Anything Goes

ANYTHING GOES OPERA AUSTRALIA/GORDON FROST SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE SEPT 2015 The SS American has arrived in town to dazzle and delight .With its galaxy of Australian theatrical legends /luminaries and its classic Cole Porter songs it enthralled Melbourne and now it is Sydney ‘s turn. The luxurious ocean liner is evoked in clear,clean elegant lines. There are several scene changes throughout with sections of scenery being ‘flown’ in, or slid, or reversed. Matt Scott’s lighting is splendid , handled with elegance and aplomb .The ‘ship’s orchestra’ under the dynamic baton of Peter Casey , is situated on the top level of the set and often partially hidden from view. Hallsworth’s snappy choreography is full of excitement and verve and performed with great panache. This is one of those old fashioned musicals with a flimsy plot and HUGE production numbers .There are perhaps some similarities to “Guys And Dolls “, “On The Town” and “South Pacific “.The giant cast does the show enormous credit .It is set on a luxurious ocean liner of the 1930’s and is (briefly) about the romantic entanglements of three main couples and other madcap escapades aboard. The show is obviously of its era and now is perhaps in certain respects very old fashioned and racist and the slapstick and bawdy humour has worn extremely thin but with the glorious Cole Porter melodies and the fact that it is given such a vibrant , enthusiastic performance who cares. It is Caroline O’Connor’s show as Reno Sweeney . The petite firecracker walks on , takes command and sets the theatre alight. She has a whale of a time and numerous stunning costume changes. She is bold, sassy and totally commanding and has the audience eating out of her hand with her dazzling singing and dancing and great comic timing . She is splendid in “ I get a kick out of you ‘ and her leading the mega production eponymous title number to take us to interval has the audience absolutely SCREAMING. Her ironic version of “Blow Gabriel Blow “( part revivalist meeting , part Madame Arcati perhaps ) also brings the house down. Her four ‘angels’ are also hot! ‘The Gypsy in Me’ , the duet with Lord Evelyn is wickedly delightful too. Almost unrecognizable , Todd Mckenney portrays Lord Evelyn Oakleigh as one of those silly ass foppish aristocratic aesthete British with floppy hair ,a cane and glasses , sort of a cross between Bunthorne and Lord Peter Wimsey perhaps. Wonderful fun. Alex Rathgeber as Billy Crocker is tremendous- we discover hidden depths in his torn character- a finely nuanced performance. Hope Harcourt was sweetly played by Clare Lyon .Her “Goodbye Little Dream Goodbye “ was beautifully done and I loved the Astair/Rogers romantic tribute for ‘All Through The Night” for her and Billy. And their ‘It’s De-Lovely “ in Act 1 sizzles too . And what a stunning wedding gown for the finale! Rubbery ,boneless Wayne Scott Kermond was in fine form as Moonface the silly clumsy gangster and his ‘Be Like The Bluebird’ is much fun. Blonde leggy bombshell Erma is delightfully played by Debora Krizak .She is a stunning ,sultry powerhouse pretending to be an air head gangster’s moll and brings the house down with the hot and steamy ‘Buddy Beware’ in Act2 . The rest of the ensemble were excellent too . It’s de lovely ... Running time 2 hours 20 (approx) including interval Anything Goes runs at the Sutherland Auditorium Sydney Opera House 8 Sept- 31 Oct 2015 Book & Lyrics by Cole Porter Original Book by P.G. Wodehouse & Guy Bolton and Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse New Book by Timothy Crouse & John Weidman Director Dean Bryant Choreographer Andrew Hallsworth Musical Director Peter Casey Set & Costume Adaption Dale Ferguson Lighting Designer Matt Scott Sound Designer Michael Waters Reno Sweeney Caroline O'Connor Lord Evelyn Oakleigh Todd McKenney Moonface Martin Wayne Scott Kermond Billy Crocker Alex Rathgeber Hope Harcourt Claire Lyon Evangeline Harcourt Carmen Duncan Erma Debora Krizak The Captain Gerry Connolly Elisha J. Whitney Bartholomew John Luke Aljin Abella John Nicholas Kong

