Lynne's Theatre Notes

Absolutely marvellous fun .Here's my thoughts for Artshub https://performing.artshub.com.au/news-article/reviews/performing-arts/lynne-lancaster/review-wolfgangs-magical-circus-sydney-opera-house-257105 LYNNE LANCASTER A terrific blend of circus and Mozart's music – a totally enchanting show. Paul O’Keeffe as Mozart in  Wolfgang's Magical Circus.  Photo by Clare Hawley. Circa, the wonderful company based in Brisbane, have brought their latest show,  Wolfgang’s Magical Circus,  created by Yaron Lifschitz with Benjamin Knapton, to the Opera House. Wolfgang’s Magical Circus  is a fantastic family-friendly physical comedy show filled with incredible circus by Circa. The set design is deceptively simple – consisting of a few chairs and tables, two doors, and a mat with a geometric design centre stage. There are also two black shrouded mysterious objects that are eventually revealed to be the bike, and the other music stand.  Quincy ...

I thought this was great . Here's  my thoughts for the Guide  https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/la-passion-de-simone-carriageworks/#more-59037 JANUARY 12, 2019   LYNNE LANCASTER LEAVE A COMMENT The 2019 Sydney Festival has started with a bang and one of the major events is the Australian premiere of La Passion de Simone . Written by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, with a libretto in French by Amin Maaloufit it is presented at Carriageworks by Sydney Chamber Opera in association with The Song Company. Musically and visually superb, it is a powerful and hypnotic production.Directed by  Imara Savage  it looks at the life of Simone Weil , who was an intellectual, Marxist and pacifist, philosopher, political activist and mystic whose despair at the course of world events led her to starve herself and pass away in 1943 aged just 34. Weil died of tuberculosis after weakening herself by fasting in sympathy with the starving people of France, hav...

This was great loved it here's my Artshub review  https://performing.artshub.com.au/news-article/reviews/performing-arts/lynne-lancaster/review-a-ghost-in-my-suitcase-sydney-festival-257089 An exciting adaptation of Gabrielle Wang's book A Ghost in my Suitcase. Barking Gecko bring us a wonderful ghost busting tale. The cast of Barking Gecko's  A Ghost in my Suitcase .  Photo by Prudence Upton. As part of the Sydney Festival, Barking Gecko has brought us  A Ghost in my Suitcase , an enchanting production based on the book by Gabrielle Wang, adapted by Vanessa Bates, and directed by Ching Ching Ho and Matt Edgerton. The themes explored in this production include grief, identity and cultural and family relationships. The narrative centres on Celeste, a twelve-year-old girl who defines herself as ‘Half-Chinese, half-French and all Australian’. Celeste, leaving her father and brother behind, flies to Shanghai to visit her grandmoth...

It's Festival time! Stay tuned for exciting reviews Lynne

Hi everyone I have now updated everything August -December 2018  .Everything else is on my 'old' blogsite which now looks accessible again  (? ) Anyway , stay tuned for a busy 2019 with the Festival of  Sydney starting January 9 Lynne

Calamity Jane Belvoir St August 2018 This was fabulous loved it  CALAMITY JANE BELVOIR AUGUST/SEPTEMBER  2018 Welcome to Deadwood !. This wonderful return season of CALAMITY JANE has riotously ,joyously taken over the Upstairs theatre at Belvior. Originally at the Hayes it has  won 2 Sydney Theatre Awards including the Judith Johnson Award for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for  Virginia   Gay  with sold out seasons and is touring nationally to much acclaim. The show is based on the 1953 classic film starring Doris Day .A rather light musical comedy , similar in some ways to   Annie get Your Gun  ,  Calamity Jane   tells the somewhat  fictionalised , somewhat cleaned up  ,family friendly version of a real-life, boldly adventurous yet fragile and tough woman who ignored the expectations placed upon women to survive in ...

Much fun https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/last-night-of-the-proms-2018/#more-54440 LAST NIGHT OF THE PROMS 2018: WILLOUGHBY SYMPHONY AND CHOIR AUGUST 21, 2018   LYNNE LANCASTER Pacific Opera Following in the grand tradition of Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, this was a quite British concert with several old favourites included .This year we had works by French and Polish composers included among the British staples. The concert, held at the Concourse, Chatswood where the WSO is the resident orchestra, featured a HUGE cast of performers with the combined forces and talents of the  Willoughby Symphony  and the  Willoughby Choir .The featured soloist this year was amazing  Mitzi Gardner  who dazzled on her violin.     Energetic  Dr Nicholas Milton  AM conducted with enormous enthusiasm ,panache and flair, and introduced the various works and soloists. Drumroll…..Crash! The concert da...

A great book BALLET: THE DEFINITIVE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY – MARVELLOUS AUGUST 24, 2018   LYNNE LANCASTER BALLET: THE DEFINITIVE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY. This marvellous book is a rather large and heavy coffee table/reference book that dance lovers will pounce on with delight. With ballet legend  Viviana Durante  as Editorial Consultant ,  the book is divided chronologically into six sections, from the earliest historical performances through to current ones .It is clearly , simply and elegantly presented and lavishly illustrated. We are taken through the history of ballet from the earliest performances ( Ballet Comique de la Reine  etc ) right through to now with the latest cutting edge works of Christopher Wheeldon and others.It has an international coverage but concentrates on Europe and America.     Some of the major figures in dance history ( eg  Lully ,Taglioni , Petipa, George Balanchine ,Sir   Kenneth MacMillan, David Bin...

Here's my thoughts for the Guide https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/robyn-archer-dancing-on-the-volcano/ ROBYN ARCHER: DANCING ON THE VOLCANO- THRILLING AND CHILLING AUGUST 25, 2018   LYNNE LANCASTER This image: Credit- Claudio-Raschella A chilling , thrilling performance by legendary theatre star  Robyn Archer  who was in magnificent form , towering and charismatic at the City Recital hall .In some ways you could perhaps call it a mesmerising , in parts menacing ‘musical lecture’ as  Archer introduced and placed the songs in historical context and then performed them. We are asked to imagine we have been transported to the Tingel-Tangel Kabarett in Berlin, roughly around 1930 or so. DANCING ON THE VOLCANO, is a name often used for the period of the renaissance of cabaret in Germany between 1919 and 1933. Social comment and criticism through various art forms grew out of a time of political upheaval  and rebellion between the two World Wars . Th...

https://dancemagazine.com.au/2018/08/marrugeku-asks-cultural-and-political-questions-in-le-dernier-appel/ Carriageworks, Sydney. 15 August 2018. Marrugeku is dedicated to Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians working together to develop new dance languages and operates between Broome, WA and Sydney. Marrugeku’s ‘Le Dernier Appel’. Photo by Prudence Upton. For the production of  Le Dernier Appel (The Last Cry) , the company has collaborated with Kanak performers from New Caledonia. Their focus is recognition and acknowledgement of their Indigenous people, and the work asks questions about political, cultural and personal decolonisation and separation in both countries, while New Caledonia is moving toward a referendum on independence from France (in November). Nicolas Molé’s set design is minimalist, with a smooth park bench, an electronic billboard and an abstract geometric backdrop. The billboard flashes news bulletins about various political events in bot...