Reviews: Marina Prior, Casey Donovan and Christie Whelan Browne in Kimberly Akimbo
Here’s the latest arts reviews including a look at Kimberly Akimbo starring Marina Prior, Casey Donovan and Christie Whelan Browne.
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Kimberly Akimbo
Her Majesty’s Theatre, until July 18
Trigger warning: Set in 1999, Kimberly Akimbo is going to take you back to your teen angst years.
And, if it doesn’t, you’re kidding yourself.
That is because one of the lessons of this delightful, and deep, coming-of-age musical is that every teenager is a dork.
And, in what can only be good news, Kimberly Akimbo also shows us that it is something to celebrate.
With lyrics and book by David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori, Kimberly Akimbo has won five Tony awards, including Best Musical.
It’s easy to see, and hear, why in Mitchell Butel’s dazzling new Australian production for State Theatre and Melbourne Theatre Company, which is next level thanks to Kym Purling’s always brilliant music direction.
Marina Prior is captivating Kimberly Levaco, the new kid on the block in Secaucus, a fictional town in New Jersey.
She is on the edge of 16 but has a rare genetic ageing disease, which means she is going on 70.
Kimberly is also wise beyond her years, teaching both her peers and the dysfunctional adults in her life a thing, or 2000.
Prior is perfect in the role. Her presence and vocals have the right mix of frailty and strength.
As her friend-turned-love interest, anagram aficionado Seth Weetis, Darcy Wain is making his professional debut after graduating from music theatre at Elder Conservatorium.
That this emerging talent won the part is a no-brainer; he disarms with his quirky charm, has the vocal chops and can even play a mean (geeky) tuba.
Marty Alix, Allycia Angeles, Alana Iannace and Jacob Rozario, as the Teen Quartet, Martin, Delia, Teresa, and Aaron, also bring pizzazz to their roles, along with heavenly harmonies.
Another of Kimberly Akimbo’s lessons – poignantly delivered by Prior’s character – is that it is never too late for grown-ups to mature, or at least try.
Which brings us to the emotionally stunted adults in Kimberly’s life:
Wowing with her powerful bluesy vocals and magnetic stage presence, Casey Donovan is in fine form as unashamedly over-the-top Aunt Debra.
Nathan O’Keefe portrays Kimberly’s deadbeat dad Buddy with hilarity – such as when he tells Kimberly, who is experimenting with make-up, “You look like Nana at her wake” – and pathos.
As Kimberly’s Juicy Couture tracksuit-wearing mother Pattie, Christie Whelan Browne is a scene-stealer.
She’s truly a triple threat who can sing, act and dance, here in the form of physical comedy, with and without rollerblades.
In true musical theatre tradition, Kimberly Akimbo is tied up in a neat bow.
But it’s more than a feel-good ending.
As already mentioned, this sensational show offers important life lessons.
And, in another sign of a top musical, there’s those catchy tunes, such as Hello, Darling and Great Adventure, that you will be humming for days to come.
La Clique
Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Space Theatre, June 18 to 22
Full-frontal nudity, a water-filled bathtub, hot buttered popcorn and even shaving cream combine to ensure that La Clique tops its reputation for outrageous extremes at this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival.
Marking 20 years since La Clique effectively defined what is now the core formula for a multitude of circus-cabaret style tent shows at each year’s Fringe, this 18+ season brings a mix of returning favourites and newer acts to a theatre environment.
Its small, circular stage is situated on the floor, surrounded by bentwood chairs, so that once the lights go down the show still feels intimate … and occasionally dangerous.
This is also perhaps its most adults-only incarnation, featuring full-frontal male and female nudity which is played strictly for shock value and outlandish laughs.
Any sense of eroticism actually comes from the costumed but sensual opening bathtub acrobatics – which also provide the danger in terms of splash factor for the front rows – and the other spectacular aerialist acts that follow.
Tara Boom’s hilariously messy and confrontational popcorn-making clown act, which combines hula hoops with striptease, is surpassed only by the extraordinary beauty and delicacy of her subsequent umbrella balancing routine.
