Category / Musical Reviews

by nightwritessydney

Sunday in the Park with George | Sydney University Musical Theatre Ensemble (MUSE)

Perhaps you’ve had the experience of being trapped in a conversation with someone emphatically asking, “What does art do? What is the point of it?” Or maybe you’ve been the one doing the trapping. Either way, it became a desperate, high-stakes question when the COVID-19 pandemic began ripping through the art scene in 2020 and Australian artists were hung out to dry without their audiences. And, yet, the question of art’s purpose stretches back centuries, as illustrated in this second production of the year from the Sydney University Musical Theatre Ensemble.

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by nightwritessydney

Back to MA | Madem Productions

Image by Thomas Adams

We’ve all heard of Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and maybe even Codependents Anonymous but this MA: Motherholics Anonymous. For all those people who just can’t separate themselves from their clingy, controlling mothers, MA is a safe space amongst fellow mother addicts.

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by nightwritessydney

Violet | Lane Cove Theatre Company

Image by Jim Crew

Before the advent of television and the growth of televangelist greats like Pat Robertson and Joel Osteen, Evangelist preachers would tour all over the United States, spreading the word of God and performing miracle cures that garnered even more attention for their preaching. Just as televised fame was taking over the performance of prayer, a young woman sought out a miracle healer to take away her pain and make her future bright again.

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by nightwritessydney

The Deb | Australian Theatre for Young People

Image by Tracey Schramm

For city folk, the traditional debutante ball might seem like an outdated idea with unwelcome patriarchal overtones but the deb is still a thriving cultural tradition in many rural cities around Australia. It’s an exciting event where young adults get to celebrate who they are and mark the transition into adulthood all with a bit of pomp and glamour. But this year in Dunburn, the city and country perspectives collide with disastrous consequences for a small town already on the brink of collapse.

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by nightwritessydney

Isn’t It Queer? | Little Triangle

Image by Junior Jin

Last year the icon Stephen Sondheim passed away and the loss was particularly felt amongst the queer theatre kids (and adults) who grew into themselves through the soundtrack of Sondheim’s love stories. In this celebration of the man’s legacy, Little Triangle present an honorary cabaret with a twist: sweeping, scalding, passionate love but no straights, only queer!

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by nightwritessydney

It’s Still Her Voice | Siren Theatre Co

Image by Alex Vaughan

A woman, alone, heartbroken, awaiting the ring of the telephone. The audience eavesdropping, piecing together a doomed evening based on half a conversation and a long history. Eventually the silent pauses and dropped connections grow louder with the woman’s increasing distress and despair.

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by nightwritessydney

Puppets | Panimo Pandemonium Festival

Image by Monique Harmer

Apps like Tinder and Bumble and Hinge were supposed to make dating easier but the plethora of fish in the digital sea hasn’t resulted in Liv’s happily ever after. But the dire state of heterosexuality doesn’t stop a girl from dreaming, living vicariously through love ballads, or anthropomorphising her puppet pals as deadbeat exes, now, does it?

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by nightwritessydney

Wudjang: Not the Past | Bangarra Dance Theatre & Sydney Theatre Company

Image by Daniel Boud

When the future or even the present feel so pressing it can be difficult to see the relevance of old stories and traditions. But in this collaborative performance between Bangarra Dance Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company, the past is shown to be ongoing with powerful lessons that ancestors can teach about resilience and care.

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by nightwritessydney

Pete the Sheep | Monkey Baa Theatre Company

Image by Lisa Williams

Being different can be hard, especially when you’re deviating from tradition. Shaun is a new sheep shearer with some new ideas that really rock the shed and Ratso’s set ways but, together, they open up a whole range of possibilities for the sheep shearing profession.

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by nightwritessydney

Jekyll & Hyde: the Musical | Lane Cove Theatre Company

Image by Jim Crew

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a classic Victorian gothic story that played into contemporary concerns about good and evil, science and religion, and the conundrum of man v God. Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn’s musical adaptation with book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse maintains the story’s sordid details but with an added interest in society’s facade.

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