Six Degrees of Ned Kelly

A great show as part of the Sydney Fringe .Here's my Sydney Arts Guide review http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/six-degrees-of-ned-kelly-erskineville-town-hall/This is a fascinating, very enthusiastically performed hour long monologue during which we learn about Australian history and the assorted legends that have developed about Ned Kelly and his gang and the ‘six degrees of separation’ that intertwine the Kelly and Rowston families. Most people have heard of the Kelly Gang and love him or loathe him. Ned Kelly’s place in Australian history is assured. His armour cuts an imposing figure and is instantly recognisable even today and he has influenced many artists as well. One only has to look at the Nolan paintings. Whether your view is that the Kelly gang were a bunch of misguided youths who were a menace to society or a group of young men who were rebelling against injustice and fighting for a better life, both views are given an airing. Nora Moloney ran a pub in Wangaratta in the 1870’s. She kept a shotgun under the bar and thought Ned Kelly was ‘scum of the earth’. Apparently Australia’s greatest bushranger of all time was scared of her. Or so the family folklore goes… Nora was Melita’s great, great, great grandmother. In 1929, daredevil Malcolm Rowston nicked Ned Kelly’s bones from Old Melbourne Gaol or so he said… Malcolm was her grandfather. Did her grandfather really steal Kelly’s skull ? And on her grandmother’s side are the stories about Nora Maloney and Kelly true? You will have to see the show to find out. The show features the excellent use of film clips and other audio-visual s and sound clips. The show opens with Rowston in a Kelly ‘mask’ and a re-enactment of the (in)famous Glenrowan siege. There are fascinating insights into her family and historical research and her attempts to separate truth from legend. We see a snippet from an iconic silent film ,as well as Kelly country and the recent Kelly Weekend Glenrowan re-enactment. We learn how Rowston meets various people in her quest to discover the truth and other assorted facts about Ned and his gang. Much discussion is given to what really happened with Ned’s skeleton and skull and also what did or didn’t really happen to the other gang members– Dan Kelly Steve Hart and Joe Byrne. The huge tourism industry that has mushroomed, the barrage of books that have been written are mentioned and we meet some of the scholars, family and friends that Rowston encounters along the way, who swear they’re also connected to Ned Kelly – and will go to amazing lengths to prove it!! With witty incisive dialogue and physical humour, this is part comic monologue blended with semi TED talk. Some of Rowston’s stories blend folkloric myth and fact, some of them are honest and some of them are delightfully whimsical. She never mocks the people she has met even though she admits that some of them were perhaps a little crazy. Rowston with her very flexible face establishes a warm connection with the audience who listen keenly to her fascinating story with parts that will make you laugh and sections that will leave you wanting to know more- as well as want to run to the next Kelly weekend re-enactment. In going on this journey to better understand her family history, Rowston uncovers more of herself. As Joseph Campbell says ‘ Myth is much more important and true than history’ Running time – an hour. 6 DEGREES OF NED KELLY is playing Erskineville Town Hall until the 6th September and then moves on to Melbourne

