PIPPIN

 

The cast of "Pippin"  Image Brian Geach

Book by Roger O. Hirson – Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

Presented by John Frost – Suzanne Jones – Barry and Fran Weissler – Howard and Janet Kagan.

Directed by Diane Paulus – Choreographed by Chet Walker

Musical Direction by Daniel Edmonds – Scenic design by Scott Pask

Costume design by Dominique Lemieux.

Sydney Lyric Theatre. Opening Night, 3^rd December 2020

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

   

Gabrielle McClinton - Leading Player - "Pippin"

Image: Brian Geach

“We’ve got Magic to do” sings the Leading Player, Gabrielle McClinton as she takes the stage alone. What follows is pure theatrical magic with a brilliantly conceived and dazzlingly staged opening number which sets the tone for the rest of the evening.

 Set in a colourful circus tent, with brightly coloured costumes, eye-popping illusions, and stunning acrobatic feats, it is often difficult to know where to look, as the ensemble cast perform complex choreography, lightning fast costume changes, and sing up a storm to portray the story of the Pippin, the son of Charlemagne, and his search for fulfilment.

 

Gabrielle McClinton (Leading Player -C) and "Pippin" Ensemble

Image: David Hooley

As the Leading Player, Gabrielle McClinton commanded the stage effortlessly, singing, dancing and performing acrobatics with a brilliance that ensured that she was never likely to be lost in the crowd.

 

Handsome, Ainslie Melham is perfectly cast as Pippin, immediately winning over the audience with his superb rendition of “My Corner of the Sky”, dancing stylishly and impressing with his acrobatic prowess.

 

Andrew Sumner - Simon Burke (Charlemagne)

Image: David Hooley

Almost unrecognisable, Simon Burke delighted with his Trumpian take as Pippin’s father, Charlemagne, tossing off the tongue-twisting “War is a Science” with panache.  Euan Doidge practically chews up the scenery in a funny, scene-stealing performance as Lewis, Pippin’s oily brother.

 

Euan Doidge (Lewis) - Leslie Bell (Frastrada)

Image: David Hooley

Although  Leslie Bell, playing Pippin’s sexy, ambitious stepmother, Frastrada,  almost stopped the show with her sizzling dancing in “Spread a Little Sunshine”, it was Kerri-Anne Kennerley who took out that honour, putting paid to any criticism of her casting as Pippins grandmother, Berthe, by drawing cheers from the first-night audience with her jaw-dropping turn in “No Time at All”.

 

Kerri-Anne Kennerley (Berthe)- Ainsley Melham (Pippin)

Image: David Hooley

Chet Walker with his imaginative reworking of the iconic Fosse choreography, arguably one reason for the continued success of this show, pays respectful homage to the original, even retaining Fosse’s famous “Manson Trio”, takes full advantage of the opportunities offered by the circus setting to add additional pizazz which is brilliantly danced by the ensemble.

 

Matt Jensen - Gabrielle McClinton - Bayley Edmonds - Fosse's Manson Trio

Image:David Hooley

Of course, Stephen Schwartz glorious score is no doubt another reason, and in this production it is superbly rendered by a tight band under the musical directorship of Daniel Edmonds.

 

However, it is the problematic second act that has always been this show’s Achilles’ heel, when Pippin, having been shocked by the horrors of war, rejected the temptations of the flesh, and murdered his father, realises that he is unable to find solace in the simple life offered by Catherine, a single mother, captivatingly portrayed and sweetly sung by Lucy Maunder, and her son, Theo, played on opening night by Ryan Yeates..

 

Daniel Abishev - Lucy Maunder (Catherine) - Ainsley Melham (Pippin)

Image: David Hooley

Director Dianne Paulus brilliantly overcomes this problem by stripping away all the magic towards the end of the show, with a stunning theatrical coup de grace which holds the audience transfixed to the very end.

 

 This review also appears in Australian Arts Review. www.artsreview.com.au

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wharf Revue 2020

 

The Wharf Revue: Good Night and Good Luck.  By Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott, co-directed by Jonathan Biggins and Drew Forsythe.  Musical director, Phillip Scott.

