LES MISERABLES

 

Les Miserables. Book and lyrics by Alain Boublil. Composed by Claude Schoenberg. Based on the novel by Victor Hugo.

Directed by Dale Reynolds. Movement Director Belinda Hassall. Musical Director Brigid Cummins. Assistant Director Sarah Powell.  Costume Designer Helen McIntyre. Lighting Designer Zac Harvey (Eclipse). Sound Designer Telia Jansen (Eclipse) Production Mager David Tricks. Conductor Jen Hinton. Repetiteur Sam Row/ Nick Catanzariti. Stage Manager Rachel Jordan. Properties Master Mel McDonald. The Q Theatre. Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. May 22-June 6 2026. Bookings: www.queanbeyanplayers.com

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Dave Smith as Jean Valjean

 

When one thinks of musical theatre icons of the twentieth century Boublil and Schoenberg’s masterpiece is at the top of the list. For a largely amateur company like the Queanbeyan Players to take up the challenge to stage Les Miserables takes courage and the best talent in town under the auspices of a first rate musical theatre company that has built an envious reputation for producing top quality productions over recent years. Any doubts that I may have had were dispelled as soon as the lights came up on the convicts slaving away at the oars under the cruel eye of Inspector Javert (Max Gambale). What unfolds over the evening is a new production of Les Miserables of which Queanbeyan Players can be enormously proud. If you have never seen a production of Les Miserables then Queanbeyan Players’ production currently playing at The Q Theatre is not to be missed. If you have seen one or more productions then you will be thrilled, excited and moved by a production carefully and imaginatively directed by Dale Reynolds, authentically costumed in period dress by Helen McIntyre with musical direction by Brigid Cummins and set against an evocative set with lighting adding to the aura and impact by Zac Harvey of Eclipse  .

Based on the novel by Victor Hugo and set against the background of the 1832 Paris Uprising, the story of former convict Jean Valjean (Dave Smith) and his pursuit by the obsessed Inspector Javert is a powerful tale of injustice, tragedy, compassion and redemption. Claude-Michel Schoenberg’s magnificent composition and Alain Boublil’s lyrics embody the full scope of the drama from the suffering of the convicts (Work Song), Fantine’s  soulful longing in Jess Waterhouse’s rendition of I Dreamed a Dream and Cosette’s whimsical ballad Castle on a Cloud to the Ensemble’s stirring songs of revolution Do You Hear The People Sing and Upon These Stones (Building the Barricade). Treachery and avarice slither through every note of  Master of the House ,sung with obsequious relish by  Thenardier (Greg Sollis) and Madame Thenardier (Tina Robinson). Boublil’s book  and Shoenberg’s music conjure a dynamic adaption of Hugo’s novel in which we encounter a nation in which injustice is the oppressor of the innocent, fervour the passion of the rebellious and love and compassion the true values of the human spirit. Queanbeyan Players’ production is faithful to the spirit and the themes of both Victor Hugo’s rebellious novel and Boublil and Schoenberg’s musical version.

 

William Allington as Erjolas

 

Les Miserables is an actor’s musical which requires absolute conviction to character and story. Director Reynolds and movement director Belinda Hassall and musical director Brigid Cummins have assembled a cast of Principals and Ensemble that capture the essence of the characters and the period. It is a challenge for a local company to scale the heights of this titan of musicals. As Jean Valjean and Javert, Smith and Gambale command the character, matching believability with excellent singing. From the very opening number, Gambale’s rich baritone imposes brutal authority on Javert and his breathtaking descent into the void hits a high note of his performance. Smith’s Jean Valjean exudes humanity as he traces the character’s journey. His fine tenor voice lends honesty and feeling to Who Am I and Bring Him Home. There are fine performances from the entire company but the principals deserve special commendation for bringing the characters and the drama so vividly to life through their characterization and their songs. Those I have not already mentioned include Adult Cosette (Sophie Hope-White) and her lover Marius (Alexander Unikowski) with a beautiful duet A Heart Full of Love, Eponine (India Cornwell) with a beautiful heartrending rendition of On My Own, Ricky Best as the cheeky urchin Gavroche (Little People). William Allington gives another stirring performance with Do You Hear The People Sing and Drink With Me. There are also excellent performances from John Whinfield as Grantaire. Chris Bennie as the Bishop of Digne and David Cannel as Bamatabois. Note: The child roles of Young Cosette and Gavroche are alternated with Georgia Ginges, Matilda Hutchinson and Hannah O’Keefe playing Cosette on alternate performances and Ricky Best, Harlan Blazeski and Dude Gambale alternating as Gavroche. 