Traffic Jam Galleries - Danielle McManus and Bronwen Newbury

The latest exhibition http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/traffic-jam-galleries-presents-works-by-danielle-mcmanus-and-bronwen-newbury/ A charming exhibition has just opened at the Traffic Jam galleries featuring the works of Danielle McManus and Bronwen Newbury. Danielle McManus’ style is haunting and distinctive. Born in Sydney, McManus interweaves elements of her Maltese heritage with experiences of everyday life. McManus is influenced by the work of artists such as Frida Kahlo, Margaret Woodward, Arthur Boyd and Seventeenth Century European manuscripts. Her palette is rich and colourful showing a deep love for her home country and its vibrant colours. Her works could be used as book illustrations, whimsical and romantic, and featuring fluid lines. People in her idiosyncratic style often have slightly tilted heads, large eyes and curved arms. McManus’ paintings often tell a a narrative. An example is her work Letting Go about a World War 1 nurse and her lover’s letters. They are mainly clear, relatively simple compositions with a dramatic splash of colour placed within the work. There is the cheeky but thoughtful The Archer (Cupid) featuring a dangerous bow. The Performer is rather melancholic and Alice-In Wonderland like– note the white rabbit. Poppies feature again in the bottom third of the canvas and a single stem is delicately held in the middle of her body. Paper Boats again picks up on the fragility of childhood and lost romantic memories. Madam Butterfly is a small, delicate black and white work with turquoise butterflies and a girl with a Pavlova/Ballets Russes look- very appropriate. Rescue Me is an exuberant depiction of a boy and girl on a wooden toy horse pretending to be a prince and princess. Bronwen Newbury is based in WA. She especially flew to Sydney for the opening. Bronwen often paints groups or even crowds of people enjoying their leisure time whether it be boating, in cafes, at festivals or at markets. The main theme of her oeuvre is a rumination and ideas about togetherness, community, hedonism and the Australian delight and fascination with The Great Outdoors. There are some vibrant, energetic paintings of a game of cricket- Almost and At The Ready. There is also a long, narrow painting of a horse race- Winning Post. One can feel the explosion of energy as the horses dash past the post and the work also depicts the crowd’s excitement. In the current series there are also wonderful pictures of open spaces (similar to say Martin Place) and the crowds caught in the rain scurrying for cover- Rain Crossing. Also Newbury has included several beach scenes, and boating scenes that develop a rather abstract look with the dots and oblongs of beach umbrellas and towels viewed from above and exuding a hazy summer feel . I have only mentioned just a few of the works by these two interesting artists. Well worth a visit the current exhibition of works by Danielle McManus and Bronwen Newbury is on at the Traffic Jam Galleries until the 17th September.

Masterclass at the Hayes Theatre

MASTERCLASS BY TERENCE MCNALLY HAYES THEATRE AUGUST 2015 This is a totally mesmerizing,enthralling production about the life and times of the great opera Diva Maria Callas. It is a fictional re - imagining of one of the 1971 masterclasses that Callas gave in 1971 at the Julliard School in 1971 and we are in the audience . We see Callas’ approach to three students – Sophie, Tony and Sharon . Maria Mercedes as Callas is superb , hypnotic and powerful in a towering, intense performance , every inch a Diva . In stylish theatrical black she prowls and fills the stage like an uneasy tiger. At times she is starkly , dramatically lit so her face becomes the famous Callas mask of white face and red lips with huge expressive eyes. We learn about Callas’ life , her life with Onasis , some of her famous roles ( Tosca, Medea , Norma etc) and most importantly her life and approach to music and art , how she gave everything for it and ‘the theatre is a temple ‘ and you must be prepared to work, work, work and submerse yourself in the role . There are some haunting , passionate monologues and fiery interactions with the ‘victims’. At one point Callas, remembering herself singing at the top of her form, says: “That’s who I am. This voice.” as she remembers her performances at ,say ,La Scala or Covent Garden or the Met . And then there are here interactions with Manny ( Manuel ) Weinstock the accompanist as charmingly played by Cameron Thomas , who has worked with Callas previously and knows her approach. Young, enthusiastic Sophie De Palma , shy and gentle ,was delightfully played by Georgia Wilkinson in a beautiful very early short 1970’s pale apricot dress. Young and passionate she soaks up Callas’ advice like a sponge. Her chosen aria was from Bellinini’s La Sonnambula ( The Sleepwalker ). Tony Candolino ( Blake Bowden) the handsome tenor is at the beginning of his session arrogant and confident but under Callas’ blistering questions learns and changes. He sings Cavadarossi’s lovely aria from Tosca Act1. At the end Callas eventually grudgingly compliments him and wishes him well . He has aa fine voice but needs to do his homework more , but will go far ( or so we gather Callas thinks) . Sharon Graham ( Terese Duddy), fiery and passionate but petrified , who we also eet in Act 2 , wears an absolutely divine long sleeved pale green formal evening gown studded with pearls at the waist .It is perhaps a bit too formal for the occasion but is stunning. Her choice to work on is the difficult letter monologue from Verdi’s Macbeth. Callas harshly demolishes her before she sings a note and Sharon vanishes but then later she suddenly returns having decided to try again. Callas admires her courage and coaxes her, demanding the coldness and hardness necessary for the role and while acknowledging she has a lovely voice eventually says she isn’t really suited for the role. Sharon leaves, absolutely furious. The confrontation sparks Callas’ memories of her affair with, and abandonment by, Aristotle Onassis, and Mercedes as Callas delivers an intense shattering emotional climax . A riveting, passionate exploration of Callas and her life. Masterclass ran at the Hayes Theatre 11- 30 August 2015 Running time 2 hours 20 ( approx.) including interval Maria Callas – Maria Mercedes Many Weinstock Cameron Thomas Sophie de Palma Georgia Wilkinson Tony Candolino Blake Bowden ‘ Sharpon Graham Terese Duddy Stagehand Luke Holmes Director DanielLammin Costume Desogn Owen Phillips Lighting Design Brendan Jellie Sound James Hogan

