The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Youth Cabaret

 

The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals – Book by Nick & Matt Lang; Music & Lyrics by Jeff Blim.  Youth Cabaret at The Mill, Dairy Road, Canberra. October 8–11 and October 15–17, 2026

As produced by StarKid Productions, University of Michigan USA 2018

Reviewed by Frank McKone
Oct 8

Directed by Krys Pendrich; Co-Directed by Florian Kai
Choreography by Allura-Jane Haunting

Cast:
Paul – Mars Que (They, Them)
Emma / Donna – Honey Boom (She, They)
Bill – Ostin Gerhadt (He, Him)
Charlotte / Deb / Colonel Schaffer – Allura-Jane Haunting
Ted / Homeless Man / Dan – Freddy Hickey (He, Him)
Sam / Coffee Jerk / Mr Davidson – Lex Maddox (She, Her)
Professor Hidgens / Rod / Obnoxious Teen – Jay Lee Jnr (He, Him)
Nora/Melissa/Cop 1/Nurse/Smoke Club Kid/General John Macnamara – Stephanie Steer (She, Her)
Zoey / Alice / Cop 2 – Krys Pendrich (They, Them)

Crew:
Art Director / Merch Consultant / Graphic Designer – Mars Que
Choreographer / Social Media – Allura-Jane Haunting
Photographer – Steph Benassi
Stage Hand / Social Media (Facebook) – Florian Kai
Backstage Manager – Reese Kai
Stage Hand / Front of House – Steven Pendrich
Stage Hand / Understudy – Ruby Laing
Backstage / Understudy – Olivia Cullen
Set Assistant – Quinton Randall
Assistant Backstage Manager – Ebony Cooper
Set Design – Connor Harris; Backstage – Xaith Cooper
Lighting Technician – Punko Regarto; Backstage – Aiden Cooper
Sound Technician – Paige MacDonald

Welcome to Hatchetfield, USA

Youth Cabaret is a newly established community theatre organisation in Canberra focused on engaging neurodiverse, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ young people.  As a group they must surely take a critical view of the society around them, so it’s not surprising that they have chosen to perform a show about someone who doesn’t fit the ‘norm’.

I have to say though, that to some degree I’m with Paul.  I appreciate the awful irony of presenting a musical in which the guy who hates musicals is the central character.  

In the first half, the show presents an enthusiastic satirical view of society – specifically American – where absurdity rules as everyone must dance and sing at every opportunity (and even when there’s no opportunity) to fulfill the expectations of whatever role they may have.

The simplest example is Emma, who must sing as she makes Paul’s coffee, which he needs to escape his sing-song office.  Why?  Well of course, because her employer insists she must sing to her customers because then they will buy more coffee! 

Of course, since we are in the world of musicals, working-class Emma and middle-class white collar Paul become a loving couple.  How they try to cope when everybody sings and dances – even the police, financial managers and academics – is often funny, yet also often suspiciously threatening disaster.

As in the best of musicals, that possibility comes to fruition in the second half, when a meteor crashes to earth and kills everyone in Hatchetfield – except of course, Emma.

But a musical cannot end as a genuinely felt tragedy.  Emma is amazed as Paul reappears.  Is he really alive – or really dead?  No matter – Emma loves Paul, so they hug and kiss as love conquers all.

The quality of the singing and the complexity of the choreography, so often a spoof of musical convention, make the show engaging – even when it’s often difficult to have any idea of what’s going on.

Maybe in the world of the young today, that’s the daily truth.

The original was written in 2018, but perhaps even more appropriately today, as the Democrat Obama has become a fading light, it is President Trump who is the meteor from somewhere weird in the universe which is destroying all the Americans.  Or us.

Emma and Paul’s love is the only hope.

That’s the value of art, even in the form of an absurdist musical.