Longtime favourite Heather Holliday turns up the heat to top her regular sword-swallowing and fire-eating acts with a lightsaber show that turns out to be internally illuminating.
In between, there are highly original juggling spectacles, soul singer puppets which dance and do their own comic “strips”, and a shaving scene that will leave you foaming in disbelief.
Patrick McDonald
Natalie Abbott – Bad Hand
Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Banquet Room, June 18 and 19
Fate might have recently dealt Natalie Abbott a bad hand but she plays her cards and sings so beautifully and funnily in this debut cabaret show that the promised talk of grief quickly turns into a joyous, uplifting and motivational experience.
Vivacious, highly expressive and gifted with a captivating voice, the former star of Muriel’s Wedding the Musical gently teases out the slow reveal of her personal loss between poignant fresh arrangements and mashups of classics.
Her costume combination of black tie top, sequined skirt and knee-high cowgirl boots hints at the musical mixture of torch songs, pop classics and country tunes to come.
Accompanied with verve and vigour by a four-piece band and her own occasional acoustic guitar, Abbott also brings a country vocal twang when needed, and even takes us through a jazz rap on evolution.
She sets Tina Arena’s song Burn ablaze with her impassioned musical theatre styling, and there’s almost a touch of Judy Garland in her delivery of A Cockeyed Optimist.
A medley of The Beatles’ Help and Sondheim’s Being Alive is delivered in more up-tempo rock fashion here than Abbott’s equally striking, lush rendition at the festival’s opening gala.
Most wonderfully, the show incorporates recorded interludes with Abbott’s 90-year-old grandmother, whose outlook on life remains positively inspirational.
This sheer delight of a show proves Abbott is as welcome on the cabaret stage as she would be in a major musical or, for that matter, a country pub.
Patrick McDonald
Jessica Mauboy: The Story of Me
Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Her Majesty’s Theatre, June 14
Jessica Mauboy has been Australia’s golden girl since she first wowed us during her outback audition for Australian Idol.
But what you might not know is that her story began long before that life-changing moment.
From singing at her local karaoke bar to hitting the international stage at Eurovision and brushing shoulders with some of the music world’s most famous faces, Jessica takes her fans on a journey through the highs and lows of her career in Jessica Mauboy The Story of Me.
I don’t need to tell you how incredible Jessica is at singing – everyone already knows that – but I will anyway because her voice is something very special.
Every note is delivered with so much soul and sensitivity with her effortless ad libs inducing goosebumps every time.
From her chart topping hits to songs from her childhood, each tune is delivered with such sincerity – as if every song is a gift personally from Jessica to her audience.
Not only is her musical performance faultless, but her storytelling throughout the show is completely captivating. I could have listened to her talk for another hour.
Despite her success, Jessica remains the humble girl from Darwin. She speaks so highly of her supportive family and the sacrifices they have made for her, she’s always grateful and incredibly generous with her fans.
Speaking of her fans – they love her. Even in the formal setting of Her Majesty’s Theatre they were screaming and dancing in their seats like they were at the club.
The electric energy in the theatre was different to any other show I have attended there and this feeling was clearly feeding Jessica’s performance. She was utterly mesmerising on stage.
This was a one-of-a-kind evening with one of Australia’s most treasured talents.
Jessica, it was a pleasure and a privilege to hear the story of you.
Ruby Stewart
An Evening with Vika & Linda
Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Dunstan Playhouse, June 12 and 13
Individually, sisters Vika and Linda Bull possess two of the most magnificent voices Australia has ever produced. Together, they are simply unparalleled in their mastery of harmony and sibling simpatico for soul, gospel and blues music.
This set strips their rich repertoire to its raw core, allowing the duo’s vocals to soar and shine, accompanied only by Cameron Bruce on piano – although his rich, impassioned playing often feels orchestral in and of itself.
It’s testament to the strength of the sisters’ own catalogue of hits – from their beginnings with the Black Sorrows on Never Let Me Go, through Vika’s impassioned lament on the Paul Kelly written If I Could Start Today Again, to the more recent Kasey Chambers penned country of Raise Your Hand – that these sit seamlessly alongside their interpretations of classic songs.
