State Opera of South Australia. Adelaide Festival Theatre. 23 May 2015
Are you a virgin? An opera virgin that is. If so, then the State Opera of SA’s production of Mozart’s ever-popular Don Giovanni is precisely the musical saddle you should mount to satisfy your curiosity! It is sassy, sexy, passionate and disturbingly provocative. It is high art, but it is totally accessible. Most importantly, it is thoroughly enjoyable.
Don Giovanni, the eponymous character of the opera, is a hedonistic sex addict who simply cannot get enough. For the Don it is as much about the chase as it is about the conquest. Age, race, creed – none of it matters to him. If it’s in a skirt, he’s ready to saddle up, and if her husband or father is nearby, that just firms up the Don’s resolve! Inevitably, the odds shorten and Don Giovanni meets a fiery end in the smoky pits of Hell!
Carl Friedrich Oberles’s granite-grey monolithic single set, beautifully lit by Nigel Levings, serves as a multitude of locales – from laneway to villa courtyard, from town-square to graveyard. It works a treat and one is never in doubt where one is. The final scene, when it all comes crashing down – literally – is especially dramatic.
The principals are almost all Australian artists with strong connections to Adelaide, and they form a very strong ensemble. Grant Doyle reveled in the role of Don Giovanni. His rich baritone voice was uniformly strong across the register, and he cut a very swashbuckling and rakish figure. He was animated in the extreme, and convincingly portrayed Don Giovanni’s final slide into depravity.
Teresa La Rocca imbued the role of Donna Elvira with just the right ambivalence of coquettishness and prudishness. Her aria Ah! chi mi dice mai, clearly showed her vocal talents. Gisele Blanchard was innocence personified as Zerlina, and Jeremy Tatchell was suitably bruised as Masetto, her cuckolded soon-to-be-husband. Stephen Gallop was statuesque as the ghostly Commendatore and his rich bass voice made an easy meal of Don Giovanni! A cenar teco m'invitasti.
Douglas McNicol, an Adelaide audience favourite, had great fun with the role of Leporello, Don Giovanni’s servant. Leporello can almost steal the show, but McNicol’s ample experience allowed him to take the role to the brink without falling over – he perfectly complemented Doyle.
Virgilio Marion played Don Ottavio, the only tenor role. His vibrato was tight throughout Act 1, but more relaxed after the interval when he gave his best performance.
The star performance for the evening was given by Sharon Prero in the role of Donna Anna. Her honed acting skills were only eclipsed by her fine soprano voice that combined to give a special edge to Don Ottavio...Or sai chi l'onore.
Conductor Graham Abbott also conducted Don Giovanni for SASO when it was last performed in 2002, and he clearly knows and understands the work. He is especially busy during the current production as he also plays and conducts occasionally from the fortepiano.
This was a pleasing production, and the large opening night audience left well satisfied.
Kym Clayton
When: 23 to 30 May
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au
Marie Clark Musical Theatre. Arts Theatre. 22 May 2015
If the first night audience was any indication, The Wedding Singer is in for a honeymoon at the box office. The audience whooped and stood and cheered, having been loudly enthusiastic throughout the performance.
It was a youngish audience which could readily relate to the emotional roller coaster of the weddings world.
Then again, most everyone has had wedding experiences of the love/hate variety.
The Wedding Singer as a musical was based on the movie and adapted by its writer Tim Herlihy with Chad Beguelin and adorned by lots and lots of jolly Broadway-style music by Matthew Sklar. It has the same utterly corny love story as the movie. Having been stood up at the altar by a ghastly bride, the Wedding Singer Robbie Hart thereafter stumbles against the odds towards happiness with the nice waitress, Julia, who is betrothed to the sleazily successful Glen Guglia. Heaven forfend, it is only at the eleventh hour that she realises she would be stuck with the name Julia Guglia.
The Marie Clark Musical Theatre team has thrown extraordinary resources and energy into mounting an extravagant show with glossy production values. It is right up there at the big end of town with dazzling costumes and a really slick, high-tech, multimedia set.
The huge cast is largely ensemble - and a hard-working, well-drilled line-up it is. Choreographer Rachel Dow has well and truly earned her keep in training a very diverse group into fine co-ordination while at the same time, conveying the sense that it all comes naturally and they are having a wonderful time.