Awakening : Four Lives in Art

An enthralling book http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/awakenings-four-lives-in-art-by-eileen-chanin-and-steven-miller/ This latest wonderful book by Eileen Chanin and Steven Miller is fascinating, enthralling and inspirational. At times it makes one filled with envy at their extraordinary journeys, at other times deeply sympathetic at the poor treatment and lack of respect that they received. AWAKENINGS: FOUR LIVES IN ART principally examines the lives and careers of the four women from the post Federation era to the turbulence of World War 11. This is a small to medium sized book, lavishly illustrated with both black and white and colour photos, has a brief index and a well researched bibliography. My only quibble is with the rather rushed and abrupt Epilogue that wraps up the final stages of each of the subject’s lives. Having come to know so much about these four women I would have appreciated more detail. In the prime of their lives all four women chose not to call Australia home. Louise Dyer lived mostly in Paris, Dora Ohlfsen mainly in Rome, Clarice Zander in London and Mary Cecil Allen in New York. The work is divided into four chapters–The Artist (Ohlfsen) , The Patron ( Dyer) , The Publicist, ( Zander) and The Educator (Allen). The women were unrelated, apart from the fact that they were born in Australia, were each involved with the arts, and all four choose to live and work abroad. With the possible exception of Ohlfsen, who is sometimes referred to in stories of the history of Australian sculpture, these women have largely been forgotten about and considered relatively unimportant and peripheral figures on the arts scene. Dora Ohlfsen led an extraordinary and enigmatic life. The majority of her work has been lost or obscurely buried, a typical example of the fate of a woman artist. After studying music in Berlin, she suffered a nervous breakdown and eventually met her lifelong partner, the Russian aristocrat Elena von Kügelgen. With Elena, Dora experienced the ‘Silver Age’ of Russian culture, and she was exposed to theosophy, the work of the Symbolists, and most importantly, was introduced to sculpture, specifically the art of the medallion. They first moved to St Petersburg, where Ohlfsen took up sculpture, struggling against the ideas that sculpture was hard and dirty and not for women, and after six years the couple moved again and settled in Rome. Ohlfsen was very much a pacifist yet ironically spent much of her life working on art with war-related themes, including her best known Australian work, her Anzac medal, which we are informed was the first commemorative work of art paying homage to the ANZACS. In Italy she became caught up with the Mussolini cult- he posed for her on several occasions- and with his help she became the only expatriate sculptor in Italy to be commissioned to design a national war memorial. Ohlfsen returned to Australia in 1912 after a 20-year break, during which time the country had almost doubled in population, become a Federation, enfranchised women, and brought in the aged pension. As well, the cultural transformation that had taken place since she left was immense with the building of the Art Gallery of New South Wales underway, Universities in Tasmania , Queensland and Western Australia, and the founding of symphony orchestras and conservatoriums. Her return was for family reasons, but the timing was serendipitous. The Art Gallery of New South Wales was in the middle of commissioning the bronze friezes to adorn the blank recesses intended to illustrate the six epochs of art (eg Ancient Greek). Ohlfsen sent her portfolio to the trustees and was commissioned to complete a full-sized plaster model to be cast in bronze for the panel immediately above the door, and two roundels. She was hoping as well that her work would be included among the commissions for sculptures in the new federal capital, Canberra. Sadly, her entry for sculptural decorations for the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne was not chosen. In 1914 she returned to Rome to work on the commission, but with the outbreak of war, she endured increasing difficulty in obtaining reasonable quotes for the casting and began to find fault with the commission. For part of the War she worked as a volunteer nurse. In September 1919, with much annoyance and frustration at the Sydney trustees’ interference and financial