Vika dares to tackle Nina Simone in a turbulent and tumultuous rendition of Sinner Man, her voice roaring from heaven to hell and back, before she and Linda join forces for the searing soul swagger of Feeling Good.
True to the cabaret format, the sisters share the often emotional stories behind such tunes as the deeply moving Grandpa’s Song, an apology to their beloved Samoan grandfather, and Linda’s struggle with being a single mother for Waiting on the Kid.
There are moments of joy and laughter too, particularly when Vika adopts a bluesy growl to declare My Man’s Got a Cold.
A new song That’s How I Pray, from their forthcoming album, is like a baptism by song, the waters in which the sisters love to swim lifting up the audience’s spirits while their voices float above in ethereal glory.
Patrick McDonald
Demi Adejuyigbe is Going to Do One (1) Backflip
Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Space Theatre, June 12 and 13
Viral video creator and TV comedy writer Demi Adejuyigbe promises to perform an impressive physical stunt – once – in his elaborately surreal, multimedia stand-up show, but will he ever get around to it?
Constant interruptions by his stage manager, celebrity callers, ridiculous and hilariously uncooperative remote control gadgets, musical theatre interludes and power point presentations seem destined to prevent him from realising his objective.
British-born, US based Adejuyigbe uses his inspired brand of mayhem to peel away the veneer of the clown and examine the very personal insecurities that lie beneath, while deconstructing and reconstructing everything from jazz to racism with absurd logic.
The audience becomes complicit in this outrageous mischief, egging Adejuyigbe on to risk injuring himself, both physically and emotionally, but safe in the knowledge that there will be hilarious pay-offs.
Super smart, relentlessly funny and packed with innovative audio, video and song sequences, this show sets Adejuyigbe apart as a talent to watch out for on both stage and screen.
Patrick McDonald
Mitch Tambo
Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Space Theatre, June 12 and 13
Faced with an early evening timeslot and a room full of retirees, Mitch Tambo achieved the seemingly impossible over the course of an hour.
With his unique fusion of pounding contemporary electronic rhythms, Indigenous lyrics and infectious enthusiasm for life, Tambo had the audience up and doing a Hi-NRG version of the Hokey Pokey, then disco dancing for an “organic” encore.
Not bad for something that began as what he tagged a “sit-down, fist-pump party”.
The former Australia’s Got Talent finalist presents a highly polished, hi-tech show replete with impressive video footage and animation, all synched with booming backing tracks from his onstage laptop.
Joined by his wife Lele and her sister shimmying their sequins on backing vocals and a dancer who also fuses traditional and contemporary moves, Tambo’s show might travel light but looks, feels and sounds big.
The only minor disappointment was that the two yidaki (didgeridoo) on stage weren’t played live more often.
A proud Gamilaraay and Birri Gubba activist, Tambo uses his music as a positive platform for unity and to build a connection with the land for all. Even his moving stories of suffering anxiety, racism and domestic violence are delivered with the charisma of a motivational speaker, with songs like Dreamtime Princess and Heal advocating more positive outcomes.
Clad in sparkling silver with his trademark head feather and rose-coloured sunglasses, Tambo also proves to be a mighty live vocalist, transforming the 1980s classics Great Southern Land and You’re The Voice into even more powerful anthems with lyrics sung in language.
Patrick McDonald
Review: Star finds humour in cancer, death and third-degree burns
Michelle Brasier – Average Bear
Dunstan Playhouse
June 8
Don’t let the name of her show fool you – Michelle Brasier is anything but an Average Bear.
In fact, heading along to her Adelaide Cabaret Festival performance at the Dunstan Playhouse on Sunday night exceeded all my expectations of how many emotions one person can experience in a single hour of comedy, song and dance.
For the uninitiated, Brasier is a comedy superstar probably best known for featuring on the Netflix show Aunty Donna or on Channel 10’s Thank God You’re Here.
I had recently read her memoir My Brother’s Ashes are in a Sandwich Bag, so I kind of knew what to expect in terms of the tragedy she had experienced in life.
