Art Murmurs - Reviews

Monster Songs

25/10/2019

Laura Ferguson

Heading into the Random Stage at BATS the stage is lit in a red ambience, an actual stage elevated above the seating area, a rarity for BATS. The smoke machine is swirling, the band in the corner is thumping out an upbeat bass and the hairs on the nape of my neck are tingling with anticipation. Monster Songs is a supernatural pop concert filled with songs we love from pop and other from musical theatre, centred around monster-themed tunes. I love Hallowe’en, it’s my favourite time of year, so I was giddily looking forward to the show starting.

Off Book: The Musical

12/10/2019

Jenny Nimon

And we’re back with another NZIF instalment. Impulse Theatre graced the Random Stage on Thursday evening (and will until Saturday 12 October) with their touring show Off Book: The Musical, which is exactly what it sounds like: an improvised musical. For this season, however, the cast of six is joined by Wellington’s very own Bethany Miller, who adds a dose of cheery optimism to the mix.

Garry Starr Performs Everything

12/3/2019

Jenny Nimon

Written and performed by Damien Warren-Smith, and directed and cowritten by Cal McCrystal, Garry Starr Performs Everything is riot of a show that will delight theatre-makers and casual audience members alike. Having won awards in the Adelaide, Brighton, and Manchester 2018 Fringe Festivals, and having been nominated for both Best Newcomer and the Golden Gibbo Award in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2018, I was intrigued to say the least. Let me break down this must-see of Wellington Fringe Festival 2019.

Order Up

14/2/2019

Kate Norquay

Order Up is a devised cabaret show inspired by the stories of hospitality workers in Wellington.It is also performed by a cast of mostly past or current hospitality workers. Order Up is a fun late night show which will make you laugh and cringe. But more than that, Order Up is both a critique and celebration of the hospitality industry that will make you think twice before you complain about shoddy service.

Gutenberg! The Musical!

6/10/2018

by Laura Ferguson

It’s my first time at the Newtown Community & Cultural Centre and the polished wooden floors and echoing high ceilings are transporting me right back to my roots in my small hometown where I first became enamoured with theatre. The people milling around are excited, talking and laughing together for the opening night of Gutenberg! The Musical! by Anthony King and Scott Brown. Gutenberg is one of my favourite historical figures, he who created the mass production of books and, therefore, my love of reading possible. This show intends to chronicle the invention of the printing press in a charming, earnest yet completely inaccurate fashion. So, if you haven’t guessed, this is a comedy.

Discharge is Rotten to the Core

4/10/2018

Lizzie Murray

Feminist fruit comedy punk band The Rotten Cores are back from their award winning Fringe season. In Discharge is Rotten to the Core, directed by Christine Brooks, friendships, old and new, are put the test during an intense band practice. The show is a fresh, vibrant, laugh out loud musical with lots of artificial colours and naturally funny flavours.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

3/12/2017

Bethany Miller

What a way to finish the evening! The hit musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is the second show of Wellington Footlights’ Heart + Music festival, Night B (intentional?). It is outrageously delightful and explosively funny, which perfectly suits the enthusiastic company and their performances.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee centres on several eccentric and distinct prepubescents, participating in a spelling bee that is fun but fiercely competitive, and the imperfect adults or parents who facilitate (or not) the contest and their success. This production could not be more brilliantly cast. Every character is a hit,

Flatline with Two Sugars

3/12/2017

Bethany Miller

The Wellington Footlights’ first ever musical theatre festival “Heart and Music” has just kicked off. Night B opens with Flatline with Two Sugars, a premiere of an original musical written by company members Laura Gardner (book and lyrics) and Katie Morton (music).

Flatline with Two Sugars is dark magical realism, a bittersweet mix of tragedy, comedy, and bleak reality. A dreary cafe barista has an unwanted gift in which she visualises the time and means of someone’s death just by touching them. This musical sees Lucie’s desperately confined life turn upside down, and we get to experience the drama, excitement, heartache, and even black comedy pleasures that go along with it.

Sing It Wrong

28/11/2017

by Laura Ferguson

How exactly is it that I have lived in Wellington these years and not come along to Sing It Wrong yet? Sing It Wrong has the premise wrapped up in the title, performers appear on stage, singing songs to which they have written alternate lyrics. It is absolutely my kind of show. It has comedy to get me laughing, songs to entertain me and a bevy of local talent to sample. What’s not to love?

Carrie: the Musical

24/6/2017

by Laura Ferguson

Finally, it’s arrived. Carrie: the Musical, the flagship production of new Wellington-based theatre company WITCH. I’ve been looking forward to this event for a few weeks, waiting to see what it would be like. Settling myself in my seat, a grainy Spirit in the Sky plays, then BAM! A spotlight hits Sue Snell (Flora Lloyd) and she’s interrogated by sinister off-stage agents of nondescript government. We then explode back in time to the story of Carrie, but with boisterous, with campy choreography alongside serious music and lyrics, instead of the nondescript suburbia that the movie depicts. Once we’re totally in musical land, the talent of the Carrie cast comes out in full. My friend and I laugh with the over-the-top teenage drama of it all, but no one else does. I immediately know two things about Carrie: the Musical – I’m going to love it, and I am going to laugh inappropriately.

Monty Python's Spamalot

26/5/2017

Jessie Cooper

‘This production of Spamalot will feature strobing lights, as well some joke and puns you may find painful’. The Wellington Footlights Society certainly delivers on all of the above, and let me assure you, all of the above is well worth it.

Allergic to Love: Curse of the 80's

3/3/2017

by Laura Ferguson

My heart quickens as I walk up the stairs, the lights flash electric blue and 80s power rock blast through the room. The thumping bass reverberates through me; I head to the bar with a smile already on my face. I’m at Allergic to Love: Curse of the 80’s and I’m feeling the vibe strongly and so is the rest of the crowd. People are singing, head-banging, air-guitaring, hands in the air as they yell the lyrics to Pour Some Sugar On Me. Who doesn’t love a rock musical bursting into power ballads when they’re in love? Allergic to Love is ridiculous and amazing, the premise alone being enough to entertain. We all want to have a good time tonight, and Allergic to Love comes like a bat out of hell to deliver that for us.

Shirley Gnome: Taking it up the Notch

13/2/2017

Lizzie Murray

Shirley Gnome’s one-woman show Taking it Up the Notch is a hilarious, unapologetic raunchy riot. Accompanied with her glitter guitar and stunning voice, Gnome shares country ballads about sex, masturbating, existential crises and sex. But don’t worry, she gives you the chance to leave after the first song if it's too much to handle.

These Are A Few of My Favourite Sings

16/12/2016

Bethany Miller

These are a Few of my Favourite Sings is a delightful end of year musical show which brings together theatre goers, music lovers and those who just fancy some familiar songs, sing-alongs, and a healthy dose of Julie Andrews enthusiasm. I am one of many in the audience who grew up with Andrews so the numbers and Georgia Jamieson Emms’ autobiographical recounting of musical family life, brings a wonderful nostalgia.

Album Party

29/11/2016

Dusty May Taylor

I sat down with Kate McGill and Frith Horan to discuss their tongue-in-cheek, pop-inspired brainchild Album Party, aka The Better Best Possible Album Party That Anybody Has Ever Been Two. Coming to Wellington’s BATS Theatre from 13-17 December, Album Party is launching The Besties Tour, a brand new collaborative venture between BATS Theatre in Welly and The Basement Theatre in Auckland. Winners of the 2015 Auckland Theatre Award for Best Entrance, Wellington natives Kate and Frith (with the help of their lovably demented characters TYLA and DENI$) are more than up to the challenge of spearheading a new initiative.