Sydney Theatre Company at Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse December 1 – 19, 2020.

Reviewed by Frank McKone

December 1

CAST
Jonathan Biggins, Mandy Bishop, Drew Forsythe, Phillip Scott.  Guest appearance by Lena Cruz.

DESIGNERS
Charles Davis – Designer; Matt Cox – Lighting; Nate Edmondson – Sound; Todd Decker – Video; Susie Henderson – Video Systems and Content.

Margaret Aston – Wigs; Scott Fisher – Costumes; Andrew Worboys – Music Tracks.

Rehearsal Photographer – Prudence Upton.



The End Of The Wharf As We Know It was how it all began in the year 2000.  The truth has finally caught up with the satire as the Sydney Theatre Company has now refurbished their original theatre Wharf 4/5, Walsh Bay, to open in 2021.  Now it really is Good Night and Good Luck.  Yet with sound Shakespearian internal character conflict in mind, like Hamlet, they say “all the refurbishment works have been designed with a heritage framework”.  We will still walk the long walk out over Sydney Harbour waters, but perhaps the old wooden cobblestone effect may now become a smoother journey.

So can The Wharf Revue be refurbished but retain its heritage value?  And can we hope to wake up next year after this year’s terrifically good night to an extension of our amazingly good luck to have had such sizzling political satire run for 20 years?  I certainly hope so.

Two particularly successful features of this year’s show are precursors of continuing theatrical refurbishment for The Wharf.  

The quality of incisive sharpness in the writing is not constrained (that’s the heritage) but the warmth of feeling, of horror, of empathy for New York under Covid attack with no presidential protection was a new sensation, crossing the line and back again from satire to tragedy.

Then, throughout the whole show, the technical quality, originality of content, as well as satirical precision in the actors’ performances in the video designs and presentations, though a continuation of this developing heritage from previous years, was a leap forward this year for womankind especially.  Amanda Bishop “first impersonated Julia Gillard as part of Waiting for Garnaut, the 2008 Wharf Revue” (Wikipedia), which I remember well, but her range on stage and screen in Good Night and Good Luck 12 years later is quite remarkable, in conjunction with Lena Cruz.

For this the video and selection of material work of Susie Henderson must receive the highest commendation.

The titles of the 17 items also show their heritage and update values.  “When We Get Back To Normal” shows these very authors right now in lockdown, absolutely bored, waiting for people to appear in the auditorium.  Ooops! They’re here!

Remember The Seekers?  Amanda Bishop goes down a treat as Judith Durham: will they ever find another job?  “Norman Swan” is our hero: the medicine we all so sorely need.  “How did you get here?” says one Virus to another; “On a cruise ship.”  How else?

Democracy is the “People’s Choice”.  Solos by Putin, Bolsonaro and the very weird Elton Jong with his highly informative history of the Jong Il family make unAustralian dictatorships very funny.  Australia gets what it deserves in “Koala”; “K Rudd” (a wonderful reprise by Drew Forsythe in Kevin’s reincarnation as Murdoch critic); the Liberal “Fawlty Towers”, leavened by “The Pauline Doctrine” and contrasted with the Labor “Cats in the Ranks”. Aotearoa’s “Jacinda Ardern” is heavenly perfection in comparison, while “The Sounds of Sirens” in New York are all that we hear in the silence.  A little light relief is provided by the New South Wales premier “Gladys”, taking us off to the wild west of the Donald – “The Man who shot Liberty”.

What a way to end!

If there’s anything we need more than hope this year, it’s laughter.  I hope there will be more in the future.  I’m sure there will be more to laugh at, and I just wish The Wharf Revue could go on forever.

The Wharf Revue in rehearsal
by Prudence Upton
L to R: Phillip Scott, Mandy Bishop, Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe

GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK - THE WHARF REVUE

 

Written by Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott

Co-directed by Jonathan Biggins and Drew Forsythe

A Sydney Theatre Company Production

The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre to 19 December

 

Reviewed by Len Power 1 December 2020

 

Well, it might have been a year we want to forget, but ‘The Wharf Revue’ was back in town to cheer us up with one of their best ever shows.  Fire, COVID, China, Trump, Biden and a multitude of other prominent Australian and world figures  – nothing and no-one was spared by this team.

