MOONSHADOW

Writers:                   Yusuf, Rachel Wagstaff and Anders Albien

Music:                     Cat Stevens/Yusuf

Director:                 Anders Albien.

Musical Director:  Stephen Amos

Reviewer:               Bill Stephens

Gemma-Ashley Kaplan (Lisa) Gareth Keegan (Stormy) and "Moonshadows" company

If you’re a fan of the songs of Cat Stevens, the prospect of hearing his music may well be sufficient for you to enjoy this show, which contains no fewer than 40 of his songs. You may however be a little surprised at how they’ve been shoe-horned into an unintelligible allegorical story set on a mythical dark planet of Alaylia, in a distant corner of the universe, where the sun never shines, birds never sing, and no one ever sees the light of day. Not a particularly promising setting for a musical.

Gareth Keegan plays the brash, Pippin-like character, Stormy, who, accompanied by a tall, rather odd minder, called Moonshadow (Jolyon James) sets out to find a better life. Predictably, and despite the warnings of Moonshadow, he falls into a series of traps along the way.  As played by Keegan, Stormy is so cocky and boneheaded that it’s difficult to feel any sympathy for him, and his happy ending seems somewhat ill-deserved.

Gemma-Ashley Kaplan 

Gemma-Ashley Kaplan is delightfully wistful as Stormy’s girlfriend Lisa, who has been promised by her father to the outlandishly vain Pat Mathew. Blake Bowden pulls out all stops as Pat Mathew, but to little effect, and oddly, despite the fact that she tells Stormy that she loves him, Lisa appears to   welcome the overtures of Pat Mathew - at least while he’s wooing her.

 Marney McQueen and Gareth Keegan

Marney McQueen as the cougar Princess Zeena has the best costume and the best time chewing up the scenery in her efforts to seduce Stormy.  

The songs are well sung and the show is quite lovely to look at, with excellent lighting and special effects. The large cast work hard to bring some meaning to the proceedings but the futuristic storyline, with its trite dialogue, underwritten characters and serious lack of dramaturgy , leaves many of  them resorting to “bread & butter” acting and inappropriate reactions. The mood of the show tended to move between serious narrative and absurd situations, making it difficult for the audience to know how to respond or become involved, and as a result the conclusion was more bemusing than inspiring as no doubt it was intended to be.

It’s hard to escape the feeling that having arrived at the central premise, the creatives of “Moonshadow” have cut and pasted ideas from any number of other musicals including “Hair”, “Wicked”, “Sweet Charity” and the previously mentioned “Pippin” to accommodate the songs.  

In his program note Yusuf mentions that he thought there was room in the global landscape of musicals for something a little bit different.   “Moonshadow” is certainly a little bit different, but needs a lot more work yet to make it cohesive and different enough to become the truly memorable musical experience it could be.

A Broadway season has already been announced for “Moonshadow”, so you still have time to  have a look at this show for yourself during its world premiere Melbourne season before it ends on Sunday August 5th. 

THE PRODUCERS

A Mel Brooks Musical 

Presented by The Production Company

State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne,

Season 8th - 15th July 2012

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

Brent Hill (Leo Bloom) Christie Whelan-Browne (Ulla) Wayne Scott Kermond (Max Bialystock)
Photo: Jeff Busby.

 

“It's shocking, outrageous and I enjoyed every moment of it”, quotes Max Bialystock from the reviews for “Springtime for Hitler”, the musical within a musical which caused his downfall in the Mel Brooks’ musical “The Producers”, and that exactly sums up my reaction to The Production Company's classy new production of this show.

In its fourteen years existence,The Production Company has made something of an artform of presenting “concert versions” of Broadway musicals. “Concert version” in the case of The Production Company means that the orchestra will be onstage with the actors, rather than in the orchestra pit, and that the sets are likely to be scaled back to accommodate this, but in every other aspect these are full-scale productions.

Top professionals are cast in the lead roles, the rehearsal periods are limited to no more than two to three weeks, and the seasons, as with “The Producers”, are usually just eight performances.

Having seen “The Producers” on Broadway, in Melbourne and Sydney, and even a good amateur production in Canberra,I was just a little dubious about seeing this “concert” version. However, having just recovered from laughing my way through opening night, I’m delighted to declare this, by far, the most entertaining production of this show that I’ve yet seen.

