Backbone

This was amazing with a full house standing screaming ovation at the end 

http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/backbone-riverside-parramatta/

BACKBONE: RIVERSIDE THEATRES PARRAMATTA

JANUARY 19, 2018 LYNNE LANCASTER LEAVE A COMMENT

Adelaide-based Gravity & Other Myths is directed by Darcy Grantand stuns in their new show BACKBONE at Riverside Theatres Parramatta, a mesmerizing blend of physical theatre/circus /acrobatics . It is a virtuoso performance of rigorous discipline , super-elite physical acrobatics . The company has been previously nominated for Helpmann awards.

There is a hugely warm ensemble feel yet a lot of it has a trancelike contemplative feel : the ‘Zen of circus’ perhaps ?  The cast use buckets to spread earth – not just on stage but pour it on particular ensemble members.  At times I was perhaps reminded of Cloudgate Dance or possibly Pina Bausch company performances . There are also sections with long poles and martial arts like moves.  Humour is also included (the funny dancing Knight in armour for example).

There is no set as such , the stage is stripped back to the walls. The futuristic atmospheric lighting by Geoff Cobham is magnificent , with haze and diagonal shafts of light for example. The music as performed live by Elliot Zoerner & Shenton Gregory includes everything from romantic piano and percussion to throbs ,humms and burbles adding counterpoint to the action.

The curtain rises to reveal stillness and silence on stage.  All the props costumes and cast are laid out ready to spring into action . As their first scene the cast enthusiastically assemble the set , shifting clothes racks etc. Costumes are mostly assorted comfortable casual wear , the suit of armour quite incongruous (and requiring much strength to wear it).

BACKBONE is about almost superhuman fluidity, flexibility and strength . From acts of demanding precision ,agility and strength the show proceeds in various vignettes to competitions and displays that test the performers strength and endurance. There are almost impossible feats of twisty tumbling and pyramid balancing as well as trapeze like jumps ,throws and catches. One cast member balances for an entire scene, another remains holding his arm out for the length of a different scene.

Highlights include a sequence where one of the cast – Jascha Boyce in a grey suit – holding a rock , staring intently at the audience , is passed around the ensemble , seeming oblivious while performing various acrobatic feats.

Mieke Lizotte has a balancing sequence and at one point it is as if she is a dead warrior or gladiator draped on the poles . There is a sequence where almost all the ensemble form a human pyramid , wearing the buckets over their heads. The choreography includes Martian arts/ capoeira, the reverse caterpillar and flying drop kicks, which while defensive and dangerous are performed with warmth and joy . There are no harnesses or safety nets so the sense of possible danger has us on the edge of our seats at times and sometimes you shake your head and blink going did they actually just really manage to do that ?

The final scene is an act of endurance the ensemble stand in a line competing to see who can hold a stone in front of them the longest . BACKBONE shows us the freedom of strength and agility and the dazzling beauty of the extra fit human body performing almost impossible feats.

BACKBONE  runs at Riverside Theatres Parramatta 16-21 January 2018 as part of the Sydney Festival.

Acrobats: Martin Schreiber, Lachlan Binns, Jascha Boyce, Jacob Randell, Lewie West, Lewis Rankin, Joanne Curry, Lachlan Harper, Jackson Manson, Mieke Lizotte '
Musicians/Composers : Elliot Zoerner & Shenton Gregory 
Director: Darcy Grant 
Stage & Lighting Designer: Geoff Cobham 
Producer: Craig Harrison 
Creative Associate: Triton Tunis‐Mitchell

The Daisy Theatre

A fabulous performance here's my thoughts for Artshub


http://performing.artshub.com.au/news-article/reviews/performing-arts/lynne-lancaster/the-daisy-theatre-255038

LYNNE LANCASTER

Puppetry with existential angst; not for the easily offended but incredibly moving and powerful.

Photo credit: Prudence Upton

Canadian puppet maestro Ronnie Burkett had the opening night audience eating out of his hand with his extraordinary production, The Daisy Theatre, as part of Sydney Festival.

