MORE FEMALE PARTS - Theare Review

What – MORE FEMALE PARTS

Where and When – NORTHCOTE TOWN HALL – 08 FEBRUARY 2014 TO 23 FEBRUARY 2014

Reviewer - Joe Calleri.
Stars - 4 out of 5.

Evelyn Krape works hard to keep mind and soul intact. Image Supplied.

Disclosure - I attended the opening night of this production on a complimentary ticket as the guest of a media invitee.

The program for More Female Parts states: “Sara Hardy wrote more female parts specifically for Evelyn Krape to perform and Lois Ellis to direct. It is a ‘thirty years on’ celebration of their original, phenomenally successful production of Female Parts by Dario Fo and Franca Rame in 1982.”

It may be thirty years on, but diminutive performer, Krape is in fine artistic and physical form - all sharp muscular angles, curly red hair, and often chaotic, hyper-activity as she first portrays two oppressed women, and then the narrator in an unusual adult parable / fairy tale, in this highly enjoyable, often thought-provoking, three part performance.

Part 1, Can’t Sleep, Can’t Sleep, finds Krape portraying the hapless, frenetic, chaotic, Julie Evans, a woman of a certain age whose cad of a husband has run off and married a much younger woman who also happens to be a pole dancer.

Such brutal spousal abandonment creates a new, harsh reality for Julie that includes interviewing for mindless clerical jobs (including one as an Arts Centre usher where for a team building exercise she and fellow candidates must create a silver cube) in order to support herself, and dealing with the mindless bureaucrats at Centrelink.

But, Evans also must deal with problems associated with her own failing memory, and that of her ageing mother, a gay son who is about to be married in London, and two precocious grandchildren, Frangipane and Kayell.

And, if you though life for women was difficult in 2013, just wait until you visit the pink-wigged, floral leotarded, yellow fluoro t-shirted, Veronica in Part 2 titled “Penthouse Woman 2044”. Veronica’s life seems enviable – she lives on the 99^th floor of an apartment building in Melbourne, where she is surrounded by a variety of exercise equipment, is never alone with her NewTube connections, the talking, ever-amenable computer, Pal (think HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey), and possesses the magical Instashop delivery system, where goods materialise within mere seconds of submitting an on-line order. Wow!     

But, these wiz-bang technological marvels designed to make one’s life so easy, disguise a Dante’s Inferno-type of existence for Veronica. We discover she must resort to a series of positive affirmations (“60 is the new 30”) and gruelling physical exercise to keep mind and soul intact. Veronica, you see, is a prisoner in her own apartment; where the windows cannot be opened. While her businessman husband jets around the globe, Veronica has not left her apartment in years.

And therein lays one of the beauties of Hardy’s writing and Krape’s performance – the ability to quickly switch emotional gears, from laugh out loud hilarity one second to though-provoking pathos and genuine concern the next.  

And, what of those wonderful on-line “contacts”? Well, her new contact, Glenda, is also a prisoner, but suffers the indignity of wearing a collar and long chain.

While Veronica can never be physically free of her surroundings, at least she has freedom of thought.

While Part 3, Hip Op, lacks some of the emotional layering of the first two parts, it allows Hardy an opportunity to show off some very clever writing, and Krape yet another opportunity to display her wonderful, impish physicality, this time as narrator of an unusual adult fairy-tale / parable regarding the Ginger Family, and their three children, Angelica, Emily and Albrecht.

Youngest daughter, Emily, falls under the influence of wickedly funny, foul-mouthed, Fluckety Dolly, and decides to become an economist. This is where the fairy tale transforms into parable. Emily, you see, wears a glass mortar-board which causes her to hit the ceiling (get it?) thereby preventing her from climbing the corporate ladder.

Like all great fairy-tales, there is a conveniently happy ending of sorts, but, by the end of the third part, we have well and truly gotten the message.

Even if you are not a feminist, this rewarding, often laugh out loud funny piece gently, and movingly highlights some recognisable, relatable, very serious, and festering social issues that confront women on a daily basis, while displaying the loveable Evelyn Krape’s highly skilled clown work.

- Ends -

 

JOE CALLERI REVIEWS: SAVAGES by Patricia Cornelius

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What – SAVAGES by Patricia Cornelius

Where and When – fortyfive downstairs, 16 August 2013 – 08 September 2013

Reviewer - Joe Calleri.
Stars - 4.