Paul – Mars Que and Emma – Honey Boom

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Youth Cabaret 2026 

 

 

 

 

Face to Face - Mockingbird Theatrics

 

 Face to Face by David Williamson.  Mockingbird Theatrics at Belconnen Arts Centre October 7-17 2026

Reviewed by Frank McKone
October 7

Cast: 

Jack Manning – Sachin Nayak; Glen Tregaskis – Joshua Nicholls

Greg Baldoni – Terry Johnson; Maureen Tregaskis – Anna Hemmings

Claire Baldoni – Victoria Tyrell Dixon; Barry McLean – Zade Fainstein

Julie Rossiter – Chloe Smith; Luka Mitrovic – Ryan Hedley

Richard Halligan – David Yates; Therese Martin – Sophia Castello


Production Team:

Director/Designer – Céline Oudin; Assistant Director – Io Hogan
Stage Manager & Lighting/Sound Operator – Aoife McFoley
Lighting Design – Rhiley Winnett and Céline Oudin
Set Design/Concept – Chris Baldock; 
Sound Design - Céline Oudin and cast
Costumes & Props - Céline Oudin, cast and Production Team



Face to Face doesn’t feel like a play being acted out.  It seems simply to be real, as the convenor of this example of diversionary conferencing explains to the young adult, Glen, what will happen if he refuses to take part seriously.  It will mean going to court, being found guilty and being sent to jail.  And you will never get your job back.

At the successful conclusion of the conference of eight of the people affected by Glen’s angry violent behaviour, who have agreed to take part – you will need to see how it works out over the 80 minutes with no interval –  being reminded by his mother, Glen comes back to say thanks to the convenor.

Jack Manning advises Glen, one to one, that if he feels about to do something like that again, Glen should “Remember your mother”.  

Glen turns back to Manning, saying thanks again for that “best advice”, as he leaves to join others off stage – leaving Jack Manning satisfied that he has done his management job well, finally able to leave this conference room ready, perhaps, to take on another.

Williamson’s writing of these ten diverse characters’ revealed inter-relationships is simply extraordinary.  He leaves us seriously concerned for Glen’s future.  Can he overcome his aggressive feelings?  Is he capable intellectually to resolve conflicts at work?  Will he survive a year on probation back in his same workplace – and have the people there learned to change their ways?

When I saw the original production of this work in March 2000, I was keen to know if the new idea of diversionary conferencing, keeping young people especially out of the court system, would become more commonly used – and would it be more successful than “justice” resulting from combat between lawyers.

Mockingbird’s decision to mount Face to Face is an important contribution, as a little AI research will show, in summary:

Diversionary conferencing—predominantly known as Youth Justice Conferencing or Group Conferencing—is an highly successful mechanism used thousands of times annually across Australia and New Zealand to resolve criminal matters outside of a standard, adversarial court hearing. When a conference is completed successfully, the matter is resolved without a formal conviction or further court action, meaning it is nearly 90% to 99% successful at helping participants avoid traditional court sentencing once a referral is accepted.

How Often is it Used?

Conferencing is widely integrated across Australian juvenile and summary justice systems, functioning at both the pre-court stage (referred directly by police) and the court-referred stage (referred by a magistrate before sentencing).
[ https://www.nsw.gov.au/legal-and-justice/youth-justice/about/statistics/conferencing ]

Plan Agreement Rate    99.3% – 99.8% (e.g., NSW Data)    Overwhelmingly avoids trial breakdown; almost all conferences result in a mutually agreed solution instead of a contested hearing.

Successful Completion    91% – 94% (National Average)    Once the youth completes the plan, the Children's Court takes no further action and the case is closed.

Recidivism Reduction  21% vs 40% (5-year reoffending)    Diversion participants are roughly half as likely to return to the court system compared to individuals given standard court outcomes. Swinburne University research notes a 24% to 40% drop in repeating offenses.

Cost Efficiency    ~43% cheaper than court    Financial data from agencies like the Australian Institute of Criminology reveals conferencing averages roughly $1,300 per case, compared to over $2,200 for a traditional court trial.

The quality of Mockingbird’s presentation is also remarkable, even down to highly appropriate casting, in terms of physical features and voices, as well as in details of costuming; and how Céline Oudin’s directing has worked to make every actor’s characterisation equally true to reality.

The standard of this production matches, in my view, the original Ensemble Theatre production, directed by Sandra Bates.  

