Posts tagged Adelaide Reviews

RAW: Entertaining Mr Sloane – Preview – 2 – 25 July – Dunstan Playhouse

Jun 29th

Posted by Peter in RAW: Theatre

Subversively slipping this Oedipal sex-farce past the ever-watchful eye of the British censor in 1964, play writer Joe Orton raised innuendo to new and thrilling heights. Almost fifty years later, the funny and sexy Entertaining Mr. Sloane continues to be revived all around the world.

The State Theatre Company’s production, which kicks off this Friday, will be directed by Artistic Director Adam Cook and will feature one of Australia’s best loved actors, Jacki Weaver, fresh from much acclaimed role in the movie Animal Kingdom.

Set in the 1960s on the cusp of the sexual revolution, it may be the swinging in London, but out in the suburbs, behind closed doors, Kath is lonely. Craving love and affection, Kath and her bachelor brother Ed are more than happy to accommodate the attractive young charmer Mr Sloane within their home and lives.

Both Ed and Kath become so infatuated with their shady tenant with a murky past that to win him, they will let him get away with anything, even murder…

Entertaining Mr Sloane promises to be a gloriously witty romp full of sly sexiness and racy naughtiness.

Cast also includes Dennis Olsen, Sean Taylor and Renato Fabretti

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RAW: Pasek and Paul – Cabaret Festival

Jun 25th

Posted by Peter in Cabaret

The musical business is a cut throat world but Benj Pasek and Justin Paul appear destined to be the next big things to hit the genre.  Having absorbed the New York style, from Bernstein to Sondheim, these two young performers are now racking up the successes and gathering the new generation’s acclaim along the way.

This show was pure New York entertainment (that is after all their home town), both effervescent with an almost school boy like enthusiasm that quickly infected the crowd. Many in the premium seats were much less aware of them and their wares to date than those with the concession passes but for them, these two guys are where it is at.

The show benefitted greatly from two guest appearances – the first, with encore by Shoshana Bean and the second by Liz Callaway, both singing Pasek and Paul songs from past and future musicals.  They (with their song sheets and use of a music stand) and the P & P banter (where both seemed comfortable talking over the other) were able to create an informality and warmth to the show, though there was no doubting this was all well rehearsed and supremely well executed.

This show was a joy and one of the highlights of the entire Festival.

Kryztoff Rating 4.5K

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RAW: Love In A Puff – Film

Jun 25th

Posted by Peter in RAW: Film

Reviewer – Lucy Campbell

It isn’t very often that Chinese cinema reaches our shores. The 1990s decline in the Hong Kong industry has never seen it truly recover, and it’s unlikely that Pang Ho-Cheung’s ‘Love in a Puff’ will do much to resurrect it.

The premise itself is an interesting one, if a little thin: workers ostracised due to smoking laws huddle in designated smoking zones, swapping jokes, stories and little bits of their lives. Two of these smokers, Cherie (Miriam Cheung) and Jimmy (Shawn Yue) strike up a relationship. That really is the entire storyline; the rest of the film is a compilation of long conversations and stories and snippets of the first seven days of their relationship. The truthfulness of the unwritten modern dating rules is key: the muddled texting, Facebook editing, swapping phone plans and the awkward and uneasy conversations. But somehow, Love in a Puff seems lost in translation and the nuances of their conversations are forgotten in the cultural wash.

However gentle and charming ‘Love in a Puff’ may be, it still is pretty uninteresting when all is said and done. Points are laboured and the characters are sketches. It seems like a Chinese attempt at French-style cinema, but lacking the intricacies of the latter it loses interest mid-way. ‘Love in a Puff’ is awkward, a mish-mash of borrowings from other films and although there is an element of modern Chinese culture that is revelatory, as a film rather than a cultural essay ‘Love in a Puff’ proves to be a work in progress.

Kryztof rating 3K

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RAW: Bird Wizdom’s Tiny Conspiracy – La Boheme

Jun 24th

Posted by Peter in Cabaret

To think it is but three months since Anya McNicol-Windram produced that 5K extravaganza at the Fringe and here today we have a whole new show. Amazing output and determination! This time, Bird’s Wizdom’s Tiny Conpsiracy, features a much smaller entourage – a mere seven people participating – and in the much smaller La Boheme venue. Whereas previous shows seemed to have been anchored around a dispassionate Melanie Prior on cello, this time Anya is very much front and centre and as usual her talent, make-up and charisma carried the day.