constraints, Ohlfsen was gravely disappointed to learn that her commission was cancelled. Ohlfsen ‘s life was essentially a tragic one, where she received little recognition at home. Not one of her major projects saw the light of day, and other works which were sent to Australia were discarded. At the age of 71, in 1948, Dora Ohlfsen and her Russian Countess were found dead in a gas-filled studio in Rome. Not much of her work is extant, though there are some paper trails. If you venture to the Art Gallery of NSW you can see The Awakening of Australian Art (1907), a detail from which is on the cover of the book, and other bronze work, among which is Ceres (1910). Louise Dyer is perhaps most famous for forming the music record and publishing label identified with her name, Les Éditions de L’Oiseau-Lyre ,( Lyrebird) which has played a key role in establishing the foundations of the modern early music revival. Examples include the publishing of works by Couperin and the spectacular Montpellier Codex We discover the life of a woman passionately devoted to music, a woman who was born and married into money and used it to follow her passion. Her music label became the first to simultaneously release printed music and recordings. In 1905 Dyer enrolled at the Melbourne Conservatorium to study with Leipzig-trained Eduard Scharf, and then gained her licentiate in piano from London’s Trinity College. Dyer returned to Europe for several visits, most importantly to visit the Glasgow Athenaeum, where she delved into its library of early printed music and manuscripts of medieval liturgical works– an event which would have a great impact on her future career. In 1912 she married James Dyer, who shared her love of music, and, unable to have children, Louise pitched herself wholeheartedly into fundraising projects, especially for music, becoming the key promoter of the renewal of British classical music including works by Vaughan Williams, Holst and Delius, among others, building on French Impressionism and English folk music. She was also heavily involved in the Alliance Francaise and The British Musical Society among other organisations and at one point was Lady Mayoress of Melbourne. She also supported poets such as John Shaw Neilson. Clarice Zander seemed to begin with apparently every opportunity– a high-quality education and art courses at the new Eastern Suburbs Technical and Art School in Hawthorn, where she honed the skills to gain considerable success as a freelance illustrator. At about this time she met her husband Charles. They were only married for four months before he left for Europe. Charles returned from the war broken and damaged but determined to make his way on his own terms, and dragged Clarice to a soldier settlement block in Mildura. They built a modest house and began the hard, back breaking work of digging out the mallee roots to grow sultana crops. Charles turned to drink and went slowly mad, leaving Clarice with his power of attorney and a small child. She returned home to her mother’s house and became the main breadwinner for four generations of women. With post-war reconstruction underway, and modernism emerging, Clarice bobbed her hair and strode out into the world to make a life for herself and her daughter. She held several jobs at once, but most important were the five years she managed the New Gallery, in which most of Melbourne’s leading artists were shareholders. During this time she met Bill Dyson and in 1930, after Charles’ death, followed him to London, where she became manager of a Bond Street gallery, which was to become the Redfern Gallery, where her art world connections expanded, and to which she introduced Australian artists like Loudon Sainthill, Sidney Nolan and Donald Friend. Eventually she became the influential curator and publicist for the Royal Academy. She was also responsible for Australia’s first important exhibition of contemporary British art and accompanied it to Australia in 1933, where it garnered a major amount of press coverage. This book is a vibrant examination of these four women’s struggle for recognition during a time of great social turmoil between the wars. It also examines the unwillingness of Australia to accept Modernism. An enthralling read. AWAKENINGS: FOUR LIVES IN ART by Eileen Chanin and Steven Miller has been published this year by Wakefield Press. ISBN: 9781743053652. Recommended Price- $39.95. Review copy courtesy of Wakefield Press.