Burkett has been running his Theatre of Marionettes for 30 years, performing all the puppetry and voices himself. In The Daisy Theatre no two performances are the same, as some 40 characters lurk backstage: a ramshackle cast of assorted drunks, loudmouths, misfits, various faded divas and artistes of dubious repute, who appear according to Burkett’s whim and the atmosphere of each performance. (At one point the audience gets to choose which of three divas makes an appearance in the spotlight.)

Burkett’s attention to detail is astonishing, his skill incredible. At first The Daisy Theatre has a somewhat cursory, improvised feel that hides the sensational talent and smooth scripting underpinning the show. There are lots of references to vaudeville and some of the vignettes parody opera, music hall, Las Vegas and French cabaret. At times we forget Burkett is there because the puppet characters are so alive.

The production itself unfolds in a series of entrancing vignettes. One of the main characters is the enchanting, wingless fairy child, Schnitzel, who is accompanied by an abusive minder called Fritz. Fritz and Schnitzel have a discussion about left/right politics but all Schnitzel wants is his wings back.

A highlight comes when Schnitzel climbs the curtain (enthusiastically cheered on by the audience) to confront Burkett about his Creator-like bias and request his wings back. The audience sighs in empathy when poor Schnitzel is cruelly regarded by Burkett. Schnitzel’s appearance at the end brings everything full circle and his closing monologue is full of exquisite pathos.

Dressed in a stunning white and silver Erte-like outfit, Miss Esmee Massengill is an aging theatrical diva who insists the audience cheer, stomp and whistle when she makes her appearance (we do, most enthusiastically). She naughtily performs on the bare chest of one of the volunteers as well as demanding mouth to mouth.

Other characters include the foul mouthed Rosemary Focaccia, a frenetic, Italian-American lounge singer with a gravelly and smouldering voice; Randy Rivers, with her smoky jazz vocals; and the vibrant Woody Linden, a ventriloquist’s dummy, whose eyes can no longer move because his almost expired human companion, Meyer Lemon, can’t move all his fingers anymore. When Meyer falls asleep, poor Woody has an existential crisis – is there life for him after Meyer? What is he going to do if Meyer dies?

Also featured is an overlong, somewhat rambling monologue by Mrs Edna Rural, an aging farmwife from Turnip Corners, and Jesus Christ Himself even makes an appearance that may or may not constitute the Second Coming. He provides a witty if risqué line of Jewish humour, including the fact that he ‘hates Easter with a passion,’ and delivering the 11th Commandment: ‘Don’t be an arsehole’.

Costumes – especially those of the divas – are glorious and incredibly detailed, dripping with fringes, boas and pearls. Some of the most astonishing puppetry occurs when Burkett’s characters manipulate other items – like burlesque artist Miss Polly Wiggler raunchily disrobing, or another character using a Zimmer frame. Audience participation is also featured, with a couple of audience members conscripted as ‘volunteers’ to help with two of the acts.

Parts of the show are bawdy and risqué and could potentially be regarded as offensive by the sensitive; certainly there is plenty of strong language, as befitting certain characters. However, the satirical production is a superb mix of the dark and bleak combined with the lyrical and poignant; an examination of the philosophy of life and art and the magic of the theatre.

This is a thought provoking, revue-style production, not a ‘traditional’ puppet show, and while certainly not for children it is incredibly moving and powerful.

4 ½ stars out of 5

The Daisy Theatre 
Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes
Marionette, Costume and Set Design by Ronnie Burkett
Music and Lyrics and Sound Design by John Alcorn
Production Manager & Artistic Associate: Terri Gillis
Stage Manager: Crystal Salverda 
Associate Producer: John Lambert
Marionettes built by Ronnie Burkett
Costumes: Kim Crossley
Puppet Builders: Angela Talbot, Gemma James-Smith, Marcus Jamin, Jesse Byiers, with Gil Garratt and Martin Herbert
Shoes and Accessories: Robin Fisher & Camellia Koo
Marionette Controls: Luman Coad
Majordomos: Robbie Buttinski & Daisy Padunkles
Running time: Up to two hours

The Reginald at The Seymour Centre
13-27 January 2018 as part of Sydney Festival

Tree of Codes

Sorry folks I was disappointed .Here's what I said for Artshub about it


http://performing.artshub.com.au/news-article/reviews/performing-arts/lynne-lancaster/tree-of-codes-255015

LYNNE LANCASTER

One of the major headline events of the Sydney Festival proves a trifle disappointing.

