theatre

...now browsing by tag

 
30 Rock absurdity amusement Arrested Development astrology belief blogging bludging Childish Chronicles childishness chocolate comedy confectionary Dexter edinburgh edinburgh fringe firostefani GFC goals Greece hobbies immaturity laziness lollies music musicals new year's resolutions nomikos villas pizza princess cabaret psychology santorini saturn's return Script Frenzy self-help self-indulgence singing theatre Three Things Daley tumbleweed TV twitter whinging writing [Title of Show]
 

Three Things Daley #46

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

…Things I already miss from [title of show]

1. Ch-ch-check 1, 2. This was my favourite part of the night (show-schmo, audience-schmaudience!). Jess would give us a theme for our sound-check song choices, which was usually followed by: Blake’s soulful serenade, Lizzie’s kick-ass belt, Paul’s loungey croon, and Jay’s Christopher Walken. Yes, you read that correctly.

2. Part Of It All. Lizzie and I had lyric-literal routines for all three of the boys’ duets, which we’d perform backstage almost without exception.

3. Don’t go away, I’m needy! Normally I’m at least a little bit relieved when a show ends, even if it was a good one. Not this time. This time, I could have happily kept going till I was old enough to knit on the bus and truuuuuuuuuck! *sigh*

Posted in Big Kids' Hobbies | No Responses »
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Three Things Daley #41

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

…Battle scars

1. Heads. I have a scar on my top lip from when I was 2 years old. I was, conveniently enough, in the doctor’s surgery waiting room. I had a dummy in my mouth when another, older, taller kid came along and hugged me. Awww. Except the dummy’s plastic edge cut into my top lip. Imagine my mother’s delight at holding me down while the doctor did stitches. I screamed the place down and bled everywhere – including down the front of Mum’s white top. When it was done, I imagine the relief for mother and doctor would’ve been amazing. Amazing but brief. I wiped my mouth and managed to pull the stitches out. I deserve this scar, man.

2. Shoulders. I have a scar on my shoulder from the time I ran a little too close to a protruding nail in a very old, very dusty theatre. Oh fffff…iddle-dee-dee, that will require a tetanus shot.

3. Knees and… Hands. I stabbed my hand on a twig while downhill skateboarding (granted, there were three of us on it at the time) and still have the scar. I also had one of those big serated metal toilet paper dispensers fall off the wall and gash my left hand. It’s great that that’s the most prominent scar on my hands too – not at all embarrassing to explain. I accumulate wildly random scars on my hands, which makes me wonder if I should be allowed to leave the house – or even my couch – without gardening gloves on.

Posted in Childish Chronicles | No Responses »
Tags: , , , ,

Three Things Daley #10

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

…By request*: Things which are lopsided

1. Beepbeep, beepbeep, yeah.  The proportion of honking horns by Saturday night hoons on George Street to the necessity of said honking (and hoons).

2. M vs F.  The gender split in key creative leadership roles in mainstream Australian theatre is under scrutiny.  Being very much a fringe-dweller (fringe enthusiast, even) when it comes to theatre, I can’t give a qualified comment.  However, I did attend a lecture at Belvoir St Theatre today (I came, I saw, I tweeted).  One point that resonated with me was that women who are in key creative roles – directors, artistic directors, etc – could afford to be a bit more supportive of each other, of women who are long-term practitioners and of female emerging artists.  In other words, the sisterhood is the antidote to the boys’ club.  A point of concern was, anything outside a white middle-class male perspective is seen as ‘alternative’ which, obviously, includes stories told from a female point of view.  It’s a bizarre notion that half the population is effectively viewed as a minority group, but this mindset seems to be affecting the perceived merit of creative work.  It’s a worrisome and frustrating situation, but hopefully the floodgates for discussion and change have opened for good.

3. My eyes (these goggles they do nothing!).  I noticed this one day and it freaked me out.  I can’t tell which eye is the droopy one, but they’re definitely set differently in my head.  I asked the optometrist and she said, “It’s common to be slightly asymmetrical.  Or it could be a brain tumour.”

*Every 10th TTD will be by request!  Tweet @daleyrant or leave a comment…

Posted in Big Kids' Hobbies, Pointless Interludes | 2 Responses »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Three Things Daley #7

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

…live show highlights of my 2009 (across three continents!)