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Sophie Hope-White as Cosette and Alexander Unikowski as Marius 

 

In a musical so familiar and songs that keep swirling in my head, I wait for the goosebumps, the true gauge of whether I have been really moved and uplifted by a musical. One Day More at the close of Act One andDo You Hear The People Sing at the Epilogue succeeded. You will laugh at Gavroche’s impish child (Ricky Best), cry at Fantine’s death, be roused by the student’s resolve and feel moved by Valjean’s final scene. On opening night there were some technical hitches in finding the balance between the sound mix, the loudness of the orchestra, the clarity of diction in the vocals, but these are quibbles that should be easily ironed out and did nothing to diminish the rapturous reception of an enthusiastic audience that could not resist a well-deserved standing ovation.

Tina Robinson (Madame Thenardier) and Greg Sollis (Thenardier) and Ensemble

Queanbeyan Players’ production of Les Miserables is a visual spectacle that excites the eye, delights the ear and feeds the soul. The staging is wonderfully imaginative and director Reynolds and movement director Hassall has brought the period vividly to life. The use of blue LED lights at the front of the stage to “blind” the audience while the excellent orchestra played and the stagehands moved the large set unseen by the audience is a stroke of ingenuity to avoid the tedium of blackouts. It is an initiative that I would encourage all companies to consider.

I left The Q Theatre with You Can Hear The People Sing in my head and a spring in my step as though I had just visited an old and familiar friend. There is suffering and there is pain, injustice and social deprivation, but there is also redemption and a happy wedding and a final number of hope and salvation and all in this triumphant production that is not to be missed.

Photos - Ben Appleton. Photox

 

LES MISERABLES

Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel

Book by Boublil and Schönberg

Based on the novel by Victor Hugo

Directed by Dale Rheynolds

Musical Director: Brigid Cummins

Conductor: Jen Hinton

Movement director: Belinda Hassall

Queanbeyan Players production

The Q, Queanbeyan to 6 June

 

Reviewed by Len Power 22 May 2026

 

The world-wide phenomenon that is the musical ‘Les Miserables’ is back! Queanbeyan Players have mounted a production that shows why this epic sung-through musical is so popular and admired.

Victor Hugo’s story, written in 1862, is set in early 19^th Century in France. Jean Valjean, who spent 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, breaks his parole and disappears. He strives to seek redemption over the following decades by living a blameless life and helping others while being pursued by an obsessive police inspector, Javert, who asserts that Valjean’s re-capture is a necessary ‘justice’. The characters are swept up in a revolutionary period where a group of young idealists attempt to overthrow the Government at a street barricade in Paris.

This production has been very well-directed by Dale Rheynolds. Particular attention has been given to ensure that each of the many characters are real people with emotions and motivations that we can relate to.

Dave Smith (Jean Valjean)

Outstanding in the cast is Dave Smith in the huge role of Jean Valjean, the ex-convict. Smith plays him with a moving strength and emotion that is always valid and believable. He owns this role with his performance and fine singing. His performances of the songs, ‘What Have I Done?’, ‘Who Am I?’ and ‘Bring Home Home’ are expertly sung.

Max Gambale, as Javert, the police inspector, gives an equally fine performance. Gambale uses his commanding presence and strong vocal gifts to give a truly threatening performance. His performance of ‘Stars’ and his final song in the show are two of the many highlights in this production.

Sophie Hope-White (Cosette) and Alexander Unikowski (Marius)

There are so many excellent performances in this show, all with strong characterizations and fine singing. Particularly memorable are Alexander Unikowski as Marius with his song, ‘Empty Chairs and Empty Tables’ and ‘A Heart Fall of Love’, his duet with a luminous Sophie Hope-White as Cosette, Jess Waterhouse as Fantine with a heart-breaking ‘I Dreamed A Dream’, India Cornwell’s touching Eponine with ‘On My Own’ and her death scene with Marius, Greg Sollis and Tina Robinson as the evil and oily Thenardiers with ‘Master Of the House’ and William Allington as the revolutionary Enjolras leading the rousing ‘One Day More’.

 

William Allington (Enjolras)

There are also fine performances, full of character, by Matilda Hutchison as the young Cosette, Hanna O’Keeffe as the young Eponine, Harlan Blazeski as the young Gavroche and Ricky Best as the Urchin. These roles demand a lot from young performers but all four shone in their roles.  They will alternate with other young performers in subsequent performances of the show.