Musical director Ben Stefanoff, similarly, brings out the best among singers trained and untrained through a daunting array of about 30 musical numbers large and small. And, his 10-strong Wedding Singer Band in the semi-dark up there on the stage is fabulous.
The lighting plot is a very ambitious indeed. It was a bit hit and miss on opening night, but its design aligns with the generally upmarket approach that director Max Rayner has given the whole show. All the stops are out. Even the American accents are convincing.
As the Wedding Singer, Rohan Watts is very credible. He has an everyman look. He's appealing without oozing heartthrob glamor. His jilted plight quickly wins audience sympathy and, with seeming ease, he belts out song after song with and without his guitar. His backing band of musicians Sam and George are beautifully cast. Sebastian Cooper does have some of that Broadway glamor in the role of Sam while Damien Quick simply brings the house down with a bedazzling performance as the androgynous George. Diva-vine.
Tegan Gully plays sweet Julia, everyone's love interest. She's a glowing strength in the cast - a seasoned performer with a good musicals voice and she doesn't put a foot wrong.
Gavin Cianci absolutely shines as the ghastly Glen Guglia and is definitely a rising talent in the town. Meanwhile, Rachel da Graca Costa, Laura Villani, Sarah Wildy and Casey von Einem are quality support performers ahead of the powerful ensemble.
The only real weaknesses in the show are the cliched and grotesquely ageist portrayal of the granny (get another wig) and the fact that the whole thing is a couple of songs too long.
But, on these cold nights, this foot-tapping production is a sure-fire heart-warmer.
Samela Harris
When: 22 to 30 May
Where: Arts Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
Music for Little Monkeys. Piano Bar. 16 May 2015
Yeee-haw!! Strap on your scooting boots and dancing pants, The Mudcakes are in town with 'Music for Little Monkeys'. Led by singer/songwriter Sherry Rich and Grammy & Oscar nominated musician, Rick Plant, the trio bring their popular children's show to Adelaide Festival Centre's Piano Bar.
Toting an impressive cache of instruments, they create a fun, Nashville-meets-Combe sound that is surprisingly mature. Aptly described as "kindie rock", their bopping tunes keep the target audience up and dancing, with fierce competition for selection to join the performers on stage. The Mudcakes bravely offer up several spots for makeshift band members at almost every song break, calling up both tots and their adults to play bongos, tambourines and kazoo. With a sea of hands in the air, the ear-to-ear smiles on the lucky chosen are a delight to see whilst a stolic AFC staff member keeps the stage crashers at bay.
The Piano Bar provides a well designed venue with plenty of room for chairs at the back and space at the front for sitting, jumping and dancing. Great views from all positions enables both the shy and outgoing to comfortably enjoy the show.
A great morning out for all.
Nicole Russo
When: Closed
Where: Piano Bar, Adelaide Festival Centre
Bookings: Closed
Space Theatre. State Theatre Company of SA and Hothouse Theatre. 12 May 2015
Like Fin Kruckenmeyer, Vivienne Walshe has emerged as a poet among contemporary Australian playwrights.
This is Where We Live is an uncompromisingly literary work, a play of well-penned thoughts and vivid turns of phrase. It rings with short, sharp sentences, poetic riffs, delicious reiterations, rhymes, onomatopoeia...
It really does not need the dramatic set of urban derelictions, the fancy-pants lighting, or the atmospheric music, albeit they are all very well rendered by State Theatre and Hothouse Theatre creative team.
It just needs actors.
Its plot describes teen love. Chloe and Chris are outsiders. They share unhappy home lives and discomfort in the school environment. She has a gammy leg and a dysfunctional family. He is a sensitive boy who suffers from being the headmaster's son. Despite, or maybe because of, their differences, they establish a bond which is as ill-fated as Romeo and Juliet. But this play's influence is said to be the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. Chloe, from the wrong side of the tracks, is she of the underworld, luring her Orpheus to her side.
Hence, with these broad cultural references, this play fits into an educational repertoire and is headed for a regional tour.
The many young in the opening night audience responded to the production with obvious excitement. They might not have recognised the Joycean tenor of some of the script, but they were loving it. Perhaps, also, they were still close to the raw and tender emotions of teens. Beautiful Chloe, despite her handicap and a miserable past, holds all the sexual and emotional power over Chris. Chris is the innocent, a tender, vulnerable boy very easily hurt by female caprice. This imbalance is as old and as common as time itself.