With a terrific cast and the addition of some easily-moved props and furniture, a very serviceable setting designed by Adam Gardnir, which has the onstage orchestra surrounded by staircases either side leading to a high walkway behind,a centre-aisle between the players, and vertical columns decorated with Broadway lights, directors Andrew Hallsworth and Dean Bryant have worked wonders to devise a fast-moving production packed with clever visual gags, witty choreography and colourful costumes, all of which serve the show brilliantly.

 Wayne Scott Kermond (Max Bialystock) Brent Hill (Leo Bloom) Christie Whelan-Browne
Photo: Jeff Busby

 

The excellent cast is headed by Wayne Scott Kermond who gives the performance of a lifetime as Max Bialystock, the Broadway producer who gets it wrong when he produces a Broadway hit.

Kermond plays Max as an old time vaudeville-style shyster. His performance is big, bold and laced with old-time physical shtick rarely seen these days, but superbly executed and perfect for Max Bialystock. His comic timing and line delivery are faultless and from the very first number, “The King of Broadway”, he has the audience completely in the palm of his hand waiting on his every move. It’s a masterful performance, completely hilarious and ultimately moving in the final minutes of the show following Leo Bloom’s declaration of admiration.

By no means overshadowed by Kermond, Brent Hill, as Leo Bloom, offers a completely different style of performance, equally hilarious and skilfully dovetailing the partnership, as he progresses from nervous mummy's boy to the confident playboy- husband of the drop-dead gorgeous Ulla, played with sparkling style and panache by Christie Whelan-Browne.

Never one to let subtlety get in the way of a good laugh, Trevor Ashley gives a wonderfully outrageous and over-the-top performance as the crazy German playwright, Franz Liebkind. He also contributes an additional hilarious cameo as an over-weight showgirl earlier in the show.

Mitchell Butel also provides his fair share of mayhem, especially when his character, the (very) camp director, Roger De Bris, dressed as Hitler in his own show “Springtime for Hitler”, sits on the front of the stage to perform a Judy Garland impression. It’s one more memorable moments in a production laden with them.

 Mitchell Butel ((Roger De Bris) Christie Whelen-Browne (Ulla)
Photo Jeff Busby

Virgina Gray, notably as Hold-me Touch-me and in a series of other funny cameos, Dean Vince also playing cameo roles, and Rohan Browne, playing the impossibly camp Carmen Ghia, all add to the merriment.

Also on this occasion (to quote from another musical) “Even the orchestra is beautiful” because, adding even more icing to the cake, Musical Director, Vanessa Scammell, looked svelte and glamorous in her figure-hugging long black gown as she conducted the excellent twenty-three piece on-stage orchestra.

The production numbers are stylish, tightly choreographed and very well danced by a vivacious team of excellent dancers and the ensemble singing throughout is superb. The costumes are glamorous, attractive and witty, particularly those for the Ziegfeld Follies-style showgirls who also manage the smooth, cleverly organised set-changes.

I have no idea if a return season is being contemplated, or even possible, but this clever, entertaining production deserves to be seen by a wider audience.

The next Production Company musical will be “Chess” directed by Gale Edwards with a topline cast which includes Silvie Paladino, Martin Crewes, Simon Gleeson, Michael Falzon and Bert LaBonte. It will run from August 18^th to 26^th.  You might be wise to make a booking.

CATS

Greg Sollis (Skimbleshanks) Brittney Gould (Exotica) Kelda McManus (Sillabub)
Photo: Craig Burgess

Presented by Free Rain Theatre

ANU Arts Centre until 22^nd July.

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

Cate Clelland’s decision to set this production backstage in a run-down theatre, instead of the usual garbage dump, is just one of many inspired touches which  help breathe fresh  life into this most curious of musicals. 

Based on T.S.Eliot poems about a meeting of a tribe of cats to choose which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life, “Cats” is something of an acquired taste.  But this fine ensemble production, with its well-staged set pieces,  imaginative costumes and makeup, clever choreography and talented cast, captures Andrew Lloyd Webber’s surreal world so successfully, that it’s not difficult to understand why  so many people find this musical a magical experience.  .