The large chorus sang magnificently and displayed individual characterizations that added considerable depth to the show. The scenes involving movement were well-designed by choreographer, Belinda Hassall.

The musical direction by Brigid Cummins has prepared the cast very well for the huge amount of singing in the show. Conductor, Jen Hinton, and her orchestra performed the epic score superbly.

The cleverly devised set was designed by David Abbie, the well-balanced sound design was by Telia Jansen and the lighting design was especially imaginatively designed by Zac Harvey.

Costume designer, Helen McIntyre, and her large team produced the huge number of period costumes that suited all members of the cast.

This is a huge production involving many people onstage and off. Bringing it all together is director, Dale Rheynolds, who has done an excellent job recreating this much-loved story. It’s a long show, but highly rewarding, and Queanbeyan Players can be justly proud of this one.

 

Photos by Ben Appleton - Photox

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

 

 

THE RIVER

 

The River by Jez Butterworth. 

Directed by Margaret Thonas. .Assistant Director Kenneth Moraleda Designer Anna Tregloan. Lighting Designer Damien Cooper. Sound Designer and Composer. Costume Director Sam Perkins. Stage Manager Jaymii Knierum. Sam Cheng. Intimacy Director Chloe Dallimore. The Drama Studio. Sydney Opera House. Sydney Theatre Company. March 30 – May 9 2026.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

I first encountered playwright Jez Butterworth’s The River work at a debut production by Canberra’s Red Herring Theatre of his Olivier Award winning 1995 comedy, Mojo, inspired by the infamous gangland criminal twins the Kray brothers. It was with interest that I travelled to Sydney to see Sydney Theatre Company’s production of, directed by Margaret Thanos with Miranda Otto, Alex Demetriades and Ewen Leslie. This 2012 Tony Award winning play is a very different kettle of fish from his absurdly black comedy Mojo. If anything, it is quickly apparent what a uniquely versatile playwright and wordsmith Butterworth is. Perhaps this is because of the play’s pervading theme. We are swept along by Love, sometimes bathed in the euphoria of its bewitchment., or at other times battling its treacherous current swirling with snags. Butterworth’s writing is vivid in its poetic imagery, visceral in its portrayal of the human experience and compelling in his ability to intrigue and mystify. Fact and fiction blur our perception of what is true and what is false in the relationship that the man (Ewen Leslie) has with the two women whom he brings to his remote hut on a river’s edge. The synopsis in the programme describes The River as part love story, part ghost story and part puzzle. Past, present and future flow through the play in an eddying pool of mystery as Butterworth unfolds the man’s relationship with two women, one the practical, grounded current object of his love, played with forthright sensibility by Otto.

The Man (Ewen Leslie) and
The Other Woman (Alex Demetriades)

The Other Woman (Demetriades) is flighty, sensual and a past love who appears, spirit like, during a scene, passing through time, seductive in her red dress. Gradually, Leslie’s Man appears as a fisher of women, casting the line, hooking the catch and luring the prize with poetic words of love, manipulative persuasion and the promise of a gift never before seen by another woman. Underpinning words of love is the man’s siklful scaling and gutting of a seatrout, realistically created by props maker Emily Adinolfi on stage. 

Ewen Leslie (The Man) and the Fish in The River

In this moment of horror one wonders whether such a fate would befall the women in this remote location, atmospherically created by designer Anna Tregloan and effectively lit by Lighting designer Damien Cooper. On occasion it exudes the threat of a Bluebeard’s cabin. In full light it can portray a love and intimacy between a man and a woman in the riverbank setting.  The forest like effect at the rear of a sparsely furnished setting of a table and chair lends the set an eerie and uneasy mood. Sam Cheng’s modulated composition and sound design provides strikes emotional chords from the loudly percussive to the soothing lyrical embracing the character’s journey through Love. The Love triangle flows like an ever flowing river of discord and harmony and a prevailing suspense that can change the mood in an instant.

Woman (Miranda Otto) and Man (Ewen Leslie)

Director Thanos superbly captures the mood and momentum of Butterworth’s eighty-minute puzzle. Her work with the actors is electric, echoing with personal experience of love’s enigma. She guides her actors along the stream, steering them at times along a swirling current of emotion or navigating moments of intimacy that then can change love’s course with sudden surprise. Thanos and Demetriades express their accounts of experiences that are as volatile as Butterworth’s story upon the stage. I begin to feel that we are witnessing the playwright’s personal admission Love’s inconstancy.

