Reviews and Such

    ALL: It's family first and family last And family by and by When you're an Addams ... You do what Addams do or- Lurch: Ughhh All: Die! The cast of Canberra Philharmonic Society's Addams Family . (Photo: Photox) Oh, you've definitely heard of this one before (it's a year for those, isn't it?).  The Addams Family  is not just a very well-known musical; it is perhaps one of the most universally recognisable assortments of characters in all of popular culture. A family of misanthropic oddities that love each other, flaws and all, are certainly a relatable concept for any family with an interesting thing about them (which is more common than you think), and make for excellent tales of familial bond, and the challenges that bond overcomes. And Philo's production of  The Addams Family  certainly steps up to the plate, with a stylistically marvellous and energetically charged show that will have you leaving ...

   "Only thing that makes [him] different is he can't remember from one minute to the next. He only know right now. He won't remember you."   Pictured, from left to right: Morgan (Richard Manning), Angus (Chris Baldock) and Miles (Callum Doherty). Photo by Chris Baldock   If you've heard of the Drawer Boy, you're either more cultured than I am, or know about it thanks to a handy access of a search engine of your choice.  Canberra's community theatre scene is very fortunate to be flourishing to such an extent that audiences have such a potluck of absolute variety to pick from, and Mockingbird is certainly happy to make a profound offering of their own.   The Drawer Boy  is a Canadian play by Michael Healey, first produced in 1999. A two act show with three roles to its script, Healey's play is an absolute marvel in its ability to entertain and enthrall in equal measure.    Unlike a handful o...

   Away to the cheating world go you, Where pirates all are well-to-do; But I'll be true to the song I sing, And live and die a Pirate King! The cast of Queanbeyan Players'  The Pirates of Penzance . Photo by Photox Oh, you've definitely heard of this one before.  The Pirates of Penzance  is a show that needs no introduction; generally, it can be considered to be an undisputed pillar of musical theatre, one that every performer worth their salt will have undertaken the Thespian-like Tread to perform by the time their days on stage are over. To younger folks (like myself, for however long that will last), it's easy to see the lifespan of this thing and harrumph over how theatre has evolved beyond the need for Gilbert and Sullivan's classics, but, when done on a level such as this,  The Pirates of Penzance  reminds the theatre of today why it has remained in such tall order within the musical theatre canon.    Abo...

  "I'd no idea you were like this. You're wonderful!" P ictured, from left to right: Roland Maule (Michael Cooper), Garry Essendine (Jarrad West) and David (Callum Doherty) in ACT Hub's  Present Laughter . Photo by Jane Duong. Between this production and REP's  Blithe Spirit  in May, Canberran Coward fans have been spoiled by the amount of wonderful productions his work has seen so far this year. Present Laughter , like my previous Coward experience, is a classic farce, but one that escaped my attention only until I heard it would be brought to us by the folks at ACT Hub. After some quick familiarisation, I was very eager to catch this one too. Having almost missed the season in its entirety due to a busy June schedule, I was able to slink in and catch this show before it closed last Saturday, and needless to say, I'm glad I caught it; this is one of the best comedies on offer by the Canberra theatre community this year.   Karen Vickery has directed this s...

OSCAR: "May I see you tomorrow? Maybe we could go to a movie." CHARITY: "Okay, but one with a happy ending. I'm nuts about happy endings." Charity Hope Valentine (Amy Orman) and Oscar Lindquist (Joshua Kirk) in Sweet Charity . Photo: Photox Here was a man, with some dreams (irrelevant), and a plan to grab a couple buddies, and go see a Friday night showing of Free-Rain Theatre Company's latest offering,  Sweet Charity . And it is very tempting to continue paraphrasing the titular tune of the show, but these reviews are hard enough to read as is. A show with many years up its sleeve, this is one that has eluded me successfully in the musical theatre canon for a while now, yet it is a title that rings a familiar bell. I had never seen it, of that I was sure. I knew that the title was the name of a character, and I could hum a couple of its tunes that I'd heard snippets of here and there, but otherwise, nothin'! It's not often I get to experience a ...

  "Well, why shouldn't I have fun?" P ictured, from left to right: Ruth (Alex McPherson), Charles (Peter Holland) and Elvira (Winsome Ogilvie) in Canberra REP's  Blithe Spirit . Photo by Eve Murray. Blithe Spirit  is a classic farce of recent interest to me, and Canberra REP's production is one I've been looking forward to for the last few months. The show in concept alone is brilliant in just how marvellously everything in it is capable of unravelling, to much of the delight of any audience subject to the chaos: a middle-aged author invites a medium into his home to inform a stereotype in his latest work, and accidentally summons a previous lover from the spectral plain, who wishes to settle some unfinished business. This show is a complete and utter all-timer, and it's not very difficult to see why. Its characters are memorable in their eccentricities, Coward's humour is memorably droll and fun, and the premise lends itself to the creativity of those...