Photo: Joel Chester Fildes

Sorry readers but I was disappointed in Tree of Codes, one of the signature shows of this year’s Sydney Festival. But with three major names responsible for the dance, music and set presentation of the production in Wayne McGregor, Jamie xx and Olafur Eliasson respectively, there are probably as many different audiences, each with their own knowledge base and each with their own take on the piece.

The work is inspired by a short, strange book by novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, in which the writer took another text, Bruno Schulz’s 1934 short story collection The Street of Crocodiles, and literally – with scissors – cut words out of the book, changing the text on each page you flipped to. In doing this, a new story was created, leading to this new dance work.

UK artist Jamie xx composed the score using an algorithm that turns the text into music, with echoes perhaps of Philip Glass as it beeps, pumps, pounds, hums, throbs, clicks and crackles. At times the audience is assaulted by the noise level and the rumbling deep bass. It also features a classical piano solo, thumping electronic beats, and atmospheric vocalisations.

The work begins with dancers in black costumes strewn with lights. Collectively they resemble a swirling starry night sky, a rather enchanting effect but it went on too long. One attends the theatre to see dancers dancing not endlessly undulating pinpoints of light.

For the next section, the cast line up in a row, images of giant blossoms obscuring their faces. Assorted forms, lights and parts of limbs extend from inside the blossoms as they move, unfold and close.

The dancers of Company Wayne McGregor from the UK are incredibly fluent and athletic and impress with their stamina during this incredibly demanding, relentlessly driven work. The dancers are mostly in skin-coloured outfits so they appear nude, though in the final section they are dressed in colourful assorted tops, skirts or pants or variations thereof, at first in black leotards and then subtly introducing more colour – reds, greens and yellows. Most of Tree of Codes is performed barefoot but some pointe work is included in spiky pas de deux and McGregor’s work demands a very flexible back, slithery floorwork and laser sharp legs, blending a range of stylistic influences.

Typical of McGregor’s style, the dancers are sometimes tilted slightly off balance, twisting and executing dizzying whipping turns, daredevil leaps and catches and hurtling through the air. All such movements are performed ferociously fast but then interrupted with sudden sculptural poses. Traditional ballet steps and shapes are taken, developed and reworked. Waving, plunging body rolls, sinuous movements and skidding floorwork are also featured.

At times the work is dominated by Eliasson's use of mirrors in his set design. Various parts of the geometrically shaped, brightly coloured set revolved, opened and lifted At first there is only one complete backdrop of a mirror that doubles the actual number of 12 performers, blurring the lines of the action. Then the mirror is split and reshaped to offer triple vision. Eventually the multiplying increases, creating a clever sort of distorted, illusory ‘chorus line’. At a couple of points the houselights go up and the audience sees itself reflected in the mirrors. Sometimes we are blinded by the lighting. At the end, Eliasson's giant spinning orbs of colour dominate, as the dancers blur across the stage in Macgregor’s fiendishly calculated choreography. 

Technically the production is brilliantly done and the dancing was amazing – rigorously and precisely performed – but it left me cold. There was no emotional engagement with the audience – the dancers were impassive, extraordinary aliens.

