Mikey Cahill’s hottest tickets in Melbourne for 2019
It doesn’t matter whether you are a sports freak, laughter lover, exhibition enthusiast, music mad or a theatre aficionado — it’s going to be a big year in Melbourne. Here’s Mikey Cahill’s hot tickets for 2019.
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It doesn’t matter whether you are a sports freak, laughter lover, exhibition enthusiast, music mad or a theatre aficionado — it’s going to be a big year in Melbourne.
Here’s Mikey Cahill’s hot tickets for 2019:
THEATRE
Harry Potter and The Cursed Child Parts One and Two
J.K. Rowling has become the Enid Blyton for everyone born in the past 20 years.
Rowling’s fantastical Hogwarts world appeals to everyone with a sense of wonder and Potter fans range from 7 to 70.
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Now Melbourne will be the third place in the world to host this lauded play. Gyton Grantley (Underbelly, Hand to God) gets the prize role of Ron Weasley, Gareth Reeves (The Crucible, War Horse) plays the titular character Harry Potter, and Paula Arundell (Gods of Egypt, Harmony) will hit it and Quidditch as Hermione Granger.
The new play, by Jack Thorne and J.K Rowling, sees Potter as an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-aged children, and a man struggling with a past that refuses to stay there.
Princess Theatre, 163 Spring St, City.
Starts Jan 18. Various times. $65 to $330.
Lazarus The Musical: David Bowie and Enda Walsh
Fans of David Bowie were united in grief when he passed on January 10, 2016. We were also brought together listening to his Black Star album, released days before he passed and recorded in The Magic Shop and Human Worldwide studio in New York.
Lazarus is a song from Black Star and it became a musical under the Thin White Duke’s watchful eye, inspired by Walter Tevis’s novel The Man Who Fell to Earth, a film Bowie starred in back in 1976.
Lazarus The Musical will feature 18 Bowie bangers including Heroes, Changes and recent cuts.
Full cast announced February 19.
The Playhouse, the Arts Centre. May 18 to Jun 9. Various times/prices. lazarusthemusical.com.au
EXHIBITIONS
Terracotta Warriors: Guardians of Immortality and Cai Guo-Qiang: The Transient Landscape
The Escher X nendo exhibition is already a hit and NGV are wasting no time introducing another collaboration of old and new.
See 2000-year-old terracotta warriors paired with curious work by New York-based contemporary Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang.
Only 10 pieces are allowed to leave the country at a time so we get eight soldiers on show, each one with unique features — some grinning, some stoic.
They’ll be accompanied by two life-sized horses, two replica bronze chariots and 150 other archaeological scores from the Shaanxi province, including bronze, jade and gold artefacts.
NGV, 180 St Kilda Rd, city. May 24 to Oct 13. Daily, 10am-5pm. $10 to $30.
Christian Marclay: The Clock
Anything with the London’s Tate Modern stamp of approval is worth parting with your hard-earned money.
The good news? Christian Marclay’s The Clock is free.
The intriguing installation is created from thousands of film and television images of clocks, watches and other references to time.
See Michael Douglas stuck in his car in a traffic jam from the 1993 film Falling Down, his watch trudging on, and Richard Burton as a savage gangster in 1971 film Villain. Time will seem to slow with a stopped train and quicken when a bomb is tick-tick-ticking.
ACMI, Fed Square. Jan 23 to Mar 10. Daily, 10am-5pm, every Thu, 24 hrs. Free.
MUSIC
Eminem
He was the underdog, then the reigning world champ, back to hustler and now a winner again. Marshall Mathers brings his Rapture tour to the ‘G, armed with his Kamikaze album, coming in hot to leave bodies cold.
It’s not a masterpiece; it has enough big moments, though: Greatest, Not Alike feat Royce Da 5 and Stepping Stone.
This will appeal to fans of Vanilla Ice, Dr Dre, Tommy Cash and every rap expert in between, if only so you can tick the bucket-list moment of saying you’ve seen the Real Slim Shady.
MCG, Brunton Ave, Richmond. Feb 24. $183.55/$214.10.
John Mayer
Smooth FM listeners rejoice: five-time Grammy award winner, guitarist, singer-songwriter and brooder John Mayer will play his first headline tour here since 2014.
He’ll swoon through Your Body Is a Wonderland, Free Fallin’, Who Love You, Slow Dancing In a Burning Room, Heartbreak Warfare, No Such Thing and Daughters. Aussie fans will especially love Bigger Than My Body, which was more of a hit here than anywhere else.
Rod Laver Arena, Olympic Blvd, city. Mar 27. $131.35 to $508.95.
COMEDY
Sammy J - Major Party
Fun fact: once you win the Barry Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival you can’t win it again. Sammy J and his felt-faced friend Randy took the top gong for Ricketts Lane in 2010.
His award-nominated weekly satirical spot on the ABC has gained him a wider audience with sketches such as Government Coach, National Yoga, and the breakout satire of the 2016 federal election, Playground Politics.
Now he brings his Major Party show, with all his infamous characters, favourite songs and special guests.
The Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins St, city. June 29. $44.90/$47.95.
Urzila Carlson - Loser
Carlson has hit such a hot streak she could probably read War and Peace on stage for an hour and have the audience in stitches.
She’s become a very big deal on the strength of her spots on Have You Been Paying Attention? on Network Ten, Orange is the New Brown and her sold-out 2018 Comedy Festival show Studies Have Shown.
Her next show, Loser, will celebrate the not-winner in all of us as the South African/New Zealand comic makes Melbourne her home town for a month. Very hot ticket.
Melbourne Town Hall, 90 Swanston St, city. March 28 to Apr 20 (no Mon). $32/$40. comedyfestival.com.au
SPORT
Melbourne Big Bash
Just as we have two local teams in the A-League, Big Bash gives us Melbourne Renegades and Melbourne Stars to support.
Hmmm, choices.
The Stars play most games at the MCG, while the Renegades are just down the river at Marvel Stadium.
There are 59 matches across 61 days, and loads of family-friendly entertainment from Nickelodeon and high-flying motorcyclists. Oh, and slog-heavy cricket.
MCG and Marvel Stadium. Dec 20 to Feb 10. $20/$30.
AFL: Collingwood Magpies vs West Coast Eagles
We only have to wait until Round 3 for the premiership rematch and it’s gonna be a doozy.
The hot ’Pies went cold when it mattered and the Eagles — riding high on a surge of Victorian support they’ve never received before (and never will again) — ran over the top of them in the final minutes of the final quarter of the final game last season.
It was glorious.
MCG, Brunton Ave, Richmond. April 6, 7.25pm. Various prices.
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