Theatre Festival - Whats The Show

Australia Really Does Have Talent!

18 June 2025 Chantal Harrison Writer

Homo Grown Rating

★★★★★

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Apologies in advance, I tried to catch as many names of these talented performers as possible but I have definitely missed some and will jumble them up. Homo Grown was an absolute treat! For this queer musical lover, it was like a slice of Heaven.

Host and co-founder of “Home Grown Aus”, Nick Ledger, opened us with Princess by Matthew Lee Robinson. Home Grown Aus, co-founded by Nick and husband Ben Nicholson, is the grassroots movement championing and producing original new works in Australian musical theatre. I actually attended a reading of “Mackenzie” by one my favourite musical theatre writers, Yve Blake, earlier in the week. That was produced by Home Grown and Hayes Theatre.

Our next act was a stunning cameo by Australia’s first female Prime Minister, performed by Mandy Isher. It brought the house down and the energy up to stay.

McBeanie and Hurley then performed a duet based on their musical chronicling the life and times of (very) obscure playwright, Robert Wiseman. This was a cute little back and forth called “The First Time I Met You” and left us with heart eyes for this real life couple.

Powerhouse Carla then took to the stage with “We’ve Got Chemistry” by Jordy Thomas. Those pipes!! Carla has power and presence and a sexy, sultry voice. With this melting “Ooh” that was like liquid chocolate! And I even I understood most of the chemistry puns, despite flunking science! Carla lights up the room and is an artful performer.

Yasheith performed “One Day In September” by Maverick and Cohen, about a closeted football star. Yakeith’s performance was earnest and nuanced, with unique use of dramatic timing. Such a beautiful voice too.

Nick Hedger returned to the stage with a love song for the gamers, nerds and misfits. It was a rock opera style ballad that hit the feels.

Robbie Alexander gave us a taste of the opening of their upcoming musical, warning it would be long and referred to it as their “Bohemian Rhapsody”. It was such a wonderful song that leaves me wanting to watch the whole musical. Charlie is the main character, who just can’t make main character status, so “Other Charlie” steals their limelight. The two Charlies and an ensemble of three delivered this number, with Charlie’s therapist’s voice being absolutely extraordinary!

Nick returned for an homage to Peter Allen which was poignant and touching.

The next was from a musical about netball. The names here got quite muddled for me. I think Sophie Davies and Harry Collins may be the composers. Lauren introduced the mother/daughter duo performance of “Married To Netball” which was absolutely hilarious and both Addie Robinson and Sinead Christado nailed the song.

We then finished with an entirely can’t-possibly-be-human performance by Carla once more. As a singer myself, I was left completely at a loss as to how one voice can do so many things and yet make it look like it’s the simplest thing in the world! I told my Plus One that Carla has to be AI!

It was such a wonderful and joyful hour of celebrating queer musical theatre creatives. I am already a big fan of Home Grown and the work they are doing, and I am so excited to see these upcoming new works and more of these incredible performers. Australia really does have talent!

To book tickets to Homo Grown, please visit https://events.humanitix.com/homogrown/tickets.

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A Darkly Hilarious Piece About A Pervasive Reality

14 June 202513 June 2025 Chantal Harrison Writer

What Of It Rating

★★★★★

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The bass is pumping on “Bitch Better Have My Money” as we enter The Old Fitz Theatre. Courtney Cavallaro, Emma Wright and Rebecca Sgouros are lounging around dressed like “bruvs”, just doing their thing, as the audience gets seated. The set is a basic youth hangout with a dated fridge and a futon, a six-pack of beer atop the fridge and a poster about COVID and some sanitiser on the bench. These items suggest the era to be somewhere around 2020, backed up by the mention of the “end of the world in three days” that comes soon after the show commences.

Rebecca Sgouros opens with a powerful and poetic monologue, hitting beats with poignant pauses. At times, she seems to be staring directly at you as she presents a moralistic challenge or subversive view. It’s unsettling and awe-inspiring at once. When she finishes, the lights and sound perfectly match her integration with the rest of her crew, as they start their wolf-pack bonding ritual before breaking into a dance that is aptly performed to a song with repeated lyric “Bonkers”.

I hate spoilers, so I wasn’t aware in advance that this was a gender-flip piece, but it became clear very quickly. Rebecca’s character, Cory, is the leader of the “pack”. The self-referred “dogs” are always on the hunt, always looking to get their “clit wet”. They engage in “locker room talk” while pushing and shoving and one-upping each other. They launch into discussing the news that the world is possibly ending in three days and discover that seventeen-year-old “Luck” is still a virgin. Of course, this won’t do.

Cory is the ringleader, getting the new blood to do her dirty work. Daks (Emma Wright) is the beating heart of the crew, who is torn between being a “real woman” and her clear conflict in the face of these societal norms, as well as a protective urge towards the newcomer, Luck. After more of their barking, growling dirty talk they get their “Big Clit Energy” on and venture out to cause a ruckus cos girls be girls, right?

The dog-pack motif paired with the gender-flip highlights the preposterous nature of the patriarchy and the norms we accept and allow as a society. The banter between them echoes that we’ve heard too many times when it comes to males, and underscores the impact on young boys as they develop a sense of self and what it means to be a man. Rebecca’s narrative, told through the shifting power dynamics of the triad and the exceptional transitions between scenes, is punctuated by the lights, sound and ensemble work between the players. It’s pure genius that leaves no stone unturned.

Every line has a beat, with clever use of prose and layering. These three execute this seamlessly, which can only be attributed to a strong connection, workshopping and partnership in the