3 ½ stars

Director & Choreographer: Wayne McGregor
Visual Concept: Olafur Eliasson
Composer: Jamie xx
Inspired by Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer
Lighting Realisation: Rob Halliday
Sound Designer: Nick Sagar
Set realisation in association with Studio Olafur Eliasson
Costume realisation with generous support from Acne Studios
Company Wayne McGregor: Rebecca Bassett-Graham, Jordan James Bridge, Travis Clausen-Knight, Louis McMiller, Daniela Neugebauer, Jacob O’Connell, James Pett, Fukiko Takase, Po-Lin Tung and Jessica Wright
Associate Director for Company Wayne McGregor: Odette Hughes
Guest Artists: Catarina Carvalho and Mara Galeazzi

FIRST PUBLISHED ON WEDNESDAY 10 JANUARY, 2018

You Animal You

another excellent rather strange work for the Sydney Festival

http://dancemagazine.com.au/2018/01/force-majeure-presents-the-dark-and-mysterious-you-animal-you-at-sydney-festival/
Here's what I said for Dance Informa

Force Majeure presents the dark and mysterious ‘You Animal, You’ at Sydney Festival

'YOU ANIMAL, YOU'. PHOTO BY PRUDENCE UPTON.

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Carriageworks, Sydney.
6 January 2018.

The latest work from Force Majeure, You Animal, You is a world premiere that is dark, disturbing and, at times, almost overwhelming. Some of it is cold and cruel, while other segments are eye-catching and lyrical. It is perhaps in a way a blend of dance and sport. Directed by Danielle Micich, the work has an extraordinary multi-talented, diverse cast of five.

‘You Animal, You’. Photo by Prudence Upton.

The concept behind the work as proposed in pre-performance publicity doesn’t really come across. The text is by the company’s Artistic Director Micich and actor Heather Mitchell, written in collaboration with the other performers, and with Sarah Goodes as dramaturg. It was suggested that You Animal, You questions what makes us human in a desensitised age, and explores our repressed animal selves, especially that most primal of human senses, smell.

As the introductory note in the theatre flyer/programme says, “Part game, part voyeuristic exercise, the work examines how we often deny the driving primal senses within us, forcing them into a place of shame.” This sort of comes across, but not really. Some of it is vicious and violent. The “games” are tightly choregraphed fights.

‘You Animal, You’. Photo by Prudence Upton.

There are some brilliant monologues, rather poetic at points, and it is strikingly presented. Damien Cooper’s lighting (be aware that strobe lighting is used) and Kelly Ryall’s music considerably enhance the powerful staging and the somewhat chilling futuristic atmosphere. There is a looming circular lighting rig (also used for haze effects) and a wind machine for the bursts of ticker tape.

Bay 20 of Carriageworks has been reconfigured with the audience encircling the huge performance space in two rows. As we enter, we are greeted by Ghenoa Gela as “Yellow”. While taking our seats, one of the performers (Lauren Langlois) is writhing sculpturally on top of a partially inflated giant piece of plastic at one end of the room.

‘You Animal, You’. Photo by Prudence Upton.

As the other cast members emerge, it becomes established that Heather Mitchell’s character – a sort of half mad, domineering, imperious, bitter and manipulative queen in a grubby corset and torn white and gold sequined dress – rules this darkly futuristic place. Mitchell uses a megaphone occasionally and is often perched on top of a rolling umpire’s chair.

You Animal, You showcases five marvellous performers: Mitchell, who is known primarily for her work in straight drama, and Langlois, Gela, Harrison Elliott and Raghav Handa, who all have dance experience. It eventually becomes obvious that Gela’s character develops as a foil to Mitchell’s —  helping other trapped cast members (“competitors”) and trying to lessen the violence.

‘You Animal, You’. Photo by Prudence Upton.

You Animal, You’s narrative develops in a “game”-like setting, where Mitchell’s character commands proceedings and various yellow ticker tape explosions and forces and challenges the others to compete various dystopian “games” (really fights ), with allusions to wrestling and The Hunger Games. Toward the beginning, the cast make their way around the performance space energetically and enthusiastically, bouncing on their toes, or with leaping, stylised runs and/or lunges similar to martial arts workouts. There is slithery floorwork, and edgy, semi-robotic moves are included at points, as well as sinuous club-like dancing.

One of the major highlights of this production would have to be toward the end, when, as Mitchell’s character tells her story, with a monologue about mothers and giving birth, Elliott performs inside the now blown-up oversized inflatable clear plastic bag. Rolling and flipping inside it, he travels down the performance space, at first clothed, but then he bursts from it naked – a baby? Or Adam? He slides, slips, sniffs the air and explores space in a puddle of water like a stallion. Birth and death are mesmerizingly depicted and poetically analysed.  