As Chloe, Matilda Bailey has a torrent of uninterrupted dialogue with which to set the scene. They're not the easiest lines in the world to deliver and director Jon Halpin might have steered her to some different emphases in some of the complex descriptives. She is a very strong and engaging young actor, but hers is the hardest task with all those wondrous words emerging from a brittle character. James Smith, on the other hand, has the gift of fluidity and the more erudite character to evoke. It's a lovely performance. Together, they produce some deeply touching moments and some interestingly at-odds ones.
We've all seen this storyline in myriad forms through the years. It's classic. But the Walshe way with words and the commentary on Australian small town values place This is Where We Live in a class of its own.
Samela Harris
When: 12 to 16 May
Where: Space Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au
Touring until June 3
Arts Theatre. Metropolitan Musical Theatre Company. 7 May 2015
You can't beg, borrow or steal tickets for the Met's production of Cats. It booked out way ahead. People just love Cats.
It is true that it has some nice music and it always was an unusual idea. But it is an oddly insubstantial entity and it really has no point. Furthermore, it effectively obscures its cast in makeup and headpieces. Yet the public can't get enough of it. It has always mystified me.
From a production perspective, it is a costly and complicated venture to mount. It requires a huge and very, very fit and talented cast, demanding costumes, six tons of facepaint and a good orchestra.
Lucky for all those faithful pre-bookers, The Met has the experience and resources to bring it together. There have been better productions of Cats but this one is not bad at all. Its strength is in its dancers. It is wonderful to see so many lithe and skilled hoofers.
Oddly, on opening night Ben Saunders' 18-strong orchestra seemed a little uncertain as the overture got going and the first choral numbers seemed too heavily dominated by sopranos. Then it all fell into place. For the rest of the show, the orchestra was a powerful and streamlined force for good. One could feel the musical love coming up from the pit.
The cast is a bit uneven, but director Leonie Osborne knows how to feature the strong players so they draw the eye. The T.S. Elliot characters of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, on which the show is based, rise each to have their moment, not in the sun since the Jellicle cats meet only on this one night of the year, but beneath the full moon which dangles rather awkwardly over the set.
Among the joy of good dancers, Victoria The White Cat stands out - not only because she is bright white but because Ali Walsh is a long-limbed dancer who is a beauty to behold. Victoria is the special dancing cat of Cats and the Met is lucky to have found such a well-trained and outstanding dancer to embody her.
When it comes to cattiness, Daniel Fleming is unmatched on stage. He is Rum Tum Tugger and not only is his singing and dancing terrific but also he maintains a disdainful aloofness with touches of sly interest which are classic of the confident cat. He is almost too pleased with himself to respond to Bombalurina's affection, albeit he succumbs to a good ear rub.
Selina Britz is another terrific dancer and she does Bombalurina proud.
Grizabella is the famous faded glamour cat who sings Memory. She is meant to be a bit scruffy but director Osborne has allowed her to be more weird than scruffy. If ever there was a wig which belonged in a haunted house, this massive shock of tangle is it. Poor old thing. With a grotesquely lined face and blood red lipstick, Jenny Scarce-Tolley produces a raw rendition of the great song and the house is moved.
Skimbleshanks, the railway cat is outstandingly played by Daniel Salmond, Rumpus well done from Aled Proeve, Bustopher Jones also from Neville Langman, Rumpleteaser and Mr Mistoffelees lovely from Roberta Potamianos, and Josh Barkley is dignified and impressive as Old Deuteronomy. Exceptional with a voice of utter sweetness is Eve McMilan as Jellylorum, a loving comfort to that palsied old prune, Gus the Theatre Cat, pitifully embodied by Barry Hill.
There are others with merit, too many to mention, in this large cast.
It's just a bumper song and dance show with its stirring and toe-tapping Lloyd Webber musical formula and choreographer Carmel Vistoli has done credit to every exhausting bar of it. The stage is a mass of paws, tails, and stubby little ears. The whiskers, not so much so. That cat makeup cries out for more prominent whiskers.
Samela Harris
When: 7 to 16 May
Where: Arts Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au