Rehearsals starting for Love Never Dies
The Age
Tuesday March 29, 2011
Rehersals starting for Love never diesCOMPOSER Andrew Lloyd Webber has overseen this month's triumphant opening of his new London show The Wizard of Oz, and is now preparing to fly to Melbourne for the premiere of a revised version of Love Never Dies, his follow-up to The Phantom of the Opera. It will open at the Regent Theatre on May 28, directed by Simon Phillips, with rehearsals starting early April. Leads Ben Lewis and Anna O'Byrne, were chosen after the traditional round of auditions, but in London the performer playing Dorothy was selected for The Wizard of Oz in a reality TV show. Danielle Hope (pictured) won the role after going on the show Over the Rainbow, because she could not afford to go todrama school.Divided over HowieONE of the ways that Red Stitch Actors Theatre is celebrating its 10th anniversary is the revival of the Irish play Howie the Rookie from its first season in 2002. Playwright Mark O'Rowe went on to write the 2003 film Intermission and the play Terminus. But it seems the company's audience might have changed considerably over the years, because about 30 people left at interval on opening night. However, those who remained gave it a standing ovation. Red Stitch's artistic director David Whiteley acknowledges that O'Rowe refers to sex and violence to create his surreal version of urban Dublin street life but says that is part of its theatrical power.Priscilla... from the desert to broadwayPRISCILLA, the Musical had a sluggish start in Sydney, went on to a boom Melbourne season, before settling in to a long run in London, all directed by the outgoing Melbourne Theatre Company director, Simon Phillips. Now, it has opened on Broadway and the New York critics have given it a mostly warm welcome. The Hollywood Reporter, Chicago Tribune and New York Post were positive, with the Tribune praising the show's "pulsing theatrical heart". The curmudgeonly New York Times surprised nobody with Charles Isherwood's assessment the show is "monotonous and mechanical" and his warning that readers should expect to feel dazed and stultified leaving the theatre. Meanwhile, producer Garry McQuinn has returned to London to put together a touring production of the show.Decisions logjamTHE logjam in decision-making by the Baillieu government includes the arts, with the Arts Industry Council unable to get a response to its concerns about funding that has been provided for the past three years from the Community Support Fund, which is sourced from gambling revenues. Arts Victoria uses the funds for such projects as Touring Victoria and community partnerships. The council met with representatives of the Premier's arts team but received no assurances the funding would continue past June 30. It has called an urgent meeting to consider the issue for next Tuesday at the Incubator Performance Space in South Melbourne.Eddie takes aim at the imperfectPERFORMER and writer Eddie Perfect revels in savaging cultural icons, as people who remember his 2005 show Drink Pepsi, Bitch will remember. His satirical wit is evident again in his new show, Misanthropology, at the Spiegeltent from Thursday, after a Sydney season. The final song, Too F---ing Long, is aimed at expatriate director Barrie Kosky (pictured). A review in Australian Stage states: "Perfect unleashes a very incisive satirical portrait of his view of self-indulgent theatre at its most pretentious that is delightfully on the money even, one might warrant, for Kosky's staunchest defenders." Time Out Sydney describes it as an ode to pretentious theatre, particularly that created by Kosky. But it might bemuse Melbourne audiences unaware of Kosky's eight-hour The Lost Echo from 2006.
© 2011 The Age
