Australian Ballet 2016 season

Melbourne’s stages have seen a slew of jukebox musicals tread the boards over the past few years. They’ve ranged from the powerful (Tina – The Tina Turner Musical) to the cheesy-yet-crowd-pleasing (Mamma Mia! The Musical) and the glossed-over tributes (MJ the Musical). Thankfully, at a time when it feels more important than ever to encourage people to get out and support the local arts industry, A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical arrives at the Princess Theatre full of razzle-dazzle, an abundance of infectious energy and a stacked setlist guaranteed to appeal to the masses. What is A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical about?  Written by Anthony McCarten, directed by Michael Mayer and created in collaboration with Neil Diamond himself, A Beautiful Noise opens on a dour therapy session between an older Diamond (played with commanding gravitas by Terence Crawford) and his doctor (Monica Sayers). It’s an unflinchingly sharp first introduction to the musical legend – all the more surprising given the heavy involvement of Diamond and his wife Katie – who is being particularly stubborn about revealing anything about the “clouds” that darken his demeanour. Enter the doc whipping out a book of all his lyrics, and suddenly, in true musical theatre fashion, the songs are quite literally spilling onto the stage in the form of the ensemble singing a teasing medley of hits to come.   From there we’re transported back in time as a young Diamond (Will Swenson) gets his big...

Decked in a blue Puma tracksuit top and floral-print baggy jeans, Angelique (Lucy Ansell) strikes a sure and steady figure in London playwright Emma Dennis-Edwards’ Scotsman Fringe First Award-winning play, Funeral Flowers. Exuding natural charm and abundant confidence, Angelique’s level-headed for a 17-year-old. There’s poetry to the way she talks and swagger to the way she walks. She’s focused on turning a course in floral arrangement into a small business career. But looks can be, if not deceiving, then certainly misleading in this Australian premiere of Dennis-Edwards’ dazzling show, produced by Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre and directed by the powerhouse Candy Bowers. What do you mean? As Angelique holds court on a playground slide, the bric-a-brac of childhood’s primary colours toys mingle with the empty bottles of booze littering the grass that clings to its stepped stone frame. Funeral Flowers’ subtle but striking signals, captured precisely by set and costume designer Bianca Pardo’s pointed work, remind us that 17 isn’t all that far from childhood. That we still need solid support from the so-called grown-ups in our lives at that age. Support that hasn’t always been there for Angelique, with an absentee father and a mother whose dreams of visiting Paris have been rudely interrupted by a spell inside.  Luckily, Angelique has a newfound rock in Sam. Her proudly queer foster carer supports her goals while insisting the younger woman plays by her house rules of mutual...