Overall, You Animal, You is a striking, visually arresting, thought-provoking work.

By Lynne Lancaster of Dance Informa.

Model Citizens

This was terrific . Circus OZ are amazing  .

http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/model-citizens-circus-oz/

model  CITIZENS: CIRCUS OZ UNDER THE BIG TOP PARRAMATTA

JANUARY 9, 2018 LYNNE LANCASTER

MODEL CITIZENS: The latest wonderful production from Circus Oz, the first production for the company by new artistic director Rob Tannion and celebrating 40 marvellous years, started the 2018 Sydney Festival with a bang.

Under the Big Top at Parramatta , Circus OZ bring us a series of circus vignettes of breathtaking various acts including fire eating , juggling , tumbling , hula hooping , tightrope walking , exquisite aerial acts and much , much more, It also includes witty humour ( eg ‘ Worship my Weber ‘ in Act 2 a glorious rewriting of Waltzing Matilda– (“And he sang as he washed off the grease and lit the mozzie coil, who’ll come and worship my Weber with me?”) as sung by Jeremy Hopkins ) and the cast as very cute sheep and a sheepdog . Model Citizens examines gender roles and thoughtfully looks at the refugee experience and explores current Australian hypocrisy.

The set is a Wonderland dreamlike like creation that challenges our sense of scale , perspective and concepts of normality . There is a giant vertical safety pin, a huge oversized clothes peg ,as a springboard , extra large scissors ,( providing hoops to tumble through) , a giant glowing cotton reel , aerial undies and a house of oversized collapsing credit cards full of debt ( Mitch Jones in an incredible balancing act ) to mention just a few things.

A safety pin becomes the poles for the Chinese Pole walking and balancing act . In the first half the dominant colour is blue, in the second half , red .
The amazing cast’s finely honed circus skills are used in unconventional ways. There is tightly choreographed ensemble work interwoven with some stunning , daredevil dangerous solos . Model Citizens sets out to explore what it really means to be a model citizen in today’s ‘model kit’ society.

Musical theatre and dance elements are included producing contemporary takes on traditional circus acts – eg juggling, which here is somewhat abstract and rather more similar to a contemporary dance piece where the cast member just also happens to be expertly controlling several juggling balls.In the first half one of the sheep becomes an aerialist .In her glittering white outfit she is like a delicate , floating snowflake.

Mitch Jones (aka Captain Ruin ) with his pink punk hairdo and over 60 tattoos is amazing with his fire eating , knife throwing and hanging upside down Houdini like escape trick. His original maverick character finds himself d himself in a Wonderland like world where the inhabitants come alive only to move blank-faced and mannequin-like in imposing uniformity.

There is a Hot Irons slinky intimate entwining duet for Jarred Dewey and Annalise Moore using extra large irons as weights for the feet as they balance.

Freyja Edney was cheered to the rafters with her astonishing display of multiple hula hooping .She also impresses with the satirical the Intolerance Song with biting witty lyrics accompanied by ukele (“I tolerate diversity, just not in my backyard”. Jake Silvestro had us mesmerized with the Cyr wheel hypnotically spinning.

Alex Weibel Weibel dazzles in a jaw dropping display of tightrope walking , violin playing and visually stunning spinning slack ropes .Another breathtaking segment was The Bridge where a rope ladder is stretched high and the cast perform a trapeze like act of twists and catches.

Under Music Director Ania Reynolds, the quite eclectic score complements the action and has a relentless energy at times full of boisterous fun .Spirited surf numbers blend with darker moodier sections and also include gentler, more lyrical segments.

MODEL CITIZENS skilfully raises thoughtful issues, but doesn’t force answers down our throats and enchants without being too annoyingly pedantic.

