State Opera South Australia and State Theatre South Australia. Her Majesty’s Theatre. 25 May 2024
One cheers and laments at the same time for this historic production. One cheers its glorious might, its wit and perfection of production values, and one laments that it had an abysmally short run - too short for the word to get out properly and too short for enough people to see it. This is a tragedy. Everyone needs to know Candide and to have that immortal figure embedded in their knowledge.
But this is a very big production; far too big to be practicable for a long season. There are hundreds of people onstage. There’s the State Opera Chorus, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra assembled en masse, plus the myriad trained voices of the Elder Conservatorium, not to mention the principals. So, for those lucky enough to have snared a seat, it has been a treat of the lifetime.
Rarely have there been even Festival of Arts headliner shows of this scale and standard.
Bottom line: Magnificence is an understatement.
Candide was created by French philosopher Voltaire two centuries ago at a time of politico-socio-environmental upheaval. ’Twas satirical then and so is it now, with the world still in fermenting disorder. Its acid wit and pathos retain their currency.
And, while Candide does not rival West Side Story as composer Leonard Bernstein’s most popular work, it is indeed a rollicking operetta in which every word except the narration is sung.
Amid the operatic elite in this sizzling show cast as the vain and vapid Maximilian, is Adelaide’s Hans, the German, AKA Matt Gilbertson. He’s quite a musical maestro as well as the best showman in town, but an opera star? Well, yes, as it happens in this context. The opera bods have really discovered the breadth of our song-and-dance man and he is singing as never before. Takes the breath away. The creatives, Mitchell Butel, Amy Campbell, and Anthony Hunt, have also allowed him to maintain his comic identity and he has ‘Hansed’ it up all over the place.
Candide’s lyrics were penned over years by some of the greatest of Broadway lyricists including Stephen Sondheim and Dorothy Parker just for starters and they are delectably funny and quirky.
Then again, the operetta also carries Voltaire’s serious philosophic message: all will not necessarily turn out for the best in this best of all possible worlds, as espoused by the teacher Dr Pangloss. But, as is shown through Candide’s experiences as an innocent abroad in a big, wide, wicked world, the best is actually to be found in realising what one has in one’s own garden.
Clad in a glory of canary yellow, Mitchell Butel embodies Dr Pangloss and also the narrator in which latter capacity he has some of the best of all possible lines. Like Hans, he’s an accomplished song-and-dance man who brings verve to a stage. As does the inimitable Caroline O’Connor who plays The Old Lady who becomes one of Candide’s allies through the narrative. She’s stellar!
The other principals are opera stars led by Alexander Lewis, who belies his comical costume as Candide by delivering his lines in a divine tenor voice. Then there’s Candide’s adored Cunegonde, the love object and much-misused and abused heroine sung by Annie Aitken. She is entrusted with Glitter and Be Gay, which must be one of the funniest and most demanding coloratura compositions of all time, and she performs it with vocal brilliance only matched by the wit and whimsy of her delivery. It is truly a “brava” moment.
Taylah Johns turns heads as Paquette, the sweet servant girl, and popular Adelaide singer Michaela Burger, stepping in from time to time as the narrator, shines with a speaking voice which might teach an elocutionist a thing or two. Ah, but there are yet more glorious voices in which to revel: the richness of John Longmuir, Rod Schultz, Ezra Juanta, and Rosie Hosking. These performers leap from character to character as they embody the foreign lands of Candide’s travails.
Attired in a wild folly of outrageous costumes from Brendan de la Hay and choreographed by Amy Campbell, the principals besport betwixt and between the tiers of the stage whereupon, of course, conductor Anthony Hunt presides over his wall-to-wall expanse of glorious musicians. The massed choir sits as a human backdrop, adorning the story line with nods, costume embellishments, and Mexican waves according to the cue. And dare one forget the cubes? Ailsa Paterson, talent of a set realiser, has equipped the action with very clever multi-purpose cubes to light or not to light, depending on the action.
For those of us lucky to have seen this triumph, we shall carry it onwards through life as one of those magical achievements of high theatre. It really was the best of all possible shows in the best of all possible theatres in this best of all possible cities - which, indeed, all told is our very own hard-worked and beautiful garden.