Ewen Leslie (The Man) and Alex Demetriades (The Other Woman)

I left the final matinee of The River in awe of Butterworth’s talent to play our emotions and personalize our experiences, teasing us like the bait upon the hook. Are the two women the fish that got away and is the woman who appears at the end (Mavis Ridgway) a victim of the Man’s manipulative charm. It remains a haunting prospect that Sydney Theatre Company’s excellent production of Jez Butterworth’s The River will not allow to fade.

Photography Daniel Boud

VANYA & SONIA & MASHA & SPIKE

 

 Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike by Christopher Durang.

Directed by Steph Evans. Assistant director Gabrielle Purcell. Set design Chris Baldock. Lighting design. Rhiley Winnett and Steph Evans. Sound design Gabrielle Purcell. Costumes and Props Chris Baldock, Steph Evans and the Cast.  Photography Zac Bridgman. The Studio, Mockingbird Theatre Company. Belconnen Arts Centre, May 15-23 2026. Bookings: belcoarts.com.au

 Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Tracy Noble as Sonia. Chris Baldock as Vanya in
Christopher Durang's Vanya & Sonia & Masha &Spike

If laughter is the best medicine then Mockingbird Theatre Company’s production of Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike by Christopher Durang offers a healthy remedy. But peel back the layers of mirth and you will find Chekov’s inspiration exposed. Vulnerability, longing, futility, loss and regret are wrapped in veils of laughter. Durang has drawn on Chekov’s characters and plots to paint a portrait of the American way, framed in the circumstances of The Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya and The Seagull. Bipolar Sonia (Tracy Noble) and gay Vanya (Christopher Baldock) live in the deceased parents’ house in Pennsylvania. They live out their empty lives after having cared for their parents throughout their later years. Their sister Masha (Helen McFarlane) is a famous actress of the silver screen, self-absorbed, wealthy and with toy boy Spike (Darcy Worthy) in tow. She has returned to the family home to attend a party at the nearby home that once belonged to the whiplash-tongued Dorothy Parker and reveal her plan to sell the family home. Audience members familiar with Chekov’s plays and characters will enjoy Durang’s references, cleverly enveloped in sitcom humour. Next door neighbor, aspiring actress Nina (played with enchanting innocence by Lily Welling) plays the heroine, a molecule in the age of global warming, in Vanya’s absurdist play along the lines of Constantin’s didactic experiment in The Seagull. India Kazakoff completes the casting as the psychic and eccentric house cleaner Cassandra, cursed like her mythical namesake with the gift of prophetic visions.

Helen McFarlane as Masha

Directed by Steph Evans, Mockingbird Theatre Company’s production of Durang’s Tony Award comedy is brilliantly cast with three of Canberra’s finest performers in the sibling roles of Sonia, Vanya and Masha and three emerging and highly promising younger actors playing the roles of Spike, Cassandra and Nina. This creates a beautifully balanced ensemble with each actor assuming an idiosyncratic identity. 

Darcy Worthy as Spike

 Noble evokes sympathy with her doleful basset hound expression. Frustration burst forth as she hurls coffee cups that shatter on the living room floor. There is the insecure and frightened telephone conversation with a prospective and unexpected suitor. Baldock gives a sterling performance as Vanya, burdened with insecurity and delivering a passionate grievance at the loss of the past. Baldock returns to the stage with a tirade at the young and arrogant Spike that affirms his place as an actor with a  commanding stage presence. McFarlane’s Masha is a mockery of the celebrated star, demanding attention and commanding authority until insecurity surfaces to confront honesty. These performances embody Chekov’s power of introspection and Durang’s gift of hilarious comedy with a sting.

Lily Welling as Nina

Welling, Worthy and Kazakoff have been ideally cast by Evans to contrast with the older characters. Welling, whom I predict could be destined for a bright future in the profession, is the perfect ingenue and capable of playing Chekov’s Nina in The Seagull. She exudes the quality of infatuation In Durang’s interpretation of the character. Worthy’s Spike is physically perfect for the role of Masha’s young lover, convinced of his sexual appeal and adolescent in his arrogance. Kazakoff’s costuming depicts the image of an East European peasant woman with the powers to predict the future. Durang has written her as a lampoonery of earnest prophets of doom. It is a role that one might assume would be played by an older woman but Kazakoff makes it her own and revels in Cassandra’s idiosyncrasy.