Running time – allow 2 hours 20 minutes (roughly) including one interval

MODEL CITIZENS runs at the Circus OZ big top Prince Alfred Square , the cnr of Church St and Market St Parramatta 2 -28 January 2018

https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2018/model-citizens/?q=CIRCUS%20OZ

Darlinghurst Nights at the Hayes

hi everyone
sorry for the delay I have been ssssooo busy !

but
here is my review of the first show I saw in 2018 for Artshub .

http://performing.artshub.com.au/news-article/reviews/performing-arts/lynne-lancaster/darlinghurst-nights-255022

LYNNE LANCASTER

Steep yourself in Kenneth Slessor's Darlinghurst Nights .. absorb the atmosphere ...

Excellently and lovingly directed by Lee Lewis, this is a marvellous production with a very strong cast, all of whom give magnificent performances. Some of it is quite sad and bleak, and very moving.

Based on the poems of Kenneth Slessor, Darlinghurst Nights is set during the Great Depression, in the same district where the Hayes Theatre now stands. It was first performed 30 years ago (yes, another of those wonderful ‘lost’ Aussie musicals) as part of the STC's 1988 season, and has only rarely been seen since.

In the 1920’s and 30’s, Kings Cross accepted and encouraged bohemian lifestyles; it was one of the few places in Australia where a person could attempt to live anonymously. Thematically, the production is still extremely topical, raising issues of domestic violence, the treatment of women, discrimination and unemployment. For contemporary audiences, it highlights what has and what hasn’t changed for women then and now.

Katherine Thomson's text is expressive and evocative, incorporating Slessor’s poems at various points. Lambert's vibrant score includes soft ballads and incorporates Broadway as well as bluesy, jazz styles – and what sounds almost like a hymn performed by a barbershop quartet comprised of the male performers. A lot of the work has a Brechtian /Kurt Weill atmosphere. There is also a show-stopping torch song number performed by the character of Rose.

The deceptively simple set by Mason Browne consists of various levels of wooden pallets, complemented by Trent Suidgeet’s delightful, atmospheric lighting. John O’Connell's choreography is stylish and impressive.

The play opens with the dapper, suave Sean O’Shea as Kenneth Slessor walking through the audience, accompanied by a soundscape of traffic, people on the streets and sirens. Slessor becomes both narrator and observer and the other characters swirl around him.

We meet Slessor’s alcoholic cartoonist friend, Joe O'Brien (impressively played by Justin Smith) who blends hidden, troubling secrets with vigorous, rather raffish charm. Joe’s drowning in Sydney Harbour would later haunt Slessor, inspiring his best known poem, Five Bells.

We also meet three women: young, innocent, wide eyed and spirited Mabel (Baylie Carson) who is fresh from the country; Cora, an ex-hooker (luminously played by the stunning Billie Rose Prichard) and the worldly and enigmatic Rose (brilliantly portrayed by the charismatic Natalie Gamsu). They are strong but vulnerable. Each of the women is fighting against the rules and regulations imposed upon them by society and trying to create independent lives for themselves.  

The audience also meets the men in their lives: charming Frank the iceman (played by handsome, chiselled Andrew Cutcliffe) who falls for Mabel, and the menacing, hot tempered and violent petty crim, Spud (darkly, deceptively handsome Abe Mitchell), who threatens and controls Cora.

All of them are struggling. Change is coming – Frank will soon be out of a job with the introduction of the Kelvinator refrigerator, for starters. Cora has the difficult choice of attempting to preserve some stability by staying with the abusive Spud, or setting out on her own in a world that is unforgiving of single women. Then tragedy strikes.

We come to care for Frank and Mabel – will they be happy? Rose, seemingly glamorous and elegant and living a luxurious life, disintegrates and tries to find oblivion with a life of drink and drugs – a heartbreaking, powerful performance by Gamsu.

Darlinghurst Nights is uniquely Australian with characters that audiences will immediately recognise. It depicts an era and a world we still recognise but which is fast disappearing. Much has changed but we can still see fragments of what remains once we step outside the theatre door.