She, I was told by actor Amos Szeps, “gave the cast freedom to develop their characters” and then Bates herself explained she “rehearsed the play as if it were a real conference.  Geoff Cartwright, playing the convenor as it really happens, separately interviewed each actor in role before full rehearsals began, to get their agreement to attend the conference.  So he knows things about each character that the other actors don’t know he knows.  This gives him the power to challenge each character/actor differently in each performance to create the spark of reality which this issue needs.”

I remarked “It certainly worked in the 104th performance” that I reviewed then.  I haven’t asked Céline Oudin about her rehearsal method on this occasion, but I’m sure it has been just as effective.

Definitely, not to be missed.

 [ Frank McKone's collection of reviews is available at www.frankmckone2.blogspot.com ]

 

 

THE SPACE BETWEEN by Roslyn Kean and ROCK AT THE ROADSIDE, the Mokuhanga Project

 Generator Gallery at Belconnen Arts Centre. Until 11 October, 2026

 Reviewed by DAVID WHITBREAD

What resonates in Roslyn Kean’s exhibition is the combination of technical mastery and geometric complexity in a curated selection of her works over an extended period of time. It creates a wonderfully peaceful aura with subtle environmental messaging.

Roslyn Kean. Midare - Disorder woodblock print

The earliest work, Reflections from 1973, even then showed a remarkable control of gouache in both fine colour mixing and application in the intricate geometry of the image, which heralded the delights to come

Roslyn Kean. Inside San Marco Basilica

Of the most recent works, Inside San Marco Basilica from 2026, demonstrated the progression of that geometric sensibility with the incredibly complex three-dimensional pyramidal forms and the finely honed registration of her multilayered multiblock woodcut technique. The subtlety of colour and tonal variation, married with the shadow play over the different pyramids created great textural contrast with the straightforward solid colour square with visible woodgrain printed in the centre. And with a nod to the Basilica, of course there was gilding. 

These themes echoed through the many phases of her career as a printer. The woodblock printing technique has great possibilities for subtlety in colours and effects.  The Japanese mokuhanga technique uses water-based inks and is particularly beautiful when they are mixed on the block to create subtle gradations of colours, enabling very fine shading effects that dimensionalise the surface. This was particularly noticeable in pieces like In Flight (2021) and Midare-Disorder (2024) which play with the viewer’s surface perception.

Roslyn Kean. Basho's Garden

Then there is the spectacular array of glimmer and gleam achieved with gilding techniques, from traditional application of gold leaf, through to the use of fine metallic dusts in suspension and applied to the woodblock for printing direct onto the paper surface.

These effects were used in the impressive triptych Evening Sky, Evening Sky II, and Between Horizon and Shadow, from 2014. The preparation of the paper surface before printing created a further layer of information. A pearlescent effect allowed background details to emerge beneath the surface. And all in a deceptively simple Japanese style composition.

Kean’s Sacred Garden series from the early to mid 1990s explored rock-like shapes within a tight rectangular construction, and played with multilayered finishes including the golds and silvers, as well as rust effects and textural splatters. This was textural exploration and quite playful within a rigidly confined shape.

Photopolymer was another printing technique Kean has explored extensively, layering natural forms like leaves, twigs, stem clippings and bamboo shoots into her rectilinear compositions. Contrasting their freestyle forms with both strict oblongs and the subtle texture of woodgrain. And a wry environmental commentary in her titling.

The 2020 work Basho’s Garden had at least six layers of plant including a beautiful silver version and a ghost layer in reverse – and that was just in one small segment of the whole! The detail and work involved in these multiblock woodcuts is truly astonishing.

The Japanese influence is evident throughout, but no more so than the beautiful sumi stained kozo paper framing a central gilded woodcut titled Night Rain Softly Falling from 2013 that completes the exhibition. 

Briefly noted is a related mini exhibition in the same space, called the Mokuhanga Project. Belconnen resident and poet, 94-year-old Saeki Ogi invited 13 printmakers to respond to her poetry collection Rock at the Roadside with a mokuhanga print. These 13 identically sized and framed prints have created a lovely set of images. The colouring throughout is beguiling. The images range from Roslyn Kean’s balancing rocks for Along the Way, to Keiko Kobayashi’s forest scene in I Awaken, to Gemelle Madigan’s multilayered Love on Every Path I Walked, to Susan Rushforth’s moody Rising Moon, to Kay Watanabe’s leaf forms in Ocean of Light, and Trish Yates’s subtle Azure. Delightful. 