Sweet Boy Dear Wife

What an amazing life http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/sweet-boy-dear-wife-jane-dieulafoy-in-persia-1881-1886/ Heather Rossiter’s fascinating book chronicles the extraordinary life of Jane Dieulafoy and is based on her extensive diaries. Rossiter deftly interweaves and blends themes of passion, Persian history, politics, power, history and architectural and art history. This is a medium sized book, elegantly illustrated, with many black and white engravings of Jane’s photographs, as well as various photos of some of the famous sites visited as they were then and are now today. The publication has a well presented bibliography and index as well as a list of the photos included, a handy brief chronology of Ancient Persia and a glossary as well as a list of the main people mentioned, including various shahs, sheiks, and French officials. The work has not been written in a strict chronological order and jumps around at times almost in the style of a movie but nevertheless remains a pleasure to read. Nomad tribes and their chiefs, Princes, and Persians from both the highest and the lowest strata of society and assorted functionaries are found in the pages of this book. Particularly vibrant are the descriptions of the women which range from some vivid, confident tribal women to melancholic often uneducated creatures locked in anderuns (harems). Their virtual slavery greatly saddened Jane, who was an early feminist, believing passionately that women should be free to live independent, dignified lives. In some ways Jane can be seen as a distant cousin in spirit of the fictitious Amelia Peabody or even the real life Isabella Bird. Jane Dieulafoy was born Jeanne Henriette Magre to a rather wealthy family in Toulouse, France studying at the Couvent de l’Assomption d’Auteuil in Paris from 1862 to 1870. At the age of 19 she married Marcel Dieulafoy in May 1870. She was fiercely loyal to Marcel and considered herself an equal to him. In 1870 the Franco-Prussian War began. Marcel volunteered, and was assigned to the front. Jane accompanied him, wearing a soldier’s uniform and fighting by his side. The Dieulafoys first visited Persia to dig in 1881, and would return for two seasons after that. In 1881-82 Jane’s extraordinary journey began in Marseilles and took her to Athens, Istanbul, Poti, Erevan, Jolfā, Tabrīz, Qazvīn, Tehran, Isfahan, Persepolis, Shiraz, Sarvestān, Fīrūzābād, Susa via Būšehr, and Mesopotamia on horseback. She invented new field methods, monitored the excavation of trenches, and painstakingly photographed, mapped, labelled, and reconstructed everything that was discovered with particular attention to tiles and enamels. Blue-eyed Jane dressed as a boy to accompany her husband Marcel on digs in Persia, where women were veiled and enclosed, denied rights and treated as second class citizens and objects. She survived extreme illness, both hers and Marcels, and a miscarriage, as well as attacks by religious fanatics and wild tribesmen. Her incredible travels and adventures led to the unexpected discovery of enameled brick friezes in the 2500-year-old city of Susa. Displayed at the Louvre Museum, Paris, in 1886, the Lion and Archer friezes created a major archaeological sensation and still remain today among the Louvre’s greatest treasures. Jane was awarded the Legion D’honneur in 1886. Upon her return to Paris in 1886 she forsook women’s clothing completely and obtained a ‘’permission de travestissement” from the police, a legal requirement otherwise she would have been arrested, and wore contemporary men’s fashions. The politics surrounding the Dieulafoy dig abruptly changed in both Persia and France, and the couple were never allowed to return again. Jane wrote her first novel, Parysatis, set in ancient Susa. It later became an opera with music by Camille Saint-Saëns. She went on to write three novels set in the French Revolution. In 1904 Dieulafoy and several other women bonded together to found the Prix Femina as they were all denied the existing literary awards because of their gender. Jane and Marcel then turned their attention to Spain and Portugal, photographing and documenting old buildings and churches, and publishing several books. Marcel was assigned to build roads and railways around Rabat during World War 1. Jane accompanied him and directed excavation of the the 12th-century Yaʿqūb al-Manṣūr Mosque. Whilst in Morocco, her health began to decline. She unfortunately contracted amoebic dysentery and she was forced to return to France where she died in Marcel’s arms at Pompertuzat in 1916. What a full and amazing life! The book’s author, Heather Rossiter, is a scientist, writer and traveller who lives in Sydney. She is the author of Lady Spy, Gentleman Explorer: The life of Herbert Dyce Murphy, and Mawson’s Forgotten Men: The 1911–1913 diary of Charles Turnbull Harrisson, whilst her articles, book reviews and travel pieces have appeared in Australian and overseas newspapers and magazines. Details- Book Title- SWEET BOY DEAR WIFE: JANE DIEULAFOY IN PERSIA 1881-1886 Author: Heather Rossiter Category Biography/Autobiography/True Stories Publisher- Wakefield Press Format Paperback Size 234 x 160 mm ISBN 9781743053782 Extent 364 pages Price: AU$39.95 including GST Heather Rossiter’s book is available at leading bookstores as well as online at websites such as Amazon.

