Oklahoma! has an energy that is set to catapult The Production Company onwards for their next 20 years. Lovers of traditional musical theatre must not miss the show at the State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne.
FROM DOWN UNDER: Assassins
Created with complete respect to the original concept, yet feeling fresh and new, this production is a thrilling 105-minute rollercoaster ride of insidious malevolence, blatant self-righteousness and wickedly mischievous humour.
FROM DOWN UNDER: Ladies in Black
Original Australian musical Ladies in Black retains its down to earth charm in this welcome national tour.
FROM DOWN UNDER: New Australian musical Ladies in Black
Nurtured and delivered by two state theatre companies, whose core business is straight plays, the surprise in the success of Ladies in Black is not so much that this happened at all but that it does not happen more often. Overseas, the subsidised or nonprofit theatre realm is often a melting pot for new music theatre work. Following this pattern, Ladies in Black should now be picked up by some lucky producer for a healthy commercial run. Fingers crossed that this will turn out to be the well-deserved outcome in this case.
From Down Under: Blood Brothers in Melbourne
The West End’s third longest-running musical, Blood Brothers is a dramatically charged potboiler with a poetic book and lyrics by Willy Russell (Shirley Valentine, Educating Rita). Russell’s simple music is highly hummable and well matched to the lively working-class characters.