Sydney Festival 2010

I'm sitting in the Air New Zealand Business Class Lounge at Sydney International Airport waiting to board my flight to San Francisco. I'm greatly looking forward to sitting on a plane for the next 14 hours. It's been a hectic, but excellent, month filled with Sydney Festival events. And in my free time, I went to the beach. Happy Summer!

January 9, Al Green, The Domain
The festival kicked off with Festival First Night. I had a picnic in the Domain with Will and Kylie and a friend of theirs while we waited to see Al Green. Somewhat of a disappointment. He spent most of the show complaining about how little time they'd given him.

January 14, Optimism, Drama Theatre (Opera House)
In conjunction with the start of our Sydney Theatre Company subscription (under 30!), Dave and I went to Optimism. Optimism is Tom Wright's Candide adaptation. It was over the top and a lot of fun. It was a very close telling of Voltaire's work and having read it both in English and French in high school, I enjoyed seeing it performed. The Candide was excellent and we especially enjoyed his moments in "front of the curtain" interacting with the audience.

January 16, Bale de Rua, Concert Hall (Opera House)
Then came Bale de Rua with Margaret, Dave, and Paul. It was, as Ben and Anna said, good but not great. I had such high expectations - Brazilian street dance. Perhaps it was too big a venue or perhaps the audience wasn't into it enough. It just didn't have the energy to engross me fully.

January 20, Giselle, Carriageworks
The four of us went to Giselle - an Irish dance/theatre production - a few days later (on Paul's birthday). This was my favorite Festival show. It was a mostly-male cast, but the men-playing-women never seemed totally ridiculous or even a little strange. Much of it was narrated by a man on a telephone pole and so the players came and went switching roles and costumes frequently. Though most of the dance was modern/interpretive, there was some line dancing which made me long for my cowboy boots and Nashville!

January 21, Camera Obscura, Beck's Festival Garden
Margaret and I went to see Camera Obscura at Beck's Festival Garden outside the Hyde Park Barracks. I hadn't been to a stand-up and sway concert for a long time and really enjoyed it. I did keep wishing they were Belle and Sebastian though.

January 27, Medeski Martin & Wood, City Recital Hall
Medeski Martin & Wood opened with something that brought only the word "discord" to mind. They had a sound very different from the CD I've been listening to for years. I really liked the two last songs they played, but much of the beginning and middle was too "noisy" for me.

So that was Festival 2010. There was more I missed (like Six Characters in Search of an Author which Reen recommended), but I just couldn't manage any more! My next task is to get the Paul Taylor Dance Company at Festival 2011. Any idea how I do that?

A Streetcar on Avenue Q (with spam)

October 14, A Streetcar Named Desire, Sydney Theatre Company
Last week, I saw Cate Blanchett play Blanche in Sydney Theatre Company's A Streetcar Named Desire. It was an incredible production. She played the part with such an amazing energy, that I felt drained from having experienced her complete mental breakdown. I can't believe she did that every night for 2 months.

The accents were a-little-bit New York at times, but otherwise the show was flawless.

October 16, Avenue Q, The Theatre Royal
I accompanied Dave and Margaret to see Avenue Q and I laughed the whole way through. Of course, I laughed ahead of the lines, because I knew what was coming. I Wish I Could Go Back to College seemed a little lost on the Australian audience, as most of them didn't write messages in dry erase pen on the door, spend a few years on meal plan, or have TAs (they even changed the TA related lyric). But all in all, a great show with a great audience.

Despite it being my third time to see the show, I was still impressed with what life the puppeteers give the puppets through the puppet's motions, but also through their own expressions and movement.

October 17, Spamalot, Regal Musical Society, Rockdale Town Hall
A coworker is involved with the Regal Musical Society, which puts on a few productions a year. His sister was in Spamalot and I made the trek to Rockdale to see it, despite the fact that my very convenient train wasn't running due to trackwork. I saw The Holy Grail once, but didn't remember much more than the guy who gets his arms and legs cut off. The show was funny and I thought the production was very well done (it restored faith in amateur theater after last year's Chess debacle).

The highlight of the show for me was Prince Herbert singing a few lines of "Another Hundred People" from Company. Perhaps that's a sign I should stick to Sondheim...

September in Sydney - At The Opera House

September 6, Ben Folds, Sydney Opera House - Concert Hall
An amazing, amazing show. Before the show, audience members wrote requests on slips of paper in the foyer. Ben chose songs from the overflowing fishbowl and played whatever came up. They were mostly oldies, all of them goodies. From time to time, he forgot lyrics, but the audience always helped out. This was most probably the best concert I have ever attended.

Here's the set list I sent Meg, Christina, and Lance after the show:
The Luckiest
Smoke
Battle of Who Could Care Less
Underground
Don't Change Your Plans
Tiny Dancer
Such Great Heights
Rockin' The Suburbs
Magic
Landed
Rock This Bitch
Cigarette
Fred Jones Part II
"Fred Jones Part III"
Bitches Ain't Hos
Hiroshima (Japanese Version)
Emmaline
Same After That
One Angry Dwarf

September 3, Aida, Opera Australia, Sydney Opera House - Opera Theatre
This was the best of the three operas I saw this year. Graeme Murphy choreographed, which made the production not just about great opera singing, but dance as well. In particular, The Triumphal March had some spectacular dancing.