Around 12 new songs are in the show, many with the familiar and engaging rhythm and beat we have heard on the Bird Wizdom album and with those lyrics of abandonment and envy that can inspire reactions from hilarity to emotional outpouring. ‘Tea Tea Tea’ and ‘Georgie Porgie’ stood out in this collection as Anya utilised many of her usual helpers including Lilly Sim belly dancing, Annie Siegmann on Bass and Josh Luke Rice as Dr Bones.

As usual there were as many questions posed (like, what is this all about?) as answered but nothing can deny Anya’s brilliance in conceiving and executing such a show and the raw difference it poses for audiences.

Kryztoff Rating  4K

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RAW: Frisky and Mannish – Cab Festival

Jun 24th

Posted by Peter in Cabaret

This show is great fun. Felicity Fitz-Frisky, in school mistress black, and Hansel Mannish, in a somewhat camp outfit that featured some leather trousers that begged the question as to how they get put on or removed, provide the most polished of performances.

While the notion of making fun of singers and their lyrics is not new, this English pair, through their School of Pop approach, give a more contemporary spin on it drawing on such things as how English literature classics inspired and smoking cannabis affected song writing. From Kate Bush to Lady Gaga, no one targeted much survived the expose. Quite whether all this crowd got all the jokes is unclear – the standard Adelaide cabaret crowd seems rather older as a rule than the fringe humour audiences this pair would have been used to.

Nonetheless, with some patter about Adelaide’s sad rivalry with Melbourne, superb comic timing and never let up intensity, Friksy and Mannish make for a great hour of entertainment whether or not one would describe it as true cabaret.

Kryztoff Rating   4K

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RAW: High School Cabaret – Cab Festival

Jun 23rd

Posted by Peter in Cabaret

The reality of the ‘world premiere’ of High School Cabaret, featuring creative arts students from Seaview and Norwood Morialta High Schools perhaps did not live up to the hype of the billing. However, after an uneasy start, some real potential stars started to emerge – four in particular stood out.

Year 10 student, Sam Trenwith took to the stage and the microphone with the competence, composure and charisma to suggest we have another highly talented individual in the wings to fully emerge on the local theatrical scene. Beautiful Mel Pal drew attention in her attractive black dress and with increased strength and confidence in her voice has the potential to be a real star in the making. Amongst the many dancers, Tyson Nunn’s crump gyrations, complete with grasped groin, suggested an athlete capable of mixing it in any of the myriad forms of modern dance available. Finally, Sheridan Deslandes dominated proceedings with her various acts but particularly her rendition of Chain of Fools. Her confidence and desire to command her audience was impressive for one just in Year 12 – another Queenie Van de Zandt or even Natalie Cole in the making.

High School Cabaret was an ambitious project. There are so many performers nowadays who can dazzle at the youngest ages and hence one’s expectations of the ‘world premiere’ were set high. However, this town has developed such a reputation for young artists of all kinds – the music industry in particular – that ensuring projects like this get going and offer up opportunities for both the students as well as for audiences to see stars in the making is important, so well done to all involved, especially the two schools and the Cab festival organisers for committing to such a night.

Kryztoff Rating 3K

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RAW: Grown Ups – Film – Out Thursday

Jun 22nd

Posted by Peter in RAW: Film

When their high school basketball coach dies, his old and only successful team reunites after 30 years to mourn and celebrate the July 4th weekend. Lenny (Adam Sandler) is now a successful Hollywood agent and his wife, Roxanne (Salma Hayek) is big in fashion. Rob (Rob Schneider) is into natural medicines and therapies while Marcus (David Spade) is still a rampaging single. Together they join with teammates Eric (Kevin James) and Kurt (Chris Rock), their wives and children in a lakeside cabin, the boys’ old hunting ground. From there some predictable mayhem ensues.

Directed by Dennis Dugan and co-written by Sandler this is no classic but ideal school holiday fare. The humour is a combination of sight gags and potty jokes but they keep on coming and the film never lets up the fun even in its more sombre moments. As such parents will enjoy as much as the children and the poignancy of how the generations of children have moved on as wealth and status needs have escalated are well handled and will resonate with the older generation.  All the icons of holiday season in the US are there – the lakeside retreat, water fun parks, July 4 fireworks and the total mix of characters ensures chaos reigns supreme.

A light, fun and agreeable school holiday flick with Sandler, Spade and Schneider in great form.

Kryztoff Rating  3.5K

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