India Kazakoff as Cassandra

At 150 minutes with a fifteen-minute interval, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike is longer than most but it is played with such relish and authenticity that the time passes quickly, interrupted only by the audience’s laughter and engagement with Durang’s insightful comedy and the actors' enjoyable performances. Would Chekov have approved? It would most likely depend on his sense of humour. Durang’s appropriation is not Chekov but one senses a reverence for Chekov’s affectionate depiction of human nature. And with that in mind, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike is a thoroughly entertaining evening of clever action, tight direction and first-rate performances. Even this reviewer had a good laugh and left the theatre that offered two saving graces in these troubled times, hope and a happy ending.  

SPHERE

Australian Dance Party 

The Vault

Season Closed

Reviewed by Samara Purnell

Dancer Jahna Lugnan. Photo by O&J Wikner

Entering into a concrete box on a bitumen carpark to watch a production showcasing the environment, our connection to it and how we see ourselves in it was a juxtaposition in itself. Upon entering, the audience is warmly welcomed and ushered into the dark, hazy space, warmed by a fireplace. A soothing voiceover repeats that we can sit or stand wherever feels comfortable and move around as the immersive performance takes place, noticing what we are drawn to. It is ten years since the Australian Dance Party (ADP) formed and SPHERE is their anniversary dance production. 

Several scattered bench seats and rugs on the floor allowed for people to sit solo or in a group. Many did not feel the urge to move around but some of the audience keen to watch the dancers right in front of them, or to watch the video footage from different aspects did change positions a few times. The Vault allowed the opportunity to display large-scale projections on all four walls. This was just as important an element as the dancing itself and the dancers regularly watched, engaged with and mirrored the images of themselves in the settings they were portrayed in. 

Photo by Creswick

The other striking element of SPHERE was the costumes by Kelli Donovan. Her textured, elegant, beautifully detailed costumes were absolutely captivating and deserved an up-close look. From sage greens worn by a couple of the dancers in the imagery of eucalypt trees and in orange, sun-lit water, to the black, almost beetle-like costumes, to the long flowing skirts and dresses, split up the side. A splash of red and yellow flashing across the black ones called to mind the colours of cockatoo species. These costumes showcased the muscles, form and slim tone of the dancers’ arms and torsos. 

Dancers of the ADP in SPHERE. Photo by Creswick

The small group of dancers performed mostly solo or in pairs, but at one stage came together to form a group and moved as a mound, like ants or beetles, with dancer Jahna Lugnan poised on top like a lizard on a rock.  

Photo by Creswick

Co-director Sara Black and Jason Pearce danced together, with imagery of themselves stretching, climbing and working off the concrete walls under a bridge. Their duet was a stand out choreographically, with seamless partner work lifting, counter-balancing each other and rolling around each other, imitating and expanding on the footage being shown. 

Urban graffiti was the backdrop for Pat Hayes Cavanagh’s solo and the chalk circles she drew as she swept across the floor conjured up diagrams of astrology and geometry. Noting the graffiti as modern art, an expression of rebellion and urbanism could it be seen as a thing of beauty too? 

The dancers moved like museum guards - emerging quietly and moving through the scattered audience, gracefully beginning their movement, then retreating ghost-like, back into it as they finished. 

Drone imagery of the dancers on blackened earth with burnt tree trunks was stunning and called to mind the balance of controlled burns and land management, with the intensity and terror of raging bushfires, before being drawn back to the space with its enclosed fireplace, gently keeping us warm. The slow movements of the dancers in knee-deep water surrounded by eucalypt trees was beautiful. All the imagery was captured and edited magnificently by Creswick.

Sia Ahmad’s soothing composition completed the immersive experience, with all the production elements and dancers creating a beautiful, slow-paced (for the most part) meditative experience, allowing an audience to focus on an element of imagery, sound, a dancer in front of you, the costumes or to take it all in at once. 

SPHERE simultaneously presented an opportunity for the mind to wander, contemplating ancient rituals and modern ones, urban brutalism versus bushland, preservation of our country, the microcosm and the macrocosm.  

We can immerse ourselves in nature, emulate it, force ourselves upon it and wonder if we are part of nature or merely of it?

ADP director Alison Plevey always has an environmental focus in the works she creates, and they are usually site-specific. SPHERE allows viewers to bask in the beauty of our native surroundings, whilst enjoying the creativity of different forms of artistry. 