What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was how she could seamlessly go from telling a story about a near-death experience with a dodgy space heater to so delicately dealing with the grief of losing not one but two family members in a matter of months.
It had every audience member singing along to a NSFW schoolyard love anthem one minute and covertly wiping away tears the next.
Brasier’s incredible vocal range may have only just been usurped by the hilarity of her lyrics, but the message she was spreading with was hauntingly powerful.
I left the show feeling a renewed lease on life, and wanting to listen to, and protect, my own inner bear.
Bethany Griffiths
Review: Frills and thrills at Adelaide Cabaret Festival opening gala
Adelaide Cabaret Festival Variety Gala
Her Majesty’s Theatre
Thursday, June 5
Life truly is like a box of chocolates at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s opening Variety Gala: you never quite know what you’re going to get next.
For the festival’s 25th birthday selection, we were treated to a mix of cream-centred soulful song, solid dark comedy, dairy-covered light entertainment delights, some acts that were filled with nuts and the odd chilli-tinged tango.
Even Jack Buckskin’s Welcome to Country, with daughter Mahleaha, demonstrated his flair as a stand-up comedian and all-round entertainer, as well as being a traditional custodian and master yidaki player.
Host and festival director Virginia Gay burst forth from a giant cake, her golden garment held in precarious position by a profusion of adhesive tape, urging us to Get The Party Started with a rendition that owed more to Shirley Bassey’s version than Pink.
Davina and the Vagabonds urged us – in a nonviolent manner – to Start Running from its feisty New Orleans marching band fusion of jazz, blues and bombastic brass.
Muriel’s Wedding stage star Natalie Abbott interpolated a mid-tempo rendition of the Beatles’ Help with Sondheim’s Being Alive with powerhouse delivery.
Newcomer Tomas Kantor fused everything from fragile vocal beauty to disco-funk bump and grind in his pink-suited Abracadabra routine, while Victoria Falconer got among the audience for her comic routine which shifted in rapid succession from violin classics to the kazoo and even the space-age sound of a theremin.
US star Rizo won the sequin stakes with her impassioned rock rasp on Song of Freedom, touching on everything from the “dumpster fire” in her homeland to beef wellingtons.
Sister act Vika and Linda Bull brought their unparalleled harmonies and signature soul skills to the classic Feeling Good, and 82-year-old Idol Award winner Carlotta showed she still has flawless comic timing and vocal delivery with a wickedly funny rendition of I’m Still Here.
A comedian who can truly sing – and write original songs – is a rare thing but Michelle Brasier showed off her musical theatre training with a fantastically outrageous anthem to a certain shed at her high school.
Class of Cabaret alumni Noah Byrne proved a future force to be reckoned with, demonstrating a uniquely funny and complex range of neurodiverse musical and linguistic flair in his medley.
Seann Miley Moore and Brendan de la Hay delivered trills and frills – particularly in the wardrobe department – with an energetic That’s Life from their new act Tired Ass Showgirls.
The soaring vocal purity and power of Jess Hitchcock introduced a touch of country on Feels Like Home, before the entire company returned for the rousing final Nina Simone medley Ain’t Got No/I Got Life, leaving appetites well and truly whetted for the festival.
Patrick McDonald
A whole Carlotta love for our latest cabaret icon
Veteran performer and original Les Girls revue cast member Carlotta has received the Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s 2025 Icon Award.
Carlotta, 82, was presented with the award at the event’s opening Variety Gala in front of a full house at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Thursday.
“I was shocked when I found out … because I’ve been around since the pyramids, darling,” Carlotta said.
“I danced at Cleopatra’s funeral! I’m very honoured, it’s just wonderful.”
Carlotta performed at the first Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2001 and announced her retirement in 2021, but has returned to the stage with her show The Party’s Over, which is at the Dunstan Playhouse at 4pm on Sunday.
Cabaret Festival artistic director Virginia Gay said Carlotta, who began her career with Les Girls in 1963, was a true icon.