THE CAST OF SAVAGES, FROM L TO R: BROOKS, O'CONNELL, TREGONNING, ELLIOT - IMAGE SUPPLIED

Full Disclosure - I attended the opening night of this production on a complimentary ticket as the guest of a media invitee.

While the line notes in the program do not make reference to it, Patricia Cornelius’s sweat and testosterone-fuelled play, Savages, is based on some of the people involved in, and events that surrounded, the tragic death in 2002 of 42-year old, Dianne Brimble, after she was administered a lethal dose of the date rape drug, GHB, by a group of eight men, during an ill-fated cruise on the ship, Pacific Sky.

In Savages, Cornelius’s four characters are a sub-species of middle-aged, suburban man, utterly incapable of forming either meaningful, or in fact, any relationships with women.

We first sight these four miscreants, George (Lyall Brooks), Runt (Luke Elliot), Rabbit (James O’Connell), and Craze (Mark Tregonning) as they slowly, menacingly emerge half naked from the darkened set like grotesque, misshapen monsters. Andy Turner’s moody lighting and Kelly Ryall's deep, throbbing sound design, are among the many highlights of this production.  

When we next see the four, it’s cheerful back slapping and high fives all round as they anxiously wait at the docks before embarking on a pleasure cruise of a life-time where each expresses a desire to either lose, re-discover, or re-invent themselves. Runt, for example, will no longer be short, while Rabbit intends to throw in his job as a motor mechanic.

Once aboard set designer Marg Horwell’s intelligently, efficiently designed ship deck, complete with tiny stateroom (which echoes the famous state room sequence in the Marx Brothers’ film, A Night At The Opera, and which offers the audience the play’s only genuinely comedic moments), the four quickly come to terms with cruise life, including how quickly boredom sets in once they have finished their strenuous physical work-outs and sunbathed.

The initial jocularity, bonhomie and excitement felt by the four regarding their prospects of “scoring” while on board, becomes subsumed by some unenlightened navel gazing and general observations about the disappointments of life, and in particular, their fraught, failed relationships with the opposite sex.

However, any flickers of sensitivity, humanity, compassion, or emotional intelligence displayed by the characters, including when Runt speaks lovingly of his mother, are short-lived before we are jolted back into a grimmer reality as George speaks of drowning his lover, Craze threatens to kidnap his children, Rabbit admits to not enjoying sex, and Runt expresses his general and palpable disgust of women, who are ugly pigs fit only for rutting.

Cornelius has incorporated into her dialogue some of the deeply disparaging comments that those accused of killing Brimble, in particular, Letterio Silvestri, made about her, during the course of police interviews.

While certain of the themes and dialogue become repetitive, and Cornelius’s narrative deliberately casts out a number of red herrings that are not resolved, these are relatively trivial complaints and easily forgivable when one enjoys the intense and committed acting of the four male actors, Susie Dee’s precise, tight as a drum directing, and the overall high quality of this production.

Cornelius’s and Dee’s Savages, is a nightmarish journey into, and exploration of, the very darkest heart of modern male masculinity and misogyny, that recognises no boundaries, no laws, and exposes the tragic outcomes when those men allow themselves to be reduced to the level of savage beasts capable only of acting on their most primitive, and physical urges.

Highly recommended.

 

JOE CALLERI REVIEWS: RONNIE BURKETT THEATRE OF MARIONETTES IN PENNY PLAIN

What – RONNIE BURKETT THEATRE OF MARIONETTES IN PENNY PLAIN

Where and When – ARTS CENTRE, MELBOURNE, FAIRFAX STUDIO, 08-18 AUGUST, 2013

Reviewer - Joe Calleri.
Stars – 4.

Full Disclosure - I attended the opening night of this production on a complimentary ticket as the guest of a media invitee.

The Master Marionetteer, Ronnie Burkett, with Penny Plain. Image Supplied.

The latest news is of global Armageddon. Hundreds of millions are dead as a result of widespread global warming, pandemics, viruses, and earthquakes. In the midst of such death, destruction and the breakdown of society as we know it, and quietly sitting in her armchair, is a frail, blind, gentle, unassuming woman, and the titular character of Ronnie Burkett’s marvellous marionette performance, Penny Plain. Sitting next to Ms Plain is well, her … all too human dog, Geoffrey.

Ronnie Burkett, that fast-talking, masterfully dextrous Canadian marionetteer, returns to Melbourne with one of his darkest themed shows to date.