1. Yankee.  On Broadway, I enjoyed watching two of this year’s Tony winners, best original musical Next to Normal and best original play God of Carnage.  But my personal favourite was 9-to-5 the Musical.  Exuberant and hilarious, this toe-tapper had the most amazing production design I think I’ve ever seen (not as shiny as Wicked, but much more ingenious).  Add to that, the pristine comic timing Allison Janney, the bolshy vocals of two former-stars of Wicked, and a whole bunch of new songs written by Dolly Parton, and you get a show that just couldn’t be more fun.  Meanwhile in Vegas,  Mystere by Cirque du Soleil showcased artists at the pinnacle of human physicality performing feats that most people wouldn’t even imagine, let alone attempt.  But the unexpected part was that it had not only a sense of breathtaking beauty, but a great sense of humour as well.  The experience was so magical and spectacular, I cried and ran straight to the gym*.

2. Yurp**.  I may have mentioned two or three (hundred) times that I was at Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year.  In technical/industry terms, there was an arseload of shows.  Austrian duo Living Room is the world’s only bass-clarinet-and-hang-drum pairing.  On a chilly, gray day, coffee in hand, I revelled in their warm rich tones in a tiny venue on Grassmarket.  I grew particularly besotted with the hang drum – at only 8 years old, it’s one of the world’s newest instruments.  It’s a convex steel drum with incredible versatility – both rhythmic and melodic.  And it’s not like you can walk into your nearest music store and buy one.  If you’ve got a hankering for a hang, apparently you have to write to its creators and explain why – but if you were a kick-arse percussionist looking for a new and unique challenge, it’d be so, so worth it.  On the other end of the spectrum were Aussie acrobatic spectacle Controlled Falling Project – like Cirque, it put feats of strength and balance in the spotlight, but with a simple almost vaudevillian aesthetic.  And last is the mammoth acapella troupe, Out of the Blue.  These dorkiest of dorky Oxford boys would, on the rare occasion they weren’t sold out, storm The Royal Mile in full force and belt out a gloriously energetic number.  People would stop in their tracks.  Then, almost as quickly as they arrived, they’d be gone again.  Their show was similarly energetic and delightful, featuring wacky stagings of pop tracks in quality arrangements.  No wonder they’re the best in the UK.

3. Yowie***.  Surprisingly, for someone who doesn’t love stand-up as much as other forms of comedy, two of my favourites on the home front are stand-ups.  Way, way back at this year’s Melbourne Comedy Festival (which seems like years ago now) I saw Janeane Garofalo.  Now, I know a lot of people (read: guys) weren’t happy with her piecemeal approach to storytelling, but I loved it.  She is ridiculous in a way I really identify with.  My second stand-up rave comes from Cockatoo Island, home of World’s Funniest Island festival where Princess Cabaret did a post-Edinburgh reprise.  There I finally got to see a full show by Fiona O’Loughlin and, my god, I laughed until I couldn’t breathe.  Not only is she hilarious, but she’s a wonderful storyteller.  I made fool of myself on the post-festival boatride, excitedly telling her I was “the tragic lapsed-Catholic in the front row” (FYI, I’m not often starstruck, but when I am it’s embarrassing).  She laughed, perhaps in sympathy.  Finally, just the other night, I saw a wonderful local show called LoveBites.  It’s an ensemble-based musical revue on all things romance - a teensy bit like Australia’s answer to I Love You You’re Perfect… Now Change! but simpler and tighter.  It’s funny, clever, moving, and has just the right amounts of light and shade to make it immensely satisfying.  In terms of writing, composition, singing, and acting, it was as good as, if not better than, anything I saw on Broadway.  The lyrics were particularly awesome.  I walked out at the end smiling and inspired.  This show not only has legs – it has wings and a turbo-charger.

*in this case, gym = all-you-can-eat buffet at Mandalay Bay
**that’s Baltimorean for Europe (I chose this dialect here for no particular reason)
***this is the only Aussie-ism starting with ‘Y’ that I could think of (I bet there’s a really obvious one I’m missing)

Posted in Big Kids' Hobbies | 3 Responses »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,