The slight storyline is told through a series of songs and dances and Free Rain Theatre have assembled a superb cast of talented performers for whom choreographer Laura Pearce has devised spectacular and entertaining routines which echo the original Gillian Lynne choreography, showcase the strengths of her excellent dancers, and flatters her singers.

Vocally Impressive throughout, particularly during the chorus items for which Lisa Keen’s superb band produces exactly the right sound, with  excellent sound design which insures that the lyrics are clearly heard throughout, and a series of magical moments, add to the pleasures of a production which is a credit to all concerned and a compelling demonstration of the strength of talent presently on show in Canberra.

                                      (This review appears in "CITY NEWS"  12th July Edition)

 Members of the CATS cast
Photo: Craig Burgess

Rosemary Dobson Bolton - A Reminiscence

ROSEMARY DOBSON BOLTON – A Reminiscence

 

Rosemary Dobson Bolton was my godmother.  In some respects this is a rather old-fashioned relationship, carrying as it does some religious connotations.  But I think I always thought of her more as a fairy godmother – one who bestows gifts, both material and emotional – rather than playing an overtly religious role in my life.

I don’t remember discussing with either my mother or Rosemary how it was that she became to be my godmother.  I know they lived in a boarding house in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney during the war and that both their sisters were also there for some part of that time.  My parents were married some years before Rosemary and Alec and so their children are several years younger than me and my brother.  For a brief time, we all lived on Sydney’s north shore, and shared some enjoyable family gatherings.  I remember Ruth Dobson, Rosemary’s older sister, visiting on a few occasions during this period, too.

I feel very fortunate that in our later years I got to know Rosemary so well.  This doesn’t always happen in these relationships.  As a child, I lived in different parts of Australia to her and her family, and then they moved to England to live.  I visited and spent some time living out of a suitcase in her daughter’s bedroom for around three months.  I think this was a difficult time for her daughter, but for me it was a gift.  I was living in a home in London, and could come and go as I pleased.

Eventually we all ended up living in Canberra.  It was then that Rosemary, and her husband Alec, and I became firm friends.

I was studying full time, trying to provide for myself in whatever ways I could.  Two things I could do reasonably well were typing – I had my own IBM electric golf ball typewriter – and cooking. 

On an irregular basis, Rosemary would ask me to cook for the family and invited me to eat with them.  I remember once that we were both shocked when the cost of the ingredients for one meal was quite high – and my enthusiasm had to be curtailed.

What I remember most about this time was that I typed the poems for Moscow Trefoil by David Campbell and Rosemary Dobson.  Natalie Staples, David and Rosemary were all interested in the poetry of Osip Mandelstam, and this interest quickly extended to poems by Anna Akhmatova.  Following Natalie’s literal translations, both David and Rosemary took these and made their own versions of the poems in English.  I typed the iterative versions, and eventually a manuscript was prepared.  Moscow Trefoil was published in 1975 by the ANU Press.

Rosemary was a modest, restrained person.  Her poetry has been described as being austere, but I don’t find that quite the right description.  She was gracious and elegant, careful and dignified, and for me, this describes her poetry.  Rosemary was wise, and often gave me good advice.  She was fun, too, and helped me see the importance of simplicity – in all things.  She was always encouraging and positive.

Rosemary provided an excellent role model for me in my relationships with my godchildren – and she was always interested in how they were going.  This was a role we had in common.

I will remember her for so many things and think how fortunate for me it was that in the 1940s, my mother and she happened to live in the same boarding house. 

Meredith Hinchliffe

©  July 11, 2012

DIE TOTE STADT

By Eric Korngold

Presented by Opera Australia
Sydney Opera House until 18th July 2012

Reviewed by Bill Stephen

Add Cheryl Barker in "Die tote Stadt"

Photo: Lisa Tomaseti.

Though best known as a composer for films, Erich Korngold also wrote several operas. However "Die tote Stadt" is the only one still being produced by opera companies. Because of the huge resources required to stage this opera, and the demands it makes on its singers, productions of "Die tote Stadt" are rare.