Samela Harris
When: 23 May to 25 May
Where: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Bookings: Closed
Red Phoenix Theatre. Holden Street Theatres. 23 May 2024
References to Texan playwright Horton Foote as “America’s Chekov” really hit home with one experiences The Trip to Bountiful. One could add a slice of Tennessee Williams to the style and spirit he imparts. Or one could just say that he was a gifted writer and his plays sing with the social and psychological eloquence of a graceful pen.
This play first was produced on stage in the US in 1953 but not on stage in Adelaide until now, since it is a Red Phoenix principle that their productions are fresh to the local eye. Of course, it has been seen by many on the screen, firstly in 1986 starring Geraldine Page and again with a TV remake in 2014 starring Cicely Tyson.
It has held up through the years through the timelessly triste humanity of its theme. It depicts a frail old woman facing her final years under the thumb of a shallow and domineering daughter-in-law in a Houston apartment. Through sleepless nights she plots her escape dreaming to smell the trees and salt air of the old family farm in the obscure little country town of Bountiful while her hapless son tries to keep domestic peace with the wife who must be appeased.
Finally, she makes a break for it.
The play traces her trip and the people she meets along the way.
Red Phoenix has gone the whole hog, so to speak, with really complicated sets on Holden Streets’ Studio space, changing the theatre entrance and building partitions to create corridors and separate rooms. Even the dressing room door is cleverly a part of this ambitious Kate Preston design.
It took a large team to construct it and it requires some hefty action onstage for scene changes. They are clunky, but forgivably worth the work when one gazes upon, for instance, the bus station agent whiling away the night shift with a book in his wee ticket office. It is a vivid vignette superbly lit by Richard Parkhill, that stalwart quality lighting designer. On opening night, he had to actually come onstage to rescue the lighting after a show-stopping emergency with an audience member. The actors and crew handled the interruption with admirable professionalism.
It was a crucial moment in Sharon Malujlo’s performance as the old mother, Mrs Watts. Malujlo has been carving an honourable reputation and this characterisation, and this work under the direction of Libby Drake, is really a definitive display of her acting prowess, down to the "little Red Hen” display of her compulsive housekeeping in the Houston apartment. It tells the audience everything about the domestic status quo. Also, she captures the timbre of the old Southerner’s voice, albeit not every Texan nuance. There is no accent coach among the credits for this production and accents are unneven. Krystal Cave, however, as the ghastly daughter-in-law, Jessie May, captures both accent and a very complex and credible characterisation. Leighton Voight looks the part as the son, Ludie, and delivers some beautifully perceptive emotional moments, while Laura Antoniazzi, as the friend old Mrs Watts makes on trip, does what she always does when on stage, a jolly good job. The support cast also works well and hard - some fine old talents are among them such as Ron Hoenig, very touching as the Harrison sheriff with Brian Godfrey, Megan Dansie, and Stuart Pearce filling the bill nicely indeed.
The Trip to Bountiful is a very challenging play to stage, but a play very well worth seeing.
Old Mrs Watts is a classic character, not only of the time of the play’s setting, but of our day, too: old women who have had to lose their autonomy. Then there are inter-generational stresses expressed in the play, another universality and also, the private stress of some couples who are without issue. It is a play with a wealth of themes. It is a meaty piece of theatre one has been very glad to see.
Samela Harris
When: 23 May to 1 Jun
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: holdenstreettheatres.com.au
Red Peppers / Hands Across The Sea. Holden Street Theatres. 16 May 2024
In an era when short plays were really not the thing, Noël Coward decided to write a slew of them, primarily to showcase himself and Gertrude Lawrence. Under the collective title of Tonight at 8.30, the ten play cycle was intended to feature three plays across three evenings.
Holden Street Theatres is presenting two of these under the Cowardy Cowardy Custard moniker, which references Cowardy Custard (1972), a biographical revue featuring Coward’s work, produced in the latter years of his life. Red Peppers and Hands Across the Sea were written in 1936 and are quite contrasting in their depictions of society at the time.
