Arts and Entertainment Archive

Billed as an ‘explosive homage to legendary opera singer Maria Callas’, Terrence McNally’s 1995 opera play opens with Lucia Mastrontone (in the principal role) conducting a masterclass in New York’s Juillard School of the Arts. Her Callas, now past her prime as …

All that jazz, indeed, and so much more besides. This Chicago delivers on every level – singing, dancing, choreography, characterisation, music. It’s all fabulous and top notch. The opening number – with a gloriously sultry Zöe Ventura as Velma heading the female …

Strut & Fret’s Blanc de Blanc shows, which sold out at the Grand Electric, prove hard acts to follow but Limbo – The Return has its moments.  In this global ensemble, headed by New York acoustic musician Sxip Shirley,  the South African/NZ/Aussie …

‘We live in peace if not harmony,’ said the city guide showing me around Belfast last year. It’s a statement that has stayed with me as I think about the divides in Northern Ireland and remember the clusters of Union Jacks flying …

What an absolute delight to see this production again. David Ireland’s lacerating black comedy, written as the #MeToo movement was gathering momentum and referencing the aftermath of Brexit, takes aim at – among other things – misogyny, gender politics and the always …

  A script that bristles with venom and wit, two extremely well cast actors vying for the upper hand, hints of menace that are as chilly as the Swiss Alps outside and all of this going at a cracking pace – what’s …

For Mandela Mathia, born amid war and hunger, Australia became the ‘Promised Land’. Lose to Win is him telling his story of how that came to be and how he got here. It starts in South Sudan, where he was born to …

Image courtesy of Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Photo: Jay Patel. Jean Sibelius is undoubtedly Finland’s most celebrated composer. While typically remembered for his passionate symphonic works and concertos, Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä’s latest show at the Sydney Opera House reveals a more enigmatic …

  This is one of those plays that has you thinking about it long after you have left the theatre. It is engrossing from start to finish, as we follow the lives of two seemingly quite different men and learn, bit by …

Utility vehicles and red sports cars, Mechanicals in Hi-Vis vests and wielding ‘Stop’ signs,  costumes that reference the Matildas, and Barbie and Ken, are all elements that bring Glenn Elston’s interpretation of this 400-year-old comedy into the 21st century – as long …