Photo by Creswick

BLAMEY SWINGS ROCK - Blamey Street Big Band - The B - Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre

The Blamey Street Big Band and guest vocalists

Musical Director: Ian McLean AM CSC

Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. At The B, May 16^th. 

Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

The Blamey Street Big Band.

Featuring a line-up of the cream of Canberra’s jazz musicians and now based in the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, Blamey Street Big Band continues to build a formidable following for its classy performances of classic swing band music. 

The band’s point of difference is that rather than confining itself to classic big band repertoire, Blamey Street specialises in re-inventing popular music genres by applying a swing beat.

Its ace is that within its number is master music arranger, Andrew Hackwill, who exercises his considerable skills by providing the band with testing, if fascinating, musical subversions of familiar hit songs.

Conductor Ian McLean addressing the audience

No doubt superfluous to mention, but under the fastidious baton of Ian McLean, a former Director of Music for the Australian Army, the performance of every arrangement was tight, disciplined and exciting.

But then so was the presentation of the concert. For this concert, black ties all round for the male musicians and vocalists, tasteful black for the female musicians, with the two female vocalists resplendent in sparkling sequins, all augmented with moody theatrical mood lighting to provide a professional gloss.

For this concert Blamey Street featured four excellent guest vocalists in Leisa Keen, Jared Newall, Steve Amosa and Ashleigh Harris, each an experienced vocalist and all obviously relishing a unique opportunity to perform with this polished outfit.  

Vocalists Leisa Keen - Jared Newall - Steve Amosa - Ashleigh Harris in full flight. 

Jared Newall had the privilege of opening the show with a driving arrangement by Ed Wilson of the John Paul Young classic Love is in the Air. Now residing in Canberra, Newall has previously toured internationally with The Ten Tenors. His experience was evident in his easy, relaxed vocal styling.

In addition to vocalising each of the singers provided a fun fact about the item they were about to present. Newall’s shared a little-known fact regarding the composition of Survivor’s Eye Of The Tiger before adding a touch of Sinatra to his masterful interpretation.

He then launched into the first Hackwill arrangement of the program, a jaunty version of Joe Jackson’s Stepping Out.

Ashleigh Harris has sung with Blamey Street for both its ABBA and James Bond programs. She demonstrated her versatility with three Hackwill arrangements commencing with an upbeat version of The Little River Band’s Reminiscing. A playful introduction heralded Lionel Ritchie’s Hello, rounded out with a fascinating swing arrangement of The Rolling stones hit, Paint It Black.

Andrew Hackwill takes a solo

In devising his arrangements Hackwill makes opportunities to feature solos by particularly gifted instrumental soloists from within the band. Among them Mark Du Rieu and Peter Levan on trumpets, trombonist, Bronwen Mackenzie, saxophonists Andrew Hackwill and Joshua Hackwill and guitarist, Col Bernau.  

On each occasion the audience recognised their contributions with appreciative applause as the items progressed.

Making his first appearance with Blamey Street was Steve Amosa, well known in Canberra with his own bands TuchaSoul and the Steve Amosa Band. Amosa demonstrated his versatility introducing himself with Nirvana’s grunge rock classic, Smells Like Teen Spirit, followed by a smooth version of Spandau Ballet’s True. He rounded out his set with another Hackwill re-invention, Sherbert’s Howzat.

Later in the program Amosa returned to further delight the audience further with his smooth, laid-back performances of Hackwill’s arrangement of Bon Jovi’s It’s My Life and Queen’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

Leisa Keen could best be described as a staple of the Blamey Street Band. One of Canberra’s most versatile and accomplished singer/musicians, her superb vocalisations have long been a highlight of the band’s concerts. “Blamey Swings Rock” was no exception.

She commenced her first set with a stunning rendition of Elton John’s Bennie And The Jets, followed by Pink Floyd’s Money and rounded out with red hot version of Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke in which she demonstrated her impressive mastery of vocal scatting.

But it was in the second half that she really pulled out the stops with an up-tempo version of the Steve Miller Band’s Abracadabra, Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind, and Hackwill’s sublime arrangement of George Harrison’s Something.

If you’re still reading this, you will have gathered that Blamey Street take a very broad definition of rock, and the way they play it is likely to convert a whole new generation to the genre. 

If you haven’t yet experienced this remarkable ensemble, you can catch it again at the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre in October when it turns its attention to the music of The Rat Pack for which it will add strings to the musical mix.  

                                                Photos by Stephen McGrory  

This is an extended version of the review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS 

                                                            on 17th May 2026