In The Heights

On August 16, I saw In The Heights with two former residents of The Heights - Parisa and Eran. Their connection with and enthusiasm for the show greatly improved my own experience. The best scenes included the mother's "Enough" where she lays the smack the down to husband and daughter, the blackout scene, and of course Claudia's Pacienca Y Fe.

Today, I found myself singing about piragua as I poured a glass of agua. I've never had piragua, but next time I find myself in Washington Heights, I might try some.

To be filled in later

- Christmas at the House (Opera House/Concert Hall)
- Travesties (Sydney Theatre Company, Opera House/Drama Theatre)
- The Alchemist (Bell Shakespeare Company, Opera House/Studio)
- Roadkill (Carriageworks)
- We Unfold (Sydney Dance Company, Sydney Theatre Walsh Bay)
- So You Think You Can Dance Australia live results show (Carriageworks)
- Morphoses (The Wheeldon Company, Theatre Royal)
- The Magic Flute (Sydney Opera, Opera House/Opera Theatre)

Dance, Cirque, and Drag

Tonight I saw Sydney Dance Company's third work of the year - Aszure Barton's Sid's Waltzing Masquerade at Carriageworks. Once again, the choreographer and I share a taste in dancers. I was happy to see Reed Luplau featured, but disappointed that Annabelle was stuck in an ugly leotard without a moment to shine. This was definitely my favourite work this season, most likely because it was the most classically grounded. The dance styles were varied throughout and at no point was I lost in a sea of chaotic movement. I did, of course, miss seeing the Paul Taylor dancers perform (I might, in fact, watch the Piazzola Dancemaker clip right now!).

Stepping back in time: Last weekend (Oct 17) I went to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - The Musical. Priscilla, as you may know, is native Australian. And what do I like besides Australia? Drag queens! This was one of the most spectacular shows I've seen. The costumes were extravagant (Orlagh read there were 500 costume changes). The songs catchy and fun (all classics - not one original song). And where the movie features three cast members doing each number, the stage production, in classic musical style, brings out a whole cast to drive a point home.

And weeks ago now I went to see Cirque de Soleil's Dralion (Sept 27). I don't think it was as good as Corteo, which I saw in 2005 in San Francisco, but was still pretty amazing. The trampolines and the pretend audience members were particular highlights.

I should not forget to mention a small show I saw at the Belvoir Theatre: Homebody/Kabul (Sept 25). The first hour of it was a very impressive monologue by a mother. It then moved to Kabul (pronounced cobble in case you were wondering) and over the next two hours, told the story of her family members and their relationship with her and with each other. I liked the first hour best, but overall a good show.

So much Sydney and some Scotland

Sydney
July 15: My Fair Lady, Opera Australia, Opera Theatre
July 18: Billy Elliott, Capitol Theatre
July 25: Rafael Bonachela's 360 Degrees, Sydney Dance Company, Carriageworks
July 26: Australia vs New Zealand, ANZ Stadium

Edinburgh Fringe Festival
August 8: Brendan Burns, Assembly @ George Street
August 12: Before We Remember, Gomito, Bedlum Theatre
August 12: Assassins, Through the Window Theatre Company, C +3

My Fair Lady was fantastic. It had been sold out for weeks, but when I checked the day before the show, there were two tickets available. The singing was superior and the costumes were amazing. It was so fun to see an opera company perform a classic musical.

I enjoyed Billy Elliott, but wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as Dave. It wasn't Elton's finest score - in fact, I found a bunch of the music dull. There were some fun numbers and both miners and minors in tap shoes are tons of fun.

Rafael Bonachela and I agree on which Sydney Dance Company members we like best. It was clear in his 360 Degrees that he favours Annabelle and Reed, just like I do. I liked this one much better than Meryl Tankard's Inuk 2 (wouldn't take much), but wasn't incredibly excited by it.

For a cultural experience, I went out to the Olympic Stadium to see the All Blacks do the Haka - I mean, to see Australia beat New Zealand in rugby. I must admit that the Haka was the highlight for me and I would've been okay with seeing that a few times and skipping the rugby. The rugby was, however, fun. Go the Australia!

Andrew and I met in Edinburgh and then traveled around the Highlands for a few days. The Fringe Festival is on in full force and we three performances. First was an Australian-turned-Londoner standup comedian, Brendan Burns. He said some funny things. My favorite parts were those about Australian advertising and sports.

Friday evening we met a number of very drunk and friendly Scots. One group we stopped highly recommended we see Before We Remember. It was the story of an old woman recounting memories as she was dying. The staging of it was awesome. All the props and sets were string, garbage bags, and paper. They made some pretty cool things out of it. My favorite was the woman driving a car with a shawl blowing behind her. That doesn't describe it very well; you'll just have to trust me.

Last, but not least, was a production of The Assassins. I'd never seen it before. I like that each Sondheim play is so different than the others. And what a fun topic this was! American presidential assassins. I especially liked Charles Guiteau who attempted to assassinate Garfield in order to boost sales of his book. What fun!

I didn't have enough time in New York to see any shows, but there's more to see in Sydney when I get back!