Theatre by Canberra's local theatre companies
Thoughts by Len Power
When
it’s 35 degrees outside wouldn’t it be nicer to be sitting in a cool theatre
waiting for the curtain to rise on a live show?
Well, Canberra’s local theatre companies certainly have some good shows
coming up in 2015 regardless of the weather.
First
cab off the rank will be Ickle Pickle’s, ‘Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
Cinderella’. This is of particular
interest as it’s the version written for television back in 1957 that starred
Julie Andrews years before she moved on to a film career. It opens at the Belconnen Theatre on the 9th
of January.
Canberra
Rep’s 2015 season has a fine mixture of plays on offer. I’m particularly keen to see Arthur Miller’s
intense play, ‘The Crucible’, again and I’ll be interested to see what the
director does with the classic thriller, ‘Gaslight’, by Patrick Hamilton. Of particular interest will be ‘Casanova’
with a script by Dr. Who writer, Russell T. Davies.
For
many people, the theatre means musicals and Canberra will see quite a range of
them this year. Free Rain’s ‘Mary
Poppins’ promises to be a spectacular show with a huge production in the
Canberra Theatre. The director and lead
performers are imported professionals but they will be supported by top
Canberra locals. The big musical for the
year from the Q Theatre in Queanbeyan will be ‘Grease’, a great favourite of
audiences with its familiar tunes. The
Queanbeyan Players will give us a new production of ‘My Fair Lady’, which is
always a must-see.
The
other good news is that Canberra Philharmonic will be giving us one of Andrew
Lloyd Webber’s most iconic shows, ‘Evita’, which hasn’t been available to
non-professional companies for some years.
Make
sure you support Phoenix Players’ courageous decision to produce ‘High
Fidelity’, a musical not previously staged in Canberra. It’s based on the funny film of the same
name.
Equally
courageous, some would say, is Everyman Theatre’s decision to produce Stephen
Sondheim’s landmark musical, ‘Company’.
People have been saying for years that Sondheim shows never find an
audience in Canberra. In my opinion,
this negative view is based on one spectacular failure at the Canberra Theatre
in 1986 of Sondheim’s ‘Sweeney Todd’.
The show, unknown to audiences at the time, was promoted as an opera,
rather than as a musical thriller and, as a result, both musical and opera
lovers stayed away in droves. Poor
promotion was its reason for failure, not that it was a Sondheim musical. Sondheim’s musicals are much better known now
amongst musicals lovers, so it will be interesting to see how ‘Company’ fares in
2015.
After
no Sondheim musicals in years in this area, we’re getting not one, but two! Richard Block will direct the more recent
Sondheim musical, ‘Into The Woods’. This
musical has never been staged in Canberra before but with the big budget movie
of this show about to be released next week, this could be a clever move by
Richard, especially if the movie proves to be a huge success.
SUPA
Productions will give Canberra a new production of ‘The King And I’. Garrick Smith will be directing and that
means it will be a really spectacular production of this much-loved show. It’s not performed as frequently as other
Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, probably because it requires lavish settings
and costumes. It’s always been my
favourite of their musicals.
Well,
that’s just a taste of what’s in store for audiences in Canberra in 2015. For a full list of the shows on offer, you
should check out the various companies’ websites. Make sure you get out there and support your
local theatre. They do it for love and
they love playing for you!
Originally
broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 ‘Dress Circle’ showbiz program with Bill Stephens
on Sunday 4 January 2015 from 5pm.