Unlike last year, all three of the original creatives Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott were back on stage this year, together with the delightful and clever Mandy Bishop.  These theatre magicians gave us a ninety minute performance packed full of goodies that felt like it was much shorter than it actually was – always a sign of a good show.

From the perceptive opening number, ‘When We Get Back to Normal’, the show skewered virtually everyone who stepped into the political spotlight this past year both here in Australia and overseas.

Part of the fun of this show is the surprise element of who and what’s on next.  Without giving away too much, the company were hilariously harmonious as the singing group, ‘The Job Seekers’, Phillip Scott sang and played the piano superbly as ‘Elton Jong’ and, later, gave us a wicked ‘K Rudd’.  Jonathan Biggins scored as Basil Fawlty dealing with quarantine guests at the Fawlty Towers hotel and as Donald Trump in ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty’.

Drew Forsythe did Pauline Hanson better than Pauline Hanson ever did in ‘The Pauline Doctrine’ and Mandy Bishop was spot on as both ‘Jacinda Ardern’ and Melania Trump.  The whole company was outstanding in the chilling and uncomfortably real ‘The Sound Of Sirens’.

This cast made it all seem effortless but every item was finely polished and presented with great skill and professionalism.  There are times where the words and lyrics were coming at you at high speed but you could hear every word clearly.

The complex projections by video designer, Todd Decker, were especially clever this year and the attractive set was designed by Charles Davis and enhanced with the atmospheric lighting design of Matt Cox.  Margaret Aston once again did an amazing job with the large number of accurately styled wigs worn by the cast.  Costume coordinator, Scott Fisher, had the cast looking exactly right for each character.

The co-direction by Jonathan Biggins and Drew Forsythe gave us a seamless, fast-moving show that never faltered.

The company are saying in their advertising that this will be the last time ‘The Wharf Revue’ will be seen.  I hope they’re kidding.

 

Len Power’s reviews are also broadcast on the Artsound FM 92.7 ‘In the Foyer’ program on Mondays and Wednesdays at 3.30pm.

 

‘Theatre of Power’, a regular podcast on Canberra’s performing arts scene with Len Power, can be heard on Spotify, ITunes and other selected platforms or at https://player.whooshkaa.com/shows/theatre-of-power.

30TH ANNUAL ACT ARTS AWARDS

“Canberra CityNews” Artist of the Year

Julie Bradley

A veteran Canberra artist who creates ravishing works of art on paper has been named 2020 “Canberra CityNews” Artist of the Year, it was announced tonight (December 1) at the 30th annual ACT Arts Awards evening, held in the Canberra Museum & Gallery.

Ainslie artist Julie Bradley was singled out by the Canberra Critics Circle judging panel for a remarkable year, in which she undertook a residency in Ireland then returned to mount a huge exhibition at Belconnen Arts Centre, “Evocation,” of paintings conveying the emotional effects of place and weather.

Bradley received a certificate and cheque to the value of $1,000 from “Citynews” and craft critic Meredith Hinchliffe presented her with a set of finely-crafted stainless steel spoons by Canberra artist Alison Jackson on behalf of the Critics Circle, which hosted the event.

Julie Bradley (Photo: Holly Treadaway)

 

Bradley, whose work is held in the collections of the NGA, the ANU, CMAG, Calvary Hospital Birth Centre, Canberra Hospital and the Lu Rees Archive, has been an artist for over 35 years.

After coming to Canberra to study at the old School of Art in Canberra, she and her folk musician husband Kevin Bradley settled in Ainslie and started a family while Julie took up a lectureship in graphic design and illustration at the University of Canberra.

CityNews Editor Ian Meikle and Julie Bradley (Photo: Peter Hislop)

After 20 years at UC, Julie resigned and threw herself into art full-time. As well, through her memberships of M16 and ANCA, she became known as a leading mentor to up-and-coming artists.