Matilda the Musical

Book now! It is fabulous! http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/matilda-at-lyric-theatre-the-star/ One of Sydney’s major musicals for the year, MATILDA has impressively taken over the stage at the Lyric Theatre at the Star. This is a bold and colourful, in parts cartoon like and then at other times quite dark and poignant production. The large ensemble perform with enormous relish and gusto. It is a re-mounting of the multi-award winning Royal Shakespeare Company production currently playing in London and is based on the much loved Roald Dahl book with music by Tim Minchin. The school is presented as Dotheboys Hall like, with old fashioned desks and huge towering Victorian front gates that the cast climb and rattle. The set also has piles of books and alphabet blocks. There is also a wonderful, exuberant swing sequence for the schoolchildren opening Act 2 When I Grow Up – some of the cast seem to fly out over the audience. There are masses of special theatrical effects, strobe and Star Wars/James Bond like lighting and lots of scenery flying in and out, sometimes shifted by the cast. Puppetry is also featured. The ensemble, both children (there are four casts of children) and adults are magnificent and SO full of breathless energy. The choreography is an amalgamation of various dance styles including showbiz, rap, U-tube musical, Latin –American ballroom and possible hints of Balanchine – very tightly choreographed and performed with great pizzazz. Matilda is a very bright prodigy of a little girl, unloved and unwanted by her horrid parents, who loves books. We see how she survives school and develops unexpected powers to help others. Also running throughout the show is Matilda’s imaginary tale of The Acrobat and the Escapologist which she shares with Mrs Phelps and which turns out to have links to Matilda’s real life as well as revealing her longing for love. We see her uncaring horrible parents. Her mother, Mrs Wormwood is hard, bold and brash, with a Latino lover /dance teacher Rudolpho, played by Travis Khan. She is terrifically played by Marika Aubrey who brings the house down with the exuberant Loud (With shades of Tina Sparkle and ‘Strictly Ballroom’) Her father, Mr Wormwood, a sleazy second hand car dealer, is delightfully played by Daniel Frederiksen, who dresses in appallingly bad taste and whose hair is in the style of an escapee from the bar in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake. He is self centred and continually refers to Matilda as a boy, if he condescends to think of her at all. Both parents delight in making Matilda’s life miserable and despise her reading. Her sloppy brother Michael was played by Daniel Raso. Don’t be out too long at interval or you will miss the Telly sequence underlining his superficiality. Perhaps rather plain and mousy, yet Meryl Streep like Miss Jennifer Honey,Matilda’s teacher, is tremendously played by Elise McCann. Warm and caring she is a terrific teacher yet dominated overruled and controlled by the appalling headmistress, Miss Trunchbull (who turns out to be her aunt). Miss Honey gathers her courage and turns defiantly on Miss Trunchbull with help from Matilda. Her song in the second half My House was superb and very touching. Miss Honey acts as a calm, concerned, balancing focus for the scary events in Matilda’s life. Georgia Taplin was extraordinary in the title role. What a talent! She sang, acted and danced up a storm; at times naughty and mischievous, and at others heartbreaking. She carries the show magnificently. The major ogre of the piece, the towering fearsome Miss Trunchbull, headmistress of the school, English hammer throwing champion in 1969 , is played with wicked glee by James Millar in a khaki outfit with huge shoulder pads. She is played as part panto villain, part Miss Andrews from Mary Poppins, part over the top Richard 111/World War 11 villain. Petrifying! Her huge number in Act 2, The Smell of Rebellion brought the house down. Mention must also be made of the charming librarian Mrs Phelps who also encourages Matilda and listens to her stories, delightfully played by Cle Morgan . Gleefully anarchic and joyous, this is a marvellous show suitable for all ages. Running time 2 hours 40 mins including one interval MATILDA is currently playing the Lyric Theatre at the Star and is presently selling through until the 6th December.