Red Peppers was described by Coward as an “interlude with music” and so it is. Played respectively by Geoff Revell and Martha Lott, George and Lily Pepper are a very ordinary vaudeville act, playing the very ordinary vaudeville circuit in the days when England had such a thing. It is Lily’s bungle at the end of the first musical number Has Anybody Seen Our Ship which forms the basis of the ruckus that occurs in the dressing room afterwards. There’s a sadness to the second-rate, and both Revell and Lott portray the still burning ambition with an experienced balance, moving from pathos to cruelty to mutual affection with aplomb. Revell brings his marvellously mobile face to the role as he navigates the pair’s ongoing battles with the theatre manager (Brian Wellington) and orchestra conductor (David O'Brien) and defends his relationship with the star of the show, a fading Mabel Grace (Rebecca Kemp).
Rather than the Coward’s usual high society settings, Red Peppers is more the vaudeville set at the fag end of its era, with the pretensions of grandeur displayed by Mabel Grace an irritant to Lily Pepper, who in reality aspires to be where Mabel is (or has been).
The second play Hands Across The Sea is set in the high society drawing room of Lord Peter and Lady Maureen Gilpin (rumoured to be based on Lord and Lady Mountbatten). Lady Gilpin, known as ‘Piggie’ (Martha Lott), and her companion have been on a tour of the colonies, and have invited numerous people they met on their travels to come for tea when they are next in London. When one such couple turns up (Mr and Mrs Wadhurst, played by Geoff Revell and Rebecca Kemp), she mistakes them for another she has invited, and of course there is much comedic confusion as this is sorted out.
John Doherty as Lord Peter, a commander in the Royal Navy, portrays the character effortlessly, and is a strong anchor on the stage while Lott is the rather frizzy and dizzy foil. Piggie has invited other friends over at short notice to help out with the unexpected arrivals; Helen Geoffreys as the Hon Clare Wedderburn and Lieutenant Commander Alistair Corbett, known as Ally, played by David Archidiaco. Adding to the confusion is young Mr Burnham (Christopher Cordeaux) who arrives with plans for a speed boat for Lord Peter and is roundly ignored, being mistaken for someone else of course.
It is in this second play that Goers shows his hand at the direction of physical comedy. From slippery sofas to telephone cords and cumbersome cardboard tubes, there is some deft play here. Again Revell’s face is a star – he has few lines as the hapless Mr Wadhurst, but doesn’t really need them – he is a delight to watch.
At times the terr-ribly posh accents render the words unintelligible, and for both plays, the interaction between the characters is often left wanting. There is an over concentration on delivery; lines are spoken, cues are waited on, more lines are spoken; sometimes the characters don’t seem to be speaking to one another, so intent are they on reciting their lines.
Coward’s popularity may have waned over the years, but the writing is still very witty and diabolically clever. When the words are allowed to speak for themselves, these wonderful plays can be as enjoyable as they were for all the bright young things of his time.
Arna Eyers-White
When: 16 May to 1 Jun
Where: Holden Street Theatres – The Arch
Bookings: holdenstreettheatres.com
The Hills Musical Company. Stirling Theatre. 11 May 2024
The Hills Musical Company’s latest offering Urinetown - The Musical, now playing at the Stirling Theatre, first premiered in 2001, picking up 3 Tony Awards. It is based on the book of Greg Kotis with the musical was co-written by Kotis and Mark Hollman.
Against the then-emerging topic of climate change this is the story of the imaginary town of Urinetown, where after a 20 year drought private toilets are banned. Urinetown is but one of many towns throughout this world - and a poor one at that. It could even be Your-town, and so (as in all good revolutions), the seeds are sown and germinated of greed, power, and struggles, and ultimately rebellion - and sacrifice. But who will prevail?
This Urinetown is a victim of climate-change. But they are not immune - for there are Urinetowns everywhere - now and into the future. And if not climate change - what's next off the list? This is both political and social commentary in a musical guise and it beguilingly draws us in. And powerfully so. This is a well-crafted work - delivered with class, style, and excellent production & design values.
If Act I is its theme, then Act II is its story. And so intertwined.