Opera Australia's production is therefore something of an event, made even more so by the fact that the direction of this production has been entrusted to one of Australia's most acclaimed film directors, Bruce Beresford.

"Die tate Stadt" requires an 88 piece orchestra to do justice to Korngold's soaring vocal writing and lush orchestrations. The lead male role of Paul requires a heldentenor and there are only three such tenors in the world currently singing this role. German tenor Stefan Vinke is one of those and was available for this production. At the second performance, Vinke appeared to be experiencing some vocal difficulties in the first act, but quickly overcame the problem and in the second and third acts impressed with his strong and superbly projected vocal range which rose thrillingly above the huge orchestra.

The lead female role is a dual one, and the singer cast in this role has to portray Paul's dead wife, Marie, and Mariette, a dancer with an uncanny resemblance to Marie. So, in addition to being up to the demanding vocal requirements of the two characters, must also have dancing skills. Cheryl Barker was the perfect choice, especially in her portrayal of Mariette, beautiful, coquettish and worldly-wise, she was totally convincing. She also danced gracefully and even during the dramatic events of the third act her voice retained its customary warmth and lustre.

Add Cheryl Barker and Stefan Vinke

Photo Lisa Tomaseti

"Die tote Stadt" revolves around the obsessive love of Paul for his dead wife, Marie. Paul has turned his house into a shrine for Marie, the centrepiece being a glass case containing a plait of her her. When he meets a dancer, Mariette, who resembles his dead wife, he attempts to transfer his love on to her.

Though attracted to Paul, Mariette rejects his attempts to turn her into a copy of Marie, resulting in a nightmarishly surreal series of events in which Paul kills his best friend, Frank ( a fine performance by Michael Honeyman)  after Frank confesses to also having an affair with Mariette, then finally, in a fit of rage, strangles Mariette with the plait of his dead wife's hair. Events which however prove to be a terrible nightmare.


Bruce Beresford, along with designer, John Stoddart, lighting designer, Nigel Levings and sound designer, Tony David Gray, has come up with a remarkable concept for the staging of this opera which involves moving the huge orchestra right out of the theatre for the performance and re-locating it in the nearby drama theatre. The sound from the orchestra is then broadcast into the theatre as the singers perform onstage, unamphlified.

Amazingly, this works extremely well. The lush sound of the orchestra was beautifully produced and an excellent balance was achieved between the singers and the orchestra so that the singers voices  were were not overwhelmed . The result was very much listening to a favourite stereo CD.

The strength of Bruce Beresford's direction is most evident in how he deals with the surrealism of the events and his use of filmed images projected on to scrims works particularly well in the second and third acts. Although it must be said that while the vision of the shower of red roses in the second act was quite beautiful, watching those same roses reverse and shower skywards later in the act provided a head scratching moment.

 Stoddart's designs are at their most beautiful in Act two, when the strolling troupe arrive at Mariette's house. Enhanced by Levings exotic lighting design and Timothy Gordon's graceful choreography the mood of sensuous decadence provides the perfect setting for one of the vocal highlights of the evening ...Jose Carbo's stunning performance of "Pierrot's Lied".

Jose Carbo and Cheryl Barker

Photo: Lisa Tomaseti 

While overall, it was all very surreal and beautiful, there were time when the effect was reminiscent of watching a filmed opera, rather than experiencing it live. So as a portent of things to come, this is slightly worrying because perhaps future audiences may choose to listen to their favourite opera CD, or watch a DVD of their favourite opera rather than attend a live performance. But for the present, one can only be grateful that Opera Australia has provided the opportunity to enjoy such a handsome staging of this beautiful and rarely seen opera.

   

JOANNA WEINBERG performs THE PIANO DIARIES

Tuggeranong Arts Centre,

June 29 and 30

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

Joanna Weinberg

Joanna Weinberg’s first visit to the Tuggeranong Arts Centre was as the author/director of a musical called “Every Single Saturday” which has since gone on to have a full professional production. This time with her one-woman cabaret show “The Piano Diaries” for which she wrote all the songs, Weinberg has revealed herself as a consummate cabaret performer and a fascinating singer/songwriter.

Though born in London, Joanna Weinberg spent her childhood in South Africa. She has had an interesting life, much of which is only hinted at in this compelling cabaret.  

