I TELL YOU WHAT I THINK
First on Entertainment

Powerhouse performances and an electrifying vibe. That is the essence of a cavalcade of hits from Broadway musicals brought to the Melbourne stage by Sam Steven Productions. Vocalists Hannah Underwood, Sylvia Kokkinas, Andrew Vassett and Craig Lough join a talented four-piece band to figuratively lift the roof off The MC Showroom. Photos by Sam Steven Productions While many of the 34 numbers in the two-act, two-hour program (including interval) are up-tempo bangers, ther

Innovative and highly creative, east meets west in playwright Shane Woon’s love story about Chinese gods and AFL football. The Rabbit in the title is the Rabbit God Tu’er Shen (played by Sean Yuen Halley), the patron saint of queer people. Watson (Anton Pan-Cassin) is a budding AFL player, at age 22 on his last chance to make it in the Big League. They literally bump into each other after a colourful (and loud) lion dance that starts the show and Watson immediately make

There is so much joy in Pretty Woman: The Musical. I adore what the collaborators have done with the beloved story of the Hollywood sex worker and the wealthy businessman. It is based on the 1990 feel good romance, written by J. F. Lawton and directed by Garry Marshall, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Photos by Daniel Boud The book of the musical is by Marshall and Lawton, with an original score in a rich variety of genres. Gone is the soundtrack from the movi

Breaking up is hard to do. So it goes, as Karin McCracken and Simon Leary put on a most entertaining sketch comedy show, peppered with science and some musical numbers. In so doing, they unpack the angst associated with broken relationships. In character, she struggles big time to put the past in the past. It is about staying mired in the why, trawling over what could have and should have been. Photos by Lewis Ferris The vignettes are interspersed with McCracken’s co

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is an epic retelling of one of the oldest surviving works of ancient Greek literature. Homer composed the poem Odyssey in the 8th or 7th centuries BC. It concerns the exploits of the king of Ithaca, Odysseus (Matt Damon), as he attempts to make his way home many years after the Trojan War. The war itself lasted a decade, and then another decade passed, during which time he and his crew encountered many otherworldly and natural obstacles.

Lively, colourful and energetic, Bring It On!, The Musical focuses on the competitive world of cheerleading. Debuting in the US in 2011, the Tony award nominated musical was inspired by the 2000 film of the same name, written by Jessica Bendinger and starring Kirsten Dunst. The music is by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, lyrics by Amanda Green and Miranda and book by Jeff Whitty. Photos by Natalie Edge Photography On her last day of junior year, 17-year-old Campbell Dav

Beautifully shot in Sápmi, the traditional homeland of the Sámi, the indigenous people of the Arctic, Árru is a slow burn, intense drama about deeply buried trauma. It concerns a family of reindeer herders whose ancestral land and livelihood is being threatened by a copper mining project. Single mother Maia (Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska) and her taciturn, chain-smoking brother Dánel (Simon Issát Marainen) are losing the battle. So, Maia calls on her older brother, the chari

This is one for stalwarts of the horror gore genre because it doesn’t hold back – in short, it is tense and traumatising. Demonic carnage is unleashed to terrorise a French woman who has married into an American family. Alice (Souheila Yacoub) is with her husband, restaurateur William (George Pullar), to celebrate Will’s younger brother, Joseph’s (Hunter Doohan) birthday. Also with them is Joseph’s girlfriend, Thya (Luciane Buchanan) when an argument between Will and Ali

Fun, colourful and emotionally resonant comes this live action reimaging of the popular Polynesian-based 2016 Disney movie Moana. The story remains the same, but its execution is a whole lot more difficult. Yet, the studio has pushed all the right buttons. This is the tale of young leader in the making, Moana (Catherine Lagaʻaia). She is the daughter of island chief Tui (John Tui) and his wife, Sina (Frankie Adams) and they live on the glorious, lush island of Motunui.