“She hosted Les Girls and held Kings Cross in the palm of her manicured hand. She was the inspiration for the movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert … and is just as fabulous as ever,” Gay said.
Past recipients of the Icon Award include Reg Livermore, Rhonda Burchmore, Robyn Archer, Debra Byrne and Reuben Kaye.
Ukraine refugee Yuliya Klymenko captures women’s strength in art
Three years after fleeing the war in Ukraine with her children to start a new life in Adelaide, Yuliya Klymenko has captured the strength of her homeland’s women and culture in her first art exhibition.
“Many have had to start from scratch, changing careers and environments and, in many ways, having to reinvent themselves,” she says.
“I paint their transformation, their strength, and the quiet resilience they carry every day.”
In her exhibition Colours of Ukraine, which is at the Newmarch Gallery in Prospect until June 22, Ms Klymenko uses symbolic details of Ukrainian floral crowns, embroidery and folk patterns as “a living connection to tradition and memory”.
“Every portrait tells more than one story. These women are multifaceted – soft and firm, proud and uncertain,” she says.
“I hope viewers can feel a connection with each character and see a piece of themselves.”
The artist, who works for an architectural visualisation firm, has also incorporated elements which connect the works to her new adopted home and its land.
After arriving on temporary humanitarian visas, Ms Klymenko, her son Luka, now 12, daughter Tereza, 9, and husband Volodomyr – who followed them here last year – are in the approval process for permanent residency.
The exhibition will also move to the Strathmore Hotel as part of the SALA Festival in August.
Jack Ball wins $100,000 Ramsay Art Prize with sculptural work Heavy Grit
An installation that combines stained glass, beeswax, inkjet prints, charcoal, copper pipe, fabric, paint, sand and rope has won this year’s $100,000 Ramsay Art Prize.
Perth born, Sydney-based artist Jack Ball won the competition at the Art Gallery of SA for their large-scale photographic and sculptural work titled Heavy Grit.
The Ramsay Art Prize for artists aged under 40 is among Australia’s richest art awards, equal in value to the Archibald Prize for portraiture.
Ball, 39, said they were still trying to process the “really significant” win in the final year that they were eligible to enter the competition.
Heavy Grit was created by Ball in response to a collection of scrapbooks held by the Australian Queer Archives, including press clippings from the 1950s to 1970s that referenced trans lives.
“I was thinking of other materials that can transform and be reused … just like the images can be reconfigured and re-collaged,” Ball said.
The judges said Ball’s work impressed them with its “experimental processes and sophisticated creative resolve”.
“We were particularly struck by the installation’s restless, kinetic quality that refuses definition and creates an open opportunity to connect individually with the materials, forms and images the work deploys.”
This year’s judges were AGSA deputy director Emma Fey and Australian artists Michael Zavros and Julie Fragar – the latter a former Ramsay finalist and 2017 people’s choice winner, who also won the Archibald earlier this month.
Ball’s winning work was selected from more than 500 entries, with works by 22 finalists on display at the Art Gallery until August 31.
AGSA director Jason Smith said Heavy Grit perfectly captured the Ramsay Art Prize’s aim to offer artists “a platform to present their most ambitious work, unrestrained in scale and medium.”
The prize is held every two years and supported by the James & Diana Ramsay Foundation, with the winning work being acquired into AGSA’s collection.
Ab Fab star Joanna Lumley joins Adelaide’s Walk of Fame
What do Absolutely Fabulous icon Dame Joanna Lumley, Adelaide tribute band the Zep Boys, Australian actor Justine Clarke and US jazz icon Herbie Hancock have in common?
They will all be getting their own bronze star plaques on the Adelaide Festival Centre promenade as the latest recipients of its Walk of Fame awards.
Actor and TV presenter Lumley, best known for playing Patsy in the long-running UK sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, won for her show Me & My Travels, which she performed at the Festival Theatre in October.
For the first time, the centre presented two stars for acts which appeared in 2024, with the other going to US jazz musician Herbie Hancock for his October concert.
The public vote was won by Led Zeppelin tribute band the Zep Boys, which has been performing since 1986, for its orchestral show Zeppelin Soars Again.
