Cultural Binge – independent theatre reviews from Sydney, Australia (mostly).
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Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (Belvoir) ★★★★1/2
Zahra Newman steps into the role that won Audra McDonald her 6th Tony Award and an Emmy nomination. These are big shoes to fill, and she is more than up to the task.
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The Visitors (Sydney Theatre Co.) ★★★★
Six clan leaders, and one younger proxy, gather to observe the boats approaching their land and discuss how best to deal with the situation. Should they present a show of force to scare them away, or treat them like visitors and offer hospitality?
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The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Hayes Theatre) ★★★★★
Perfect. No Notes.
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Summer of Harold (Ensemble Theatre) ★★★1/2
Written by Hilary Bell. World Premiere. Ensemble Theatre. 8 Sep – 14 Oct, 2023. Hilary Bell’s triptych of short plays focuses on the way memory interacts with our present-day lives. From heart-warming stories of youth, to tales of past snubs and regrets. Summer of Harold, Enfant Terrible and Lookout are beautiful vignettes of life, showcasing…
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Beauty & the Beast (Capitol Theatre) ★★★
Book by Linda Woolverton. Music by Alan Menken. Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. Capitol Theatre, Sydney. Jun 14 – Dec 24, 2023. Beauty & the Beast alternates between, well, being beautiful and being beastly. At times it’s full of wonder and at times it just plods its way through the story. But one…
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Interview: Playwright Simon Stephens on ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ (2018)
Back in 2018 I visited Simon Stephens’ home in London to talk about The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.
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Wicked (Sydney Lyric) ★★★★★
Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Book by Winnie Holzman. Based on the book by Gregory Maguire. Sydney Lyric. 25 Aug – 31 Dec 2023. Whoever thought the tale of an unlikely friendship between a green domestic terrorist and a blonde collaborator, who fall in love with the same Shiz-tagram thirst-trap would be one of…
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The Dismissal (Seymour Centre) ★★★★
Book by Blake Erickson and Jay James-Moody, Music and Lyrics by Laura Murphy, Conceived by Jay James-Moody. World Premiere. Seymour Centre. 31 Aug – 21 Oct 2023. Squabbalogic’s time-travelling new musical, The Dismissal, is an assault on your senses (and memories) as it retells the story of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s demise. It’s an insane…
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Exposed (Sydney Opera House) ★★★1/2
Choreographed & directed by Michelle Ryan. Restless Dance Theatre. Sydney Opera House 30 Aug – 3 Sep, 2023. Exposed, the new piece by Restless Dance Theatre, unpicks the moments of daily life, and our interactions with others. Inspired by a moment from Artistic Director Michelle Ryan’s life, Exposed looks at the combination of vulnerability and…
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Miss Saigon (Sydney Opera House) ★★★★★
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg. Lyrics by Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. Book by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil. Dame Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. 17 Aug – 13 Oct, 2023. Full review up on The Queer Review.
Cultural Binge 