routine that was impressively executed; and Dr Scott Lewis as The Hypnotist, whose act failed to convince me that hypnotism even exists despite the audience volunteer's family and friends enjoying the onstage antics of their loved ones.
Overall the second instalment of The Illusionists was an improvement on the first, proving that the sequel isn’t always worse than the original. The addition of 3D video and live streaming projection was innovative and effective, but might have been better enjoyed if there were glasses available for more than half the audience. All gripes aside it is a very enjoyable night out, well worth a look, and would be a great show for the kids.
Paul Rodda
When: Closed
Where: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Bookings: Closed
Little Red Productions. Bakehouse Theatre. 18 Dec 2013.
Little Red Productions has arrived on the scene in a starburst of youthful promise.
Tackling the sturm und drang of Ken Kesey and Dale Wasseman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is nothing less than an ensemble of eager teens with their drama teacher. But theirs is no mere school production; this is a very earnest and focused group. Passionate, even.
Hibbert has done some bold adaptation of the play, punctuating it with musical routines which tick the boxes of youthful appeal. Indeed, the play's opening musical scene is so confrontingly loud that one fears one is going half mad, which certainly sets the mood for a play set in an asylum.
The Bakehouse stage is framed in white sheets and the set consists of a medicine cabinet and a few white milk cartons. The costumes are white and white rules the night - very effectively indeed, climaxing in the patients' rebellion when medical records fly through the air achieving quite a spectacular white. It's one of those ace theatrical moments one knows one won't forget.
The characters are introduced mincing on one by one for the ward medication ritual and thus, each actor can convey the idiosyncrasies of diverse mental conditions - Olivia Cirocco as the quasi-catatonic Chief clutching her mop, Sean Conneely all twitch and stutter as the nervous Bibbit, David Sandison, negativity in a dressing gown, Claire Robertson mugging madly as the infantile Martini and Bridie Rawson, a quivering nervous wreck as Cheswick. Rawson's portrayal is particularly compelling.
McMurphy arrives in the group fresh from court where, to escape prison, he has feigned insanity. This is the character famously played by Jack Nicholson in the film - a hard act to follow but young Aled McEwen gives it a fearless manic edge. If this character is catalyst to anarchical chaos, it is Nurse Ratched who is core and cohesion to the play. Nicole Laughton captures her beautifully as an ice queen, contained and controlling. She's an actress to watch.
The Little Red ensemble is slightly uneven in skills but the performances grow on one and by curtain time, a dark play has shown that there is light on the horizon so far as the next generation of Adelaide actors is concerned.
Samela Harris
When: Closed
Where: Bakehouse Theatre
Bookings: Closed