Prepare to be amazed as more than twenty of Burkett’s beautiful, delicately sculpted marionettes, seem to take on lives and emotions of their own, as they navigate, with varying measures of success, the many real perils of a world that is rapidly descending into chaos, corruption and often unspeakable madness and cruelty.

Yes, there are moments of levity, common decency, civility, and a surprising, yet tantalising hint of a potentially bright future for our world during Penny Plain, but, admittedly those moments are brief and mostly weighed down by Burkett’s powerfully clear sub-text that warns audiences of the dire consequences of continuing to abuse our precious planet … and one other.

For those theatre patrons seeking a somewhat unusual, yet genuinely thought-provoking, heart-felt and beautifully conceived and executed theatrical production that allows them to witness a true master of a rare craft at work, I unreservedly recommend Penny Plain to you.

 

JOE CALLERI REVIEWS - EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH, An Opera in Four Acts.

What – EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH, An Opera in Four Acts

Where and When – The Arts Centre, Melbourne from 31 July, 2013 to 04 August 2013.

Reviewer - Joe Calleri.
Stars – 4.  

The Trial Scene from Einstein on the Beach. Image by Stephanie Berger.

Full Disclosure - I attended the opening night of this production on a complimentary ticket as the guest of a media invitee.

Robert Wilson and Philip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach is a four and a half hour long, pulsing, mesmeric, meditative, mind-bendingly epic journey into a fourth dimension of light, sound, movement, and wonderful stage magic.

Devoid of conventional narrative and through line which may alienate many prospective theatre goers, Einstein fuses Philip Glass’s eclectic, often repetitive musical score, Robert Wilson’s inspired direction, and timeless, wondrous stage design, poetry by Christopher Knowles, Samuel M Johnson and Lucinda Childs, ballet (choreography by Andrew de Groat), and opera, with an obsessive, perfectionist, wonderful attention to detail that I have rarely seen displayed in a theatrical performance.

Watching this work, and contemplating some of its pressing contemporary themes including conformity in manner, in dress and in action, android-like dehumanisation, mindless repetition of tasks, phrases, sound bytes and news stories on constant 24 hour loops, it is hard to believe it was first performed in France, in 1976.

Together, Glass and Wilson have set about exploring and then exploding Einstein’s life, his massive intellect and his complex, ground-breaking theories on gravity, relativity, quantum mechanics, space and time, and life itself, into tiny fragments, and then ever so intelligently, elegantly and creatively laid those fragments out into eleven performances.

So, we have Einstein appearing during the performance either in projected photographs, or portrayed (complete with trademark white hair and brush moustache) by wonderful solo violinist - and one of the stand-out stars of this performance - Antoine Silverman. Einstein was a proficient violinist with a love of Mozart’s sonatas.

But, it is the complex, befuddling complexity of time itself that so intrigued Einstein, and Glass and Wilson have attempted to explore this concept theatrically: a train appears to travel at a glacial pace, performers repeat gestures and expressions, and banal, routine, nonsensical words, expressions, names, and number sequences (1,2,3,4,5,6) are repeated in perfect, loop-like, infinite patterns.

Given the duration and complexity of this work, you will be amazed at the skill, dexterity, patience, physical endurance, and commitment to perfection of the scores of performers on stage and in the orchestra pit. While I have singled out Silverman earlier in this review, the sum of each performer (including young Jasper Newell) contributes equally to the whole.   

Lest you believe you are stuck in the theatre for the entire marathon running time, audiences have the opportunity of leaving the theatre and returning to the performance whenever they wish. On the night I attended, 8pm seemed a popular time for many audience members to take a nature break, stretch their legs, or leave the theatre not to return.

No, this piece is not universally accessible; some will find it cold, aloof, high-brow and conceptual, bewildering, frustrating, impenetrable, alienating. But, if you are prepared to invest your hard-earned time, Einstein will reward you with one of the theatre world’s most remarkable and unforgettable theatrical experiences.

- Ends -

 

JOE CALLERI REVIEWS - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE – INTO THE ICY REALMS: ON ASSIGNMENT WITH PAUL NICKLEN.

What – NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE – INTO THE ICY REALMS: ON ASSIGNMENT WITH PAUL NICKLEN

Where and When – ARTS CENTRE, MELBOURNE, FAIRFAX STUDIO; SUNDAY 28 July, 2013, 3PM AND 6PM

Reviewer - Joe Calleri.
Stars - 4.