In the past year she used her 2019 CAPO Fellowship and a travelling grant from ArtsACT to take up a residency at Ireland’s Ballinglen Arts Foundation in North West County Mayo, where, while Julie she produced enough art to exhibit in Ballycastle and Galway.

Helen Tsongas Award for Excellence in Acting

Lainie Hart

Earlier in the evening the Helen Tsongas Award for Excellence in Acting was presented by ACT Arts Minister Tara Cheyne to Lainie Hart, who was singled out by the Canberra Critics Circle for a remarkable body of work over the past year in live and screen performances for Lakespeare & Co, The Q and Canberra REP. The critics praised her “transfixing performances that were at times fiercely dramatic and menacing and at others pure, zany comedy.”

A dedicated actor, Hart works by day as a neuropsychologist with the ACT Department of Health and the ANU.

 

ACT Arts Minister Tara Cheyne and Lainie Hart (Photo: Peter Hislop)

After playing more than 20 principal roles for theatre companies around the ACT, in 2017 she accepted an offer to do a full-time acting course at 16th Street Actor's Studio in Melbourne, directed by former Canberran Iain Sinclair.

After graduating, Hart returned to Canberra, where she has produced a series of extraordinary, intense performances which one member of the Critics Circle described as “mesmerising.”

Angela Tsongas, Mrs Tsongas, Lainie Hart and Halimah Kyrgios (Photo by Peter Hislop)

 

The Helen Tsongas Award for excellence in acting was established by the Tsongas family in the name of the late Helen Tsongas, actor and arts bureaucrat, on behalf of the Critics Circle, which hosted the event.

Helen Tsongas

 

It takes the form of a cheque to the value of $1000 and a certificate going to the best Canberra actor of the year, with no restrictions on age or gender, as judged by the theatre panel of the Canberra Critics Circle.

Canberra Critics Circle Awards

The centrepiece of the 30th ACT Arts Awards was the presentation of Canberra Critics Circle certificates by Dr Sarah Schmidt, the new director of Canberra Museum & Gallery, to the artists below:

Visual Arts

Ian Jones

For his exhibition that provided a rare opportunity to see an impressive selection of the artist’s beautiful ceramic pots that are the result of many years of commitment to the traditional art of wood firing and the mastery of his craft. Ash and Clay, a celebration of 40 years of wood firing at Gundaroo.

Visual Arts

Ham Darroch

For his exhibition, Propeller, at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery, in February 2020 of energetic, highly coloured artworks of geometrical shapes and object-based forms, including a12 metre work, entitled Counter Attack, drawn and painted directly onto the wall of the gallery.

Visual Arts

Alexander Boynes

For the exhibition, Hi-Vis Futures, at Canberra Museum and Gallery, November 2019 to February 2020, jointly presented with Mandy Martin and Tristen Parr, which movingly portrayed the destruction and resilience of the natural environment, as the smoke clouds began to hang over Canberra.

Visual Arts

Sophie Dumaresq

For her exhibition, The Hairy Panic, at Nishi Gallery during Art, Not Apart, comprising photographs of a land art installation on grasslands surrounding Lake George, incorporating tumbleweed sculptures.

Visual Arts

Grace Costa

For leading an exciting, absorbing, exquisite, quirky and powerful exhibition by eleven Canberra region artists at Photo Access, showing the results of exploring, confronting and sharing their personal stories during an 8 months’ long workshop.

Visual Arts

Julie Bradley

For her marvellously resolved exhibition, Evocation, at Belconnen Arts Centre, August 2020, of sophisticated paintings and artists books that eloquently transmitted the powerful emotional effects of place and weather.

Visual Arts

Ruth Oliphant

For her sensitive portrayal, ‘From the ground up’, at Beaver Galleries, November 2019, of the enigmatic internal spaces at the Brickworks in Yarralumla, where three dimensional spaces are flattened and disappear into the distance, reflecting the atmospheric volumes of these beautiful and important old buildings.

Musical Theatre

Jason Bensen

For his portrayal of Leo in Dramatic Productions’ The Producers. He commanded the stage in a particularly well sung portrayal which displayed strong characterisation and excellent comic timing. A most impressive Canberra debut performance.