From the moment she took her place at the piano, elegant in a figure-hugging long dress, long gloves and a red flower tucked in her hair, Weinberg intrigued and enthralled her audience, both as a superb singer and gifted raconteur, gently, and sometimes disconcertingly, revealing significant moments from her life story, most often through the playful, thoughtful, funny and moving lyrics of her tuneful and catchy songs.  

The piano was the connecting thread, and she sang of hiding under her grandmother’s African rosewood piano, as a two-year-old, while her grandparents played piano duets (Benjamin and Penelope). As an eleven-year-old, while sitting at the same piano, she witnessed a man being murdered. No one took her statement, so she wrote a haunting song about it, (Witness).  

She describes her first boyfriend when she was a thirteen-year-old (Freckled Angels) and tells of running away to America where she worked in cabaret (The Piano at the Cabaret) and played Desdemona in a production of “Othello”.

Her journey eventually brings her to Australia (The Winds of Fear) and she is frank about the difficulties she faced initially in finding work as an entertainer. But it was the song with which she closed her show which most strongly resonated with her Canberra audience, still reeling from the effects of the recent School of Music controversy. Weinberg prefaced her song by asking the audience to imagine a world without musicians, artists, singers and actors. Then painting such a picture with her song “The Artists are leaving”, quietly stood-up and left the stage. The effect was stunning.

ROMEO AND JULIET SUITE No.2

Presented by Canberra Youth Music and Canberra Dance Development Centre

Llewellyn Hall Saturday 23^rd June 2012

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

Georgia Powley and Hayden Baum
with
The Canberra Youth Orchestra
(Photo:Greg Primmer) 

Canberra Youth Music and Canberra Dance Development Centre pooled their resources to present an impressive and satisfying Shakespearean themed concert in Llewellyn Hall.

The opening work was the lovely tone poem “The Bard” written in 1913 by Jean Sibelius. Although short, this piece makes considerable demands on the players because of its richly detailed colouring. After a rather tentative start, the young musicians of The Canberra Youth Orchestra, carefully guided by conductor Rowan Harvey-Martin, soon settled into the mystical atmosphere of the piece to produce a deeply satisfying performance.

No sign of hesitancy in the second piece, “Suite from Henry V”.   Muir Matheson’s stirring  arrangement of music  written  by Sir William Walton for Sir Laurence Olivier’s acclaimed film of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” convincingly  captures the period feel of the source material, and it was clear from their strong, confident playing,  that the young players were revelling in the dramatic possibilities inherent in the arrangement, as much as the audience.

This confidence flowed over to the third piece of the evening, “The Walk to Paradise Garden”, the gorgeous intermezzo written by Frederick Delius for his opera “A Village Romeo and Juliet”.  This beautiful emotive music was superbly played by the young orchestra and set the mood and tone perfectly for the major drawcard of the evening, a performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s evocative “Suite No. 2 from Romeo and Juliet” presented with full orchestra and dancers from the Canberra Dance Development Centre.

Usually, in this type of presentation the dancers perform in front of the orchestra, which often results in the dancer’s movements being blurred by the movement of the orchestra players behind them.

On this occasion however, the vast stage of the Llewellyn Hall was divided into two separate areas, with the orchestra on one side, and the dance area, covered by a dance tarkett, on the other. It worked beautifully.

Jackie Hallahan had choreographed the seven short movements which make up the suite into a one-act ballet depicting the major incidents of the familiar Romeo and Juliet story. Commencing with the dramatic meeting of the Montague and Capulet families and progressing through to the final death scene in the family crypt, the choreography was clear, expressive and in complete harmony with the music. Most importantly it was confidently and beautifully executed by the young dancers.

 Highlights included the dramatic opening sequence with the dancers costumed in lovely flowing red and black costumes, and the lovely pas de deux superbly danced by Georgia Powley and Hayden Baum.

As seems de rigueur at concerts in the Llewellyn Hall, Rowan Harvey-Martin made an impassioned statement during the concert drawing attention to the impact of the current situation involving the Canberra School of Music, and the truth of her comments was compellingly demonstrated by this remarkable concert by two of Canberra’s leading youth organisations.