“To know that we will have a permanent presence alongside the venue where we have played so often is awesome,” said Zep Boys singer Vince Contarino.
Former Home & Away actor and Play School host Justine Clarke won the Critics’ Choice star for her acclaimed performance in the play Julia, presented by State Theatre Company.
The latest winners will join more than 130 names of great artists who have graced the stages of the Adelaide Festival Centre since it opened in 1973.
John Butler to make Guitar Festival debut with new album
Singer-songwriter John Butler will make his Adelaide Guitar Festival debut to open the event at Her Majesty’s Theatre on September 10, as part of his national Prism album tour.
New York-based Spanish guitarist Lau Noah will also make her exclusive Australian debut as part of a double bill with Australian artist Lior, showcasing his latest album The Blue Parade with his band at Her Majesty’s on September 14.
The festival will also feature a tribute to Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti Live in Concert with the full album performed on September 13 by musicians and singers including Warwick Cheatle, Zkye Compson-Harris, Dusty Lee Stephensen and Danny Leo.
Butler’s concert will feature his three-piece band with original touring drummer Michael Barker, percussionist Michael Boase and Ian Peres on keys and bass, performing songs from the new Prism album, and special guest singer Emma Donovan.
Other acts in the program include Troy Cassar-Daley and Nancy Bates, Latin fusion artists Duo Siqueira Lima and a recital by festival competition winner, South Korea’s Young Taek Jo.
A selection of acts will also perform as part of the festival’s On the Road program in the state’s southeast, including Mount Gambier from October 4 to 12.
“It’s a thrill to host brilliant artists from Australia and across the globe,” Guitar Festival artistic director Slava Grigoryan said.
Full program and tickets at adelaideguitarfestival.com.au
Cultural clash still spans the generations
Review: Looking for Alibrandi
Dunstan Playhouse
May 23 to 31
Migrant experiences are vividly, uproariously and sometimes tragically brought to authentic life through three generations of Italian-Australian women characters in the latest stage adaptation of Looking for Alibrandi.
Brink Productions’ new artistic director Stephen Nicolazzo and playwright Vidya Rajan tinker with the original sauce/source recipe to bring fresh perspectives to this mostly laugh-out-loud adaptation of Melina Marchetta’s novel, perhaps best known from its hit 2000 film version.
The core trio of Chanella Macri as Josie Alibrandi, Lucia Mastrantone as her mother Christina, and Jennifer Vuletic as Josie’s nonna, have an onstage chemistry which simply screams family.
Even if you don’t speak the occasional outbursts of Italian, you should understand the intonation of every furious utterance and exaggerated gesture.
Nicolazzo deliberately contrasts the physical differences in his three lead actors to create fascinating tableaus as they cradle and curse one another through a succession of family revelations in search of their own identities.
As Josie, Macri is a phenomenal force to be reckoned with, her facial expressions alone evoking frequent laughter while her sharp tongue lashes prejudiced schoolmates and wayward family members alike. Her inner warmth shines through all this, as she becomes an almost parental protector towards her own mother and nonna.
The script teases out its secrets as we see how shame and alienation have impacted each generation of the Alibrandis, and Josie grapples with her determination to break the cycle.
Mastrantone is a dynamo, not only as Christina but also as Josie’s firecracker of a friend, Sera, while Vuletic is truly haunted as the harsh, unforgiving nonna.
Ashton Malcolm also divides her stage time between polar opposites with many quick changes of costume and posture as Josie’s best friend John and racist schoolyard snob “Poison” Ivy.
Plastic crates full of (presumably) plastic tomatoes, plastic chairs and even a plastic-coated tablecloth are all part of a minimal set design that is clearly designed to travel, but assures attention is always firmly focused on the performances.
Those familiar with living in 1990s Australia, Italian families and even Catholic traditions will get the most knowing chuckles from this exploration of “otherness” but its themes go well beyond mere nostalgia.
Patrick McDonald
Major SA arts organisation in collaboration with China
The first major opera co-production between China and Australia, a contemporary version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, will be staged by State Opera in Adelaide in August.