This review originally appeared in Canberra City News Link here 

DUAL ATTRACTOR Album Launch Tour, Claire Edwardes

 The Street 2. August 9, 2026

 Reviewed by DAVID WHITBREAD

An almost spiritual atmosphere was created from the first sonorous notes from her magnificent five octave marimba. In absolute stillness and silence, soloist Claire Edwardes mesmerised her audience for 70 minutes, demonstrating why she is one of Australia’s finest percussion recitalists.

Our Canberra winter audience, with not a cough, provided a reverent and beautiful space for her to concentrate and communicate through her outstanding musicality. And they represented all age groups. All responded enthusiastically to each performance (and track in the corresponding album).

Claire Edwardes

Each work was written by a female composer; each one still alive and writing in their corner of the world. Often collaborating with the performer on the arrangements.

Starting softly with brushlike mallets in ever more mesmerising rhythms, and then swapping to more traditional mallets, Caroline Shaw’s In Your Hands (in manus tua) explored the full range of resonance and attack possible on the beautiful wooden keys of the marimba. It was reminiscent of Asian temple music, and quoted a 16th century Thomas Tallis hymn towards the ends.

With the marimba you can hear the note of the key that is hit and also the reverberation and deep resonance of the pipes below. This provides a multilayered sound. The player then guides your ears through different attack and techniques like tremolo to create a bed of sound. Or using different parts of the stick, including the end and side. This is pitched percussion, so has all features of music, including harmony, melody, rhythm, sonority and dynamics. Each wonderfully delineated here.

Edwardes moved to the vibraphone for the second work on the program, by another US composer Missy Mazoli, originally for piano and electronic pulsing backing track. Starting with the recording seemingly sending messages from beyond, the vibraphone harmonies created swirling layers.

But the next work was a highlight. Emberstrike by Canberra composer Natalie Williams for solo vibraphone really showcased the glorious magical qualities of this metallic instrument, with Edwardes scampering and dancing across the keys, often with such tenderness they rung like a celeste.

Then a three movement work by New Zealander Gemma Peacocke called I Promise Not To Poison You xoxo started with Nightshade, notably mysterious to depict poison, moved into Hemlock with an eerie stillness of tremolo depicting paralysis, and the final movement Crocus Sativus with its bouncing tune over rich sonority depicted passion using great dynamic contrast.

The program then began its ecstatic unravelling, according to our personable guide Claire Edwardes: with Anna Meredith’s Bumps Per Minute: 18 Studies for Dodgems. This was arranged for Edwardes and sideshow backing track by Jessica Wells. This was a great example of electronica overlayed with vibraphone, with the three imaginative movements Joy Subdivision, Tom Cruise Run and Norcanoe performed.

For Claire Edwardes grand finale, she chose the only performance with untuned percussion, relying solely on rhythm and dynamics. It’s the title track of her album, Dual Attractor by herself and Paul Mac. With a backing track performed on the same three ever deeper drums she performed live, featuring complex cross-rhythms, this was a work of great physicality and urgency, hypnotic and, indeed, mesmerising.

Photo by Peter Hislop

This review originally appeared in Canberra City News Link here 

LUMINESCENCE CHILDREN'S CHOIR Winter Concert

 Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture. August 16, 2026

 Reviewed by DAVID WHITBREAD

Having long admired Canberra’s Luminescence Chamber Singers, this concert was a first: hearing the Luminescence Children’s Choir. 

And the quality of the Luminescence brand is safe with this excellent ensemble. They are well-trained, have a pleasing stage presence, and their high quality performance has all the hallmarks of that beautiful blended tone of the best choirs.

Luminescence Children's Choir 

This is of course a tribute to the solid training and clear direction they receive from conductor and founder AJ America and regular (and let’s just say phenomenal) piano accompanist and composer Sally Whitwell. The young singers are responsive to their inspired direction, following the nuanced interpretation with precision and even enthusiasm.