Act I focuses on Urinetown - the town, its people and its 20 year drought, where only pay-as-you-go public toilets remain, its impact and impost on the poor, and against the perfidy of the big-end-of-town.
Act II is the rebellion and the replacement of something better. More equitable. Yet does it ultimately deliver this true panacea?
In one vein, Urinetown may not even be a musical - only a political piece with music. If so, then this Hills Musical Company production at the Stirling Theatre dispels any such notion. Quite simply this is both ambitious and outstanding. To suggest that it has transferred easily from the page to the stage would be incorrect - for it has all the hallmarks of thoughtful casting where everyone can (no must) sing, dance, act, and play comedy. This is brilliant ensemble stuff.
Urinetown has a mighty strong principal cast and is a great strength. Yet too the collective, and the individual performances are the strength of the on-stage delivery - particularly as this is as much about comedy, as it is musical. It just all works!
For Director, Ruby Pinkerton this is a remarkable collective group of skilled people who embrace and deliver beyond the plot on the page. She is well supported by the production team. Jemma Allen's choreography is pivotal to the pace and the continuity of the show.
If this is a courageous production - with some risk, then bravo!
Brian Wellington
When: 10 to 25 May
Where: Stirling Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
Adelaide Festival Centre. Dunstan Playhouse. 10 May 2024
It’s a bit of a jolt when you realise that the first Harry Potter book was released 27 years ago. It seems just yesterday the first wide-eyed millennials lined up outside bookstores for the second book as Harry and Hermione fever swept the world. With the final instalment released in 2007, the alpha generation has also embraced the wizardly adventure series, although for many of them, the films have been their primary source. Nonetheless, Book Week Hermiones and Harrys still far outweigh other characters during the costume parade, and the musical ran for four years in Melbourne, a fair indication of the enduring popularity of JK Rowling’s septology.
Created by British actors Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner, Potted Potter has been running for almost as long, with the first production being a five-minute street show performed to the aforementioned fans waiting in line for the 2005 midnight release of Book Six, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was quickly developed into an hour-long show, and the seventh book added on its release in 2007. With various actors stepping in, the two-hander has toured the world for almost two decades and is now doing an Australasian return run.
The actors in this production are Scott Hoatson and Brendan Murphy, as Harry Potter and ‘everyone else’ respectively. In a tightly scripted 70 minutes, Director Richard Hurst takes the actors through their paces, encapsulating the story lines of all seven books using a variety of media.
Hoatson is the Harry fan, and insists on playing the character, believing that Brendan has assembled a cast of the best West End actors to accompany him. Hmm, whoopsie. Having failed to secure anyone (as a budget measure) Murphy must take on the other 350 characters. This makes for some hilarious situations, particularly in terms of fast changes.
If Potter heads are looking to follow the plot of each book in any comprehensible order, forget it. While the books are referenced and each plot line explained, it’s so brief and so loose as to be just recognisable. Fortunately, that doesn’t matter; they’re almost just a hook on which to hang some outrageous comedy and quick improv thinking. With lightning-fast scripting between the two as they argue about production values, the ‘play within a play’ has much to offer beyond the actual Potter storyline.
The use of video (Tom Hillenbrand) to explain Book Three is genius, and the audience participation in the quidditch match beautifully broke up the unrelenting concentration on the rapid-fire stage action.
There’s a lot of referencing of other books, films, and shows – and maybe it’s time for an update to a more current zeitgeist, as some of it was going over the heads of younger audience members. While Shrek, Frozen, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Lord of the Rings and Mary Poppins made it in safely, Tina Turner for example, did not. And while I can’t think of another character to channel while wearing a fuzzy red wig, breaking into Tomorrow from Annie drew a lot of blank looks from my alphas (memo to self – check DVD shelf to see if copy of 1982 film is still extant).
The show closes with Book Seven …The Deathly Hallows, abridged to the tune of Gloria Gaynor’s now iconic I Will Survive. The audience loved it, clapping along with Harry and Voldemort until the end.
A lingering thought is that Potted Potter is more suited to being a Fringe show rather than a full theatre stage production, as it was in its early iterations. Still, a highly entertaining 75 minutes.
Arna Eyers-White
When: 10 to 12 May
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: Closed