Looks like I'm the only person posting reviews...I hope at least some people are finding them useful *G*
Shane Warne the Musical (A Work in Progress) - Following in the footsteps of Keating! The Musical, Eddie Perfect and a team of young (and not so young) singers have put together a reasonably low-budget, modern-day musical. There's no dance sequences that need to be viewed from above for best effect, or played out under fake rain, but Warnie the Musical is destined to be just as much a classic as any of the MGM musicals of the past.
The show we went to was the first time they'd done an entire run-through in front of an audience. And the girl playing Simone Warne had a cold. But these things just made the performance even more impressive. The songs were clever and funny, and the performances were fantastic - especially Eddie (who has bleached his hair for the occasion), Simone (the fact that she can hit those notes WITHOUT a cold is impressive, getting through that performance while sick deserves some kind of medal), and the guy who played, among other things, John the Indian bookie.
The audience was a really strange mix of Eddie fans and Warnie fans, but everyone seemed to be having a great time, regardless of why they'd come. I saw guys who did NOT look like comedy festival types laughing their arses off at "The Away Game" (about what happens on tour that stays on tour
) and "What an SMS I'm In".
Like Keating, this is a surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of an Australian folk hero of sorts, who has been given a lot of bad press over the years, but still remains an icon to a lot of people. It would have been extremely easy to make Shane a moronic or annoying figure, or to have poked fun at his misfortunes, but they were very gentle with his weaknesses, and portrayed him as a guy just being himself and living his life, and having to deal with the consequences of it all.
There's only four more performances, so you should book ASAP, cause this show is definitely worth catching. Go now, so you can say "I saw it before they were famous" *G*
Justin Hamilton: The Killing Joke - Justin has always been a bit more than your standard comedian. Last year with Three Colours Hammo he proved himself capable of remarkable alternative humour in a storytelling style, producing a three part show that ranks alongside things like Fleety's classic story shows (Thai Died and Ten Years in a Long Sleeved Shirt) for both humour and sentiment.
This year, he's trying something different again. A comedian stands on a railway bridge, staring down at the tracks. But he's not sure why. Except that there's someone standing next to him, telling him to jump.
I'd tell you more about the show, but I wouldn't want to ruin it for you. It's not traditional stand-up, and it's harsher and darker than last year's offering, but it's an experience well worth having.
If you haven't seen Fight Club, I recommend you catch it first, and I'd suggest you go check out his MySpace page which contained hints regarding the content of the show, but he appears to have deleted it. So if you saw it already, well done. If you didn't, tough. But you'll get a program at the start with a bit of information in it.
It's definitely worth seeing, just go in with an open mind about what you're going to see.
Greg Fleet: Secret American - Not exactly what I was expecting from Fleety. The title made me expect another storytelling show from him, but that's not what we got. Which is a shame, in a way, but it certainly doesn't detract from what we did get. Which was a solid hour of Fleety gold *g*
American idiocy, psychotic love, and his daughter (who is going to be giving him shit till the day he dies *g*) all featured as subject matter. And the final five minutes of film noir puns are simply unforgettable. Fleety at his classic best.