Today’s program was mostly by contemporary Australian, nay Canberra, composers and started magnificently with the Bird King Suite by Dan Walker. Wow! Fantastic piano accompaniments and a choral showpiece exhibiting all moods across its three movements. There was a nice soprano solo and the choir made a spectacular crescendo in the peaceful Heart Bell second movement, before The Bird King march grand finale. A wonderful work.

 

Director AJ America

Having enjoyed this performance so much, it is a shame that occasionally the piano overpowered the 15 young vocalists. This might have been resolved with a tighter soundcheck in the venue, as the venue acoustic tends to favour the piano over the voices.

The second work was two movements from Four Went on Holidays, a new work by Sally Whitwell. The first Who Has Seen the Wind started with wordless choir against glorious Impressionistic piano swirling. The second Hey Ho, My Dearie, exhibited a fine unison, great diction and some nice echo effects.

To diversify a choral program, it is always great to hear young musicians performing solos. Pianist Celine Trinh played Icarus, a recent work by Tony Ann. Her fine rhythmic playing shaped the work, navigating the complex harmonies and skilfully bringing the melodies forward. Violinist Sebastian Carrigy-Ryan handled the Allegro from Telemann’s Concerto in G nicely, finishing with some impressive and frenzied double-stopping.

A quartet of singers prepared and performed the dance-like Swedish folksong Nu ar det synd om de doda (Now it’s a pity about the dead) by Kraja. The four lovely voices, well balanced, sang this delightfully.

 

Guest marimba player Veronica Bailey

Then guest marimba player Veronica Bailey played Mexican Dance No 2 by Gordon Stout with good definition of the parts, scampering across the keyboard with her mallets.

Luminescence Children’s Choir returned for a ‘helluva ride’ and ‘something they might like to sing’ written for them by Belgian composer Frank Nuyts. This was the first and last movements from his seven song set Pim Pernuckle for choir and marimba. What a great piece the whole must be. These tasters were lovely and fresh, delighting in word play, particularly ‘wiggle wiggle’ in the whirlwind of the finale. 

The grand finale was Moto Perpetuo, a new work by pianist Sally Whitwell. This complex rhythmic vocal work had some rock solid tight harmonies, some choreographed stamping and clapping. It was an exciting conclusion to the concert. 

Photos by Dalice Trost 

This review originally appeared in Canberra City News Link here

MAGIC, SPELLS, AND OTHER WORLDS, Ivan Horvatic and Andrew Rumsey

 Greenaway Studio, October 3, 2026

 Reviewed by DAVID WHITBREAD

What a charming and magical, practically perfect program of works arranged for one piano with four hands this was.

A capacity audience at the lovely Greenaway Studio salon numbered nearly 70 surrounding the piano. We thoroughly enjoyed a dazzling display of masterworks by composers that read like a who’s who: Schubert, Greig, Ravel, Mussorgsky, Gluck and Dukas (with encores by Greenaway, Tchaikovsky and Khachaturian as well).

Andrew Rumsey, left, and Ivan Horvatic

The rather unusual prelude was a vocal work with guest tenor Andrew Barrow accompanied by Southern Highlands-based international pianist Andrew Rumsey.

Low, slow pianissimo opening chords had an almost muted warmth before the rich tenor solo sang Schubert’s Der Doppelgänger with great diction in German, and impressive dynamic control. An interesting and arresting opening, but somewhat anachronistic to what followed.

Rumsey then introduced his co-conspirator on the keyboard, Zurich-based international pianist Ivan Horvatic.

They demonstrated great rapport and Horvatic later said when playing with Rumsey “things just click”. Indeed, they are simpatico (like their socks). Which you sort of need to be when you are tangling four hands on one 88-note keyboard.

Both pianists shaped melody crisply and crafted impressive chord transitions throughout the afternoon.

They displayed amazing dexterity when they crossed hands (often with themselves, but also with each other).

Their dynamic contrasts from silky softs to rhythmic fortissimos spun spells throughout. They also switched sides of the piano (and pedalling responsibility) throughout the recital.

