BUBBLE BOY (MUSICAL)

Book by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio

Music and lyrics by Cinco Paul

Directed by Tijana Kovac

Musical Direction by Tara Davidson

A Queanbeyan Players production

Belconnen Community Theatre to 23 February

 

Reviewed by Len Power 14 February 2025

 

Most musicals we know had a typical Broadway start, but ‘Bubble Boy’ is a musical that first appeared in a production in New Jersey, USA in 2013. A cast album was then released, and the show became available for subsequent productions.

Somehow, the clever people at Queanbeyan Players found out about it and, even though audiences here would be unlikely to have heard of it, they’ve had the courage to take a gamble and give it a local production.

Based on an equally obscure 2001 film of the same name, it’s about a boy who was born without immunities and has had to live in a plastic bubble room. The show explores the idea that we’re all in our own limiting ‘bubbles’ and need to break out of them to reach our full potential.

Director of this production, Tijana Kovac, has given the show a comic look and feel.  The set and properties design by Remus Douglas is minimal and deliberately ratty and Sally Taylor’s choreography is based on simple movement. Their apt choices all contribute to the show’s overall sense of fun.

Rylan Howard (centre), Jimmy, the Bubble Boy, with members of the cast of the show

The large youthful cast attack the material with gusto and enthusiasm right from the opening number and keep that energy level high throughout the show. The 6 piece band play the music very well.

Kay Liddiard (Chloe) and Rylan Howard (Jimmy, the Bubble Boy)

You could criticize certain aspects of the show – there is some flat singing and over-acting at times and the music for the show isn’t all that memorable – but, honestly, the rough edges of this production work in its favour and the cast’s enthusiastic delivery overcome any short-comings, making this a very enjoyable two hours of musical fun.

Once again, Queanbeyan Players have shown that you don’t always have to look to the well-known Broadway musicals to have a good show.

 

Photos by Damien Magee

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs
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MUSIC TO CELEBRATE (CONCERT)

Salut! Baroque

Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest January 31

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

It’s hard to believe that in 2025 Salut! Baroque celebrates 30 years of presenting Baroque music.

Their first program for this year celebrated the entire spectrum of baroque music – from its near-beginning to its near-conclusion – presenting various composers who were either an influence for what was to come or influenced by what had already taken place.

A feature of a Salut! Baroque concert is the presentation of obscure or never heard before composers from the era. This concert offered works by Giovanni Antonio Guido and Jan Rokyta as well as works by several other composers.

The concert commenced with Tarquinio Merula’s canzona, The Nightingale, from 1615. Anna Stegmann, Sally Melhuish, Alana Blackburn and Alicia Crossley, playing recorders, gave this work a delightfully atmospheric performance.

On Baroque instruments, John Ma (violin), Julia Russoniello (violin), Isaiah Bondfield (violin), Brad Tham (viola), Tim Blomfield (bass violin) and Monika Kornel (harpsichord) then played Pietro Antonio Locatelli’s 1741 Concerto in E Flat Op. 7 No. 6, subtitled Arianna’s Tears. The sombre and contrasting bright and melodic sections were given a sensitive performance of great depth.

Salut! Baroque

The next item, Giovanni Guido’s Playful Harmonies on the Four Seasons – Summer Op. 3 from 1717 was performed by the string players. They were joined by Anna Stegmann on recorder for the final section, Dance of the Faun. The performance of this melodic and colourful work by the no longer well-known composer, Guido, proved to be one of the highlights of the concert.

Moving to an unexpected 1969, Balkanology, by Jan Rokyta for four recorders, this haunting, mysterious and complex work with Romanian and Turkish influences was given a superb performance by the four women on their recorders. The thunderous audience applause at the conclusion was well-deserved, making this another highlight of the concert.

There were also works by Johann Christian Schickhardt, Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. Each of these was given a fine performance by these musicians.

The concert concluded with a work written towards the end of the baroque period in 1750, Georg Philipp Telemann’s Concerto in A minor TWV 43. The combination of strings and recorder produced a rich sound that was at times dreamlike. It was memorably played and the perfect end to a concert that was educational as well as charming.

 

Photo by Dalice Trost

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 1 February 2025.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.

 

 

 

MOJO (Play)

Written by Jez Butterworth

Directed by Lachlan Houen

Presented by Red Herring Theatre & ACT Hub

ACT Hub Theatre, Kingston to 1 February

 

Reviewed by Len Power 22 January 2025

 

You’ll need a sense of humour for black comedy and a keen ear to fully appreciate Jez Butterworth’s seedy gangster play set behind the scenes in a 1950s English nightclub. In fact, as the play begins, you could be forgiven for wondering if you’ve blundered into the wrong play with the characters speaking what sounds like a foreign language.

This is the world of 1950s Soho in London uncompromisingly presented by writer, Jez Butterworth. The dialogue is part profanity and part colourful Cockney delivered at a machinegun pace by a group of not very bright, edgy and pill-taking young men.  They’re trying to be as tough as their jobs demand, but they’re fearful and desperate to project an image of masculinity that they don’t really feel. When they learn that there has been a particularly nasty murder of the nightclub owner, they’re seriously out of their depth as a battle for power begins.

Lachlan Herring (Baby) and Taj De Montis (Skinny) - Photo by Ben Appleton - Photox Photography

 

The fast-paced action has been staged with an impressive fluidity by the director, Lachlan Houen. He has obtained strong, colourful and real performances from his cast. Taylor Barrett shines as the more-controlled, ambitious Mickey and Lachlan Herring is particularly effective as the dangerously psychotic Baby. Jack Ferrier as Potts, Joel Hrbek as Sweets and Taj De Montis as Skinny give vivid, individual characterizations of these gangster types of the period. Their keen sense of timing brings out the humour in the script very well.

From left: Jack Ferrier (Potts), Lachlan Herring (Baby), Taylor Barrett (Mickey), Taj De Montis (Skinny) and Joel Hrbek (Sweets) - Photo by Helen Musa

The lengthy opening scene with Potts and Sweets seems to be pitched too high, emotionally, and the impressively authentic sound of the dialogue is achieved often at the expense of clarity. It’s not a play where you feel much empathy for the characters, but it is an intriguing look at the shadowy world of English clubs of the era.

This is an impressive debut for Red Herring Theatre, a new theatre company for Canberra, hopefully a sign of more great theatre to come.

 

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.