Full Disclosure - I attended this presentation on a complimentary ticket provided to me by the event publicist.

During this entertaining, thought-provoking, 75-minute presentation titled Into The Icy Realms, Canadian marine biologist and award winning, National Geographic photojournalist, Paul Nicklen, provides some fascinating insights into his “get the shot at all costs” philosophy that goes into capturing beautiful, often breath-taking nature images.

For readers unfamiliar with the National Geographic Live series of presentations, they involve prominent National Geographic photojournalists presenting, and discussing how some of their most iconic images were captured. The images are shown on a large projection screen.

Nicklen, who specialises in capturing endangered marine life on our polar regions, and who has had more than 16 photo stories published by the iconic, US-based, 125-year-old National Geographic magazine, is an enthusiastic, passionate, often humorous raconteur. His passion intensifies when he discusses the many real and present dangers - including global warming, and rampant hunting - that face our polar regions and its vulnerable, animal inhabitants.

Lest you believe being on assignment for the world-famous National Geographic magazine is some type of Martini-sipping, romantic fantasy, Nicklen provides his audience with the harsh truth of this dangerous profession in graphic detail: living in a tent for months at a time on ice and enduring sub-zero conditions; only having between 1 and 2 hours of shooting during a one-month period, and failing 95% of the time to take any usable images; crash-landing ultra-light planes in the Canadian Arctic while travelling to remote locations to photograph the elusive, long-toothed Narwhal whales; falling through ice into freezing water, only to be saved in the nick of time by a laconic, Inuit hunter; almost being killed by a bull seal. Tales straight out of a Boys Own Adventure annual by a man whose philosophy on image-taking includes “get as close as possible to your subject and if you get scared, suck it up.”

But, when Nicklen does capture his award-winning images, they are, as you would expect, wondrous to behold especially when shown as giant projections. Beautifully lit and composed, in-your face, close-up images of polar bears, emperor penguins, and leopard seals brought spontaneous gasps, cheers and universal applause from an entranced audience.

IMAGE OF A WALRUS BY PAUL NICKLEN: SUPPLIED.

IMAGE OF EMPEROR PENGUINS BY PAUL NICKLEN: SUPPLIED.

Weaving throughout Nicklen’s presentation is a very serious conservationist sub-text that describes a fragile, disappearing, polar ice eco-system that will potentially cause the extinction of polar bears during our life-time.

In generations to come, I believe Nicklen’s photos may be used by historians to reveal a time when beautiful creatures inhabited our planet’s icy, polar regions.

These presentations will appeal not only to amateur and professional photographers alike, but, to those with an adventurous spirit, and those with a conscience regarding the future of our planet and its increasingly vulnerable animal inhabitants.

This is the first time that, National Geographic Live has been to Melbourne. I sincerely hope that such presentations will become a regular fixture for the National Geographic.

The next National Geographic presentation, enticingly titled “Grizzlies, Piranhas and Man-Eating Pigs”, will be by explorer, Joel Sartore, and you will be able to catch it at The Arts Centre, on 01 September 2013.

- ENDS -

 

Cavalia - Review and Photos by Joe Calleri.

What – Cavalia

Where and When – Big Top at Docklands, 473-507 Docklands Drive, Docklands, from July 24, 2013 until August 18, 2013.

Reviewer + Photographer - Joe Calleri.
Stars - 5.

Full Disclosure - I attended the opening night of this production on a complimentary ticket as the guest of a media invitee.

Beautiful, talented human performers meet even more beautiful, and talented equine performers on a series of grand, magical, and often mystical landscapes, during the remarkable, high concept theatrical production, Cavalia.

This is an often breath-taking, jaw-dropping, heart in your mouth, and very sophisticated fusion of music, sound, lights, circus performances, and those exquisitely trained, 48 horses from 11 separate breeds.    

Make no mistake, Cavalia will play with your emotions. So, you will find yourself embarking on gentle, quiet meditations during “The Discovery”, where a beautiful girl steps into an on-stage pool to quench the thirst of her horse, and “Le Miroir” where two of the female riders, dressed as medieval princesses on their white chargers literally mirror each other’s movements as they canter across the stage, and the “Grand Liberte” during which the pony-tailed horse whisperer, Keith Dupont, commands his 5 chargers with the briefest of words and smallest of gestures.