Theatre

The Street Theatre

For its innovative response to Covid-19, with its livestreamed production of Conor McPherson’s St Nicholas, performed by Craig Alexander and Den Hanrahan, directed by Shelley Higgs, designed by Imogen Keen and cinematography by Liam Budge, and livestreamed “First Seen” dramaturgical sessions of Milk by Dylan Van Den Berg and Barren Ground by Helen Machalias.

Theatre

Karen Vickery

For her tightly directed production of an excellent cast and production team for Canberra REP, recreating an authentic insight into Neil Simon’s characters and the period of his semi-autobiographical play, Brighton Beach Memoirs.

Theatre

Chris Baldock

For the excellence of his direction of John Galati's adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath for Canberra REP which enabled outstanding ensemble work that captured without sentimentality the vision of John Steinbeck's original novel.

Theatre

Fiona Victoria Hopkins

For the imaginative, edgy costume designs which gave “the look” to Lakespeare and Co’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Rockspeare Richard III. Often sourced from recycled fabrics, Hopkins’ creations were visually striking and also matched the eclectic style of the productions.

Dance

Alison Plevey

For Lake March. For courageously working within the restrictive conditions generated by COVID-19 to bring an innovative and entertaining production of dance and live music, presented in several outdoor venues, to an audience of dance goers and the wider Canberra community.

Books

Non Fiction

Patrick Mullins

For The Trials of Portnoy, published by Scribe, which tells the story of how Penguin Australia fought to print Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint, successfully contesting Australia’s censorship laws. This shrewd book is an up-to-date look at the question of what literature can do.

Children’s literature

Krys Saclier

For her children's picture book, Vote 4 Me, which delightfully explains the preferential voting system. Illustrated by political cartoonist, Cathy Wilcox, this book is just as illuminating for many adults as for younger readers.

Biography

Helen Ennis

For her profoundly moving, and powerful biography of pioneering Australian photographer Olive Cotton. Ennis has woven her meticulous research into an absorbing narrative with spectacular skill. This biography is illuminating, highly accessible and beautifully written. A triumph.

Fiction

Felicity Volk

For Desire Lines, a finely drawn and refreshingly epic love story, balancing international adventures with local intricacies. Memorable, magical, and very moving.

Poetry

Subhash Jaireth

For his innovative workshops at Poetry on the Move in October 2019 on the increasingly important skill of poetry translation seen in his book, Rain Clouds: Love songs of Meerabai, published by Recent Work Press in August 2020. A poet whose fluency in Russian and Indian languages has informed his work on both page and stage, Jaireth has shown the way to multilingual poets by highlighting the cultural contexts in which all poems are written.

Music

Rowan Harvey-Martin

For outstanding direction of the Gabriel Singers, the Llewellyn Choir and jazz band (Michael Dooley, Rouslan Babajanov, James Luke and Derrick Brassington) in a brilliant performance of the Will Todd cantata, Lights, Stories, Dreams, Love and Noodles, which achieved wonderful heights of powerful, beautifully pitched pure tone and clean, clear diction together with inventive, creative and progressive jazz in a portrayal of images of London

Music

Sandra France

For her innovative composition, Flight Memory, a jazz song suite with libretto by Alana Valentine, directed by Caroline Stacey at the Street Theatre in November 2019. The score, which encompassed many jazz and blues styles from New York-style jazz to minimalist jazz, to hip hop, along with nods to classical and baroque influences, was the perfect match for the real-life story of Australian David Warren, inventor of the black box flight recorder.

Dr Sarah Schmidt, Director of CMAG and Sandra France (Photo by Peter Hislop)

 

Music

Sarahlouise Owens

For her performance in the Art Song Canberra concert, Girls Wearing Trousers, of the complete Dichterliebe song cycle by Robert Schumann. She gave a performance of great power and sensitivity combined with a fine understanding of Schumann’s intentions.

Music

CORO Chamber Ensemble

For presenting an outstanding and finely polished performance of two settings of the Dixit Dominus, displaying accurate and authentic use of period French Baroque ornamentation in the Charpentier and superb pitch, intonation and great attention to dynamic range in the Handel.