4 stars

Darlinghust Nights Book by Katherine Thomson
Music by Max Lambert
Based on the boko Dalringhurst Nights by Kenneth Slessor
Produced by Richard Carroll
Directed by Lee Lewis
Musical Director: Max Lambert
Choreographer: John O’Connell
Production Designer: Mason Browne
Lighting Designer: Trent Suidgeest
Music Associate: Roger Lock
Starring Baylie Carson, Andrew Cutcliffe, Natalie Gamsu, Abe Mitchell, Billie Rose Prichard, Sean O’Shea and Justin Smith
Running time: Two hours 15 minutes (approx) including interval

The Hayes Theatre, Potts Point
4  January - 3  February 2018

Opera Australia The Merry Widow

THE MERRY WIDOW

OPERA AUSTRALIA    SUTHERLAND AUDITORIUM  SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE JANUARY 2018

This new , delightful production as directed by Graeme Murphy of Lehar’s The Merry Widow is lush, opulent and spectacular – a wonderful way for the Opera to mark the reopening of the newly refurbished Joan Sutherland auditorium. It has a witty new translation and is sung in English with surtitles.

It is still a very popular romantic story over a century since its premiere and has been translated into 25 languages in various productions world wide and has also inspired a couple of ballets ( the Australian Ballet version choreographed by  Ronald Hynd is glorious and returns to Sydney April/May ) .

The rather slight plot centres around the now bankrupt tiny European state of Pontevedro frantically trying to keep the newly wealthy widow Hannah Glawari and her money in town, by establishing her with a new amour. What could go wrong? Quite a bit really – particularly since she has previous history with the proposed candidate.

There is also the delicate situation of the two younger lovers Valencienne and Camille – will their affair flourish or is it doomed ? Stacey Alleume and John Longmuir make an impressive couple, dramatically and vocally . There are shades of Lady Windermere’s Fan throughout perhaps.

The production has been updated to the 1920’s  .Michael Scott-Mitchell’s sets are stunningly sumptuous .The first act  is a golden glittering geometric filigree of art deco panels , peacock motifs and black marble tiles. he second act (the garden party to celebrate the king’s birthday ) elegant with a Monet like background and including a ‘ little summerhouse ‘gazebo .And then there are the mirrors for Maxim’s in Act 3 not forgetting a huge red velvet staircase  Dazzling.   

Jennifer Irwin’s costumes are glorious, some stunning in Erte like style.( Hannah’s amazing dress in Act 3 for example) . And the incredible detail of the various military uniforms! In Act 2 the blue and white folk costumes were reminiscent perhaps of Delft ware .

Hannah the eponymous widow of the show was enchantingly played by Vilja stopped the show .     

Julie Lea Goodwin who was in magnificent sparkling form. She ranges from flirtatious to crestfallen among other things and her spellbinding wistfully romantic

Alexander Lewis as Danilo was dashingly dark and handsome and in fine glorious voice with his precise captivating clear lyrical tenor as well as being a magnificent actor .We see his various moods as he changes from drunken cynic to questioning lover .

There is great rapport between the two who have great fun in flirting in ‘Silly Silly Rider’ . 

If you know Murphy’s work you can pick tiny snippets of choreographic phrases from say his Nutcracker , Poppy and Scheherazade for example and in certain parts you could see Vernon’s part as Murphy’s muse – sections could have been written for her. Murphy also drew on a great variety of appropriate styles for this production including German and French cabaret and Balkan folk dance.

My only quibble was with the grisettes dance in Act3 which was at times perhaps rather vulgar.

David Whitney had fun as Baron Zita, and Benjamin Rasheed as Njegus was impressive. My only quibble was with the grisettes dance in Act3 which was at times perhaps rather vulgar.

In Act 2 the men’s song about The Science of Women was extremely sexist for modern contemporary tastes although very entertaining and performed with gusto.

This is a lavish opulent production gloriously sung and staged - an excellent way to introduce opera to new fans, and an aural and visual delight for those familiar with the genre.

Running time – allow 3 hours including 2 intervals

Opera Australia’s The Merry Widow runs at the Sydney Opera House 31 Dec 2017 – 3 Feb 2018