But, be sure to check your heart-rates during the performances of Roman Riding, and the powerhouse, hooping and hollering finale, Trick Riding (featuring the ever-exuberant, flame-haired, Fairland Ferguson), where the horses gallop at unbelievable, break-neck speed while their riders perform a series of stunts that would not have been out of place in one of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West extravaganzas.

When you add some muscular, ebullient acrobats (including the cheeky Anchoune brothers, Lahcen and Mohamed, from Morocco), graceful high wire and trapeze performers, a wonderful four piece live band, cellist (Anne-Louise-Gilbert), and some truly mesmerising lighting design by Alain Lortie (look out for the holographic stallions as they emerge from a rain fall), and evocative scene design (Marc Labelle), you have a tightly directed (Erick Villeneuve), highly detailed and cohesive world-class production that has to date been enjoyed by more than 3 million people.

Cavalia, created by one of Cirque du Soleil’s co-founders, Normand Latourelle, is a wonderful night’s entertainment for the whole family, and easily deserves my highest praises and, consequently, highest star score.

After the parade of horses, and during the first media call.

French rider, Julien Beaugnon.

The fearless, Fairland Ferguson, from the USA.

The fearless, Fairland Ferguson

-Ends -

 

BOOZE CITY (WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MALCOLM HILL) - Review by Joe Calleri.

What – BOOZE CITY (WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MALCOLM HILL)

Where and When – THE BUTTERFLY CLUB (5 Carson Place, Melbourne, off Little Collins Street), July 11-14 and July 18-21, 2013, at 7pm.

Reviewer - Joe Calleri.
Stars - One Star.

Each night it seems, our news bulletins are drenched with ever-more graphic stories regarding ever-increasing incidences, and financial and societal impacts of, alcohol-fuelled violence. If the consequences of such violence were not often so deadly and far-reaching, they would risk becoming a cliché.

So, when I read the promotional blurb for writer and director Malcolm Hill’s satirical play, Booze City, which purports to highlight “Australia's thorough addiction to alcohol and its consequences in a thought provoking & funny political satire”, I thought it would be worth reviewing.

Sadly for me, and the other three audience members at last night’s opening, Booze City is not thought-provoking, not funny, and certainly not satirical.

Instead, it’s a ham-fisted, head-scratchingly embarrassing, cliché-riddled, farcical mess that was supposed to run for an hour, but ran to a turgid, patience-draining, 73 minutes.

Summarising the play’s narrative is a difficult exercise, not because it’s complex, but, because – and please forgive the reference – it lurches about like a drunken sailor on a shore-leave bender.

Barking mad ex-drug squad copper, and now best-selling author, and owner of Jack’s Bar, Jack Korvat (an over-acting Richard Keenan, channelling Chopper Read channelling wrestler, Killer Kawolski), is planning to open his open all hours mega-bar, a three storey shrine to booze, babes and mixed martial arts in, I assume, Melbourne’s CBD.  

Korvat’s having problems obtaining his liquor licence, as unsurprisingly, he’s deemed by the authorities to be an unfit person to run a bar.

Enter the current Minister, but ex-Premier, and ex-alcoholic, Tim Balcome (Greg Waterston), who seems well acquainted with Korvat, and who can help Korvat with his legal stalemate.

But, when the now sober Balcome needs persuading, the conniving Korvat unleashes his secret weapon – the contorting, seductive, part-time stripper, part-time Arts and Women’s Studies scholar, and feminist, Misty (Jeni Bezuidenhout).

Balcome becomes the moth to Misty’s flame, and as quick as you can say “put this on my tab, bar-tender”, Balcome falls off his three-year sobriety wagon and sexually assaults Misty. All while being recorded on CCTV. Leverage is what Korvat wanted over Balcome. Misty was merely the bait.

Meanwhile, Balcome’s son, the garishly attired, dim-witted, Chifley (Ezel Doruk), who is studying fashion design, is on a “Mad Monday” drunken binge after finishing his exams.

Chifley (who extols the virtues of bar-hopping, and views clubs as a “wonderland”) not only drunkenly crash lands into Jack’s Bar where he meets Misty, but also the press-conference where his Father is giving his acceptance speech after being re-elected Premier.

Balcome’s ex-wife, the strait-laced, grabby, power-suited, Adele (Melina Wylie), conveniently surfaces after Balcome’s re-appointment as Premier. Rather than express any concerns regarding her son’s disgraceful display of public-drunkenness, or her ex-husband’s growing attraction to the bottle, she focuses on the décor in her ex-husband’s office.

Speaking of offices, the Premier’s office appears to be as easy to access as your local Coles store. Misty arrives with a threat to release the CCTV footage of the Premier’s drunken attack to the news networks unless the Premier agrees to shut down Korvat’s activities. The Premier responds to this threat as all good politicians do – by setting up a Committee to examine the connection between alcohol and violence in the CBD.

Amazingly, the Committee finds no such link.

Still more amazingly, the Premier declares a freeze on the opening of new drinking venues.

Korvat is pissed off! Something must be done.

And the play stumbles on, and on, and on … to its silly, contrived, conclusion that has Chifley bashed while bar-hopping; the Premier standing down after his drunken indiscretion with Misty is revealed, but still remaining a Minister; Korvat kidnapping and hog-tying, Adele; Korvat (dressed as Bacchus, complete with grapes on his head and a toga) finally opening his den of iniquity with the aid of the Minister, and the newly-converted (by the persuasive stripper/student/feminist, Misty) feminist, Adele, being installed as Premier. Oh, brother!

Booze City, replete with a confusing, ill-conceived, and poorly drafted script, slack, amateurish direction, over-acting, and fluffed lines, fails in every conceivable way to explore, illuminate or even toy with, the very serious questions that surround the issues of alcohol addiction and associated violence.

Hill has with this feeble effort, merely managed to trivialise those critical issues, while at the same time insulting his audience’s intelligence and testing their patience.

Can you help with this Crowd Funding to assist PNG artist, Pax Jakupa, get to Vancouver?

http://www.pozible.com/project/28362#.UdpA32thiSM

Hi everyone,

The link above is to a Crowd Funding initiative that's been started by my wife's cousin, Tony Sowersby, to assist his friend Pax Jakupa, a wonderful PNG artist and lovely bloke, get to Vancouver.

Pax has been asked to present at the Pacific Arts Conference there in August. His paintings are also on display at the UBC Museum of Anthropology.

Please check out the site and watch the short video. It's a great story. Feel free to share it.

Thank you for your support.

Joe Calleri - 08 July 2013.

Wicked - 08 July 2013 - Media Call Photos and Preview Article by Joe Calleri.

Melbourne, Monday, 8 July 2013

On a delightfully sunny, Monday afternoon, Melbourne’s Spring Street magically glowed a bright, emerald green, as the principal cast members of the mega-hit stage musical, Wicked, stepped off a specially liveried green tram, much to the delight of a large throng of awaiting media representatives and onlookers alike.

Wicked returns in May 2014 to Melbourne’s Regent Theatre as part of its tenth anniversary world tour for a strictly limited season, before touring to Sydney and Brisbane.

If you didn’t see Wicked when it debuted in Melbourne in 2008, this spectacular musical tells the untold story of the Witches of Oz – Glinda the Good (Lucy Durack) is blonde, and beautiful, while the green skinned Elphaba (Jemma Rix) is smart, fiery and misunderstood.

Durack and Rix will be supported by a talented cast that includes Edward Grey as Boq, Steve Danielsen as Fiyero, Maggie Kirkpatrick as Madame Morrible, Glen Hogstrom as Doctor Dillamond, and Emily Cascarino in the role of Nessarose.

Wicked, based on Gregory Maguire’s novel, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, boasts some highly impressive numbers – winner of 35 major awards, including a Grammy, three Tony Awards and six Helpmann Awards; a total of 350 costumes worth in excess of US$3 million; 69 wigs; 54 scenes; 34 cast members; enjoyed by more than 36 million people worldwide, with a gross box office take exceeding US $2.9 billion.

 

This show thrilled me when I saw it in Melbourne in 2008, and after seeing the cast members this afternoon, I eagerly anticipate its 2014 return.

The special green liveried tram carries the cast member of Wicked

Cast members of Wicked make quite an entrance as they parade along Spring Street

Lucy Durack (as Glinda the Good) (L), with Jemma Rix (as Elphaba) (R)

Supporting cast members - and that green smoke!

Cast members pose with Producer, John Frost, OAM.

Victorian Arts Minister, Heidi Victoria, MLA, poses with the cast.

Some lucky tourists had their photo taken with Glinda!

 

Left to Right - Edward Grey (as Boq) Maggie Kirkpatrick (as Madame Morrible), Lucy Durack (Glinda), Jemma Rix (Elphaba), Steve Danielsen (Fiyero), Glen Hogstrom (Doctor Dillamond).