It will be followed in October by a new SA production of Charles Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, which will then travel to Ireland and WA as part of State Opera artistic director Dane Lam’s company vision for “opera without borders”.
The Magic Flute is a collaboration with Opera Hong Kong, where it opens on Thursday, the Beijing Music Festival, where it will travel next year, and China National Opera House.
“We’re creating an operatic home in Adelaide that is globally connected and artistically fearless,” said Mr Lam.
“We want opera to feel vital, urgent, and alive – to be the artistic heartbeat of the city and a place where the world meets.”
Set in a dystopian multiverse inspired by Hong Kong’s MTR subway system, The Magic Flute has been designed by Dan Porta, whose work includes the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony, and is supported by the government’s National Foundation for Australia-China Relations.
Mr Lam, who will conduct all of The Magic Flute’s seasons, is also music director for the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and has spent a decade as artistic director of China’s Xian Symphony.
“This homegrown Romeo and Juliet that we are building, producing and creating in SA is going to open with us, then it’s going to West Australian Opera and Irish National Opera,” Mr Lam said.
The Magic Flute will be at Her Majesty’s Theatre from August 28 to September 6, followed by Romeo et Juliette from October 23 to November 1. Bookings at stateopera.com.au
Review: Opera just the ticket to take Flight
Flight, by Jonathan Dove
State Opera South Australia
Her Majesty’s Theatre
May 8 to 10
Much more fun than being stuck in an airport, UK composer Jonathan Dove’s contemporary opera Flight soars through an often turbulent mix of raunchy humour, social commentary, romantic dilemmas and revealing random encounters.
Surtitle screens even advise the audience to fasten its seatbelts as we find ourselves spending a night in the departure lounge with randy flight attendants, frustrated holiday-makers and an expectant mother, among others.
Observing and gently manipulating all this is the Refugee, a character forced to live in the airport, inspired by the same real-life story as Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ film The Terminal, but taking a very different approach path.
English countertenor James Laing’s delicate, almost fragile, high-pitched voice immediately sets the Refugee apart as an outsider – even more so than his dishevelled appearance.
Dove uses the countertenor’s voice to great musical effect as well, juxtaposing it against the deep, booming baritone (and imposing physical presence) of Teddy Tahu Rhodes’ immigration security officer, then gently intertwining it in star-crossed romantic duets with the even higher-flying coloratura soprano of airport controller Anna Voshege.
This Scottish Opera production presented by State Opera South Australia actually marks the official Australian debut of internationally acclaimed Melbourne director Stephen Barlow, who keeps the eyes entertained as well as the ears through cleverly choreographed routines on a largely static set.
That set’s arch resembles an aircraft hanger but comes to life in its own right as the show progresses through the clever use of projections which include radar effects that show the tremendous storm which grounds the cast of would-be passengers and crew overnight.
Its concealed elevator doors also open to reveal many of the show’s highlights, including a particularly athletic and outrageous sexual display by the steward (Samuel Dale Johnson) and stewardess (Ashlyn Tymms).
Nina Korbe and Henry Choo are delightful as the feuding couple trying to reinvigorate their romance with the help of a holiday and relationship guide book, and Cherie Boogaart brings her trademark flamboyant brilliance to the role of a middle-aged mystery woman awaiting the promised arrival of her much younger lover.
Mezzo soprano Fiona McArdle gives heart to the story as the heavily pregnant woman who fears not flying so much as losing her own identity, and sends her diplomat husband (Jeremy Tatchell) jetting off to Minsk without her.
Librettist April De Angelis’s lyrics are an absolute hoot, often incorporating preposterous rhymes for sheer comic effect. Dove’s score employs fanfares, rumbling percussion and jazz-tinged crescendos in manner more akin to a Sondheim musical than traditional opera, and is dynamically realised by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under conductor Charlotte Corderoy.
As the other characters turn to – and then turn on – the Refugee, Flight examines the human condition from birth, through love and death, but mostly uses its forced microcosm of society to examine attitudes towards those who exist on its fringes.
– Patrick McDonald
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