Peer Gynt’s Morning Mood and In the Hall of the Mountain King contrasted beautifully and set the tone. Eye contact between the players in the quirky opening to the Mountain King showed the fun approach they share. Their staccato got to impressive speed but also contrasted with their often simultaneous sustained notes.

Three pieces from Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite included the still and sinuous Pavane, the crisp detailing and lovely filigree of the Empress of the Pagodas, and the mimicry and matching interpretation of lines from both players in the Enchanted Garden.

The first major work was Night on Bald Mountain, which had clear accents, and nicely characterised lines that recalled their familiar orchestration. At times it has the mood of a frenzied Russian folk dance.

The arrangement used the full keyboard – and the players’ inner hands were great at identical touch for unison chording and runs, while their outer hands had responsibility for melody and bass line respectively. The abrupt stop of the wild action worked – twice! And the final quiet sustained ending was sweet.

A perfect foil was delicate Dance of the Blessed Spirits used as an aural cleanser before the finale.

The final major work was The Sorceror’s Apprentice with its mysterious high opening and then its funny bassoon theme entering.

Both players clearly loved playing this fabulous arrangement. Their cross-rhythms were slick, and they showed great dynamic control as they scampered across the keyboard. The audience was leaning forward in anticipation throughout. It was mesmerising.

Photo by Peter Hislop

This review originally appeared in Canberra City News Link here

NEXUS: The Common Piano, Martin Rowney

 Rusten House Art Centre. Until October 18, 2026

Reviewed by DAVID WHITBREAD

What a mechanical marvel an upright piano is with all its keys, hammers, strings, metal and wooden struts. Now reimagine all those bits reconstituted into often breathtaking works of art. 

Martin Rowney. Vernacular Temperament

Martin Rowney looks at the stories behind everyday, often forgotten objects. And makes them new and fascinating. Worth a second look.

When you enter the space, it is filled with wall-mounted sculptures and freestanding sculptures on plinths. Every now and then there is a tantalising quote or mini-story in black on the white walls. Telling stories of pianos and music and community.

A couple of stories convey the flavour: “Barry found it mutually beneficial to compose for the congregation.” and “As the rehearsal pianist, Jan was so fond of the old worn out piano; like a familiar friend.”

Martin Rowney. Dreamers Club Serenade

The sculptures are all made with components from two old pianos. There is a soft wooden glow from both the reconfigured lacquered cabinetry and the internal untreated wooden pieces. But with the soft ivory of keys and off-white of old felt dampers and hammers. Black keys and black tuning pins. Golden brass from sound boards.

In one work, Dreamers Club Serenade, the addition of an aged, pierced paper pianola roll is framed with other piano components. It feels like a Japanese screen with a lovely interplay of horizontal and verticals, pattern and stripe. The words, reading from bottom to top like you needed to do as a piano roll progressed, read: “How long can a gal go on dream-ing?” prompted the title of the work.

Another major work, Common Time, also features a piano roll but horizontally with a ground of three horizontal wooden pieces evenly placed across it. This appeared to make a five-line staff against which sideways clusters of piano hammers were suspended like notes in chords. This would be a delightful adornment in any music room.

Then there were the artfully sculpted curved forms. These were deconstructed piano keys with carved notches along their length. Narrow triangular inserts created the subtle sinuous curves that implied moving forms.

These works formed both freestanding works and wall-mounted works, often given dance titles. They cast complex shadows that ingeniously contrasted to the square shadows of many of the other works.

One of the freestanding curved works was Dance Class 3 where the five dancers were grounded by the lovely oak curved feet created from slices of the piano case lid.

Another form explored in a couple of works was evident in One And A Half Octaves, a freestanding balanced spiral made from hammer butts. It felt like one of those insane moving machines. It was intriguing again due to its unexpected curvilinear form. 

This is an instantly likeable exhibition of imaginative sculptural works. Anyone who likes machinery would be entertained by these quirky works. And of course any musician – or anyone who remembers going to grandma’s house and playing the pianola in the loungeroom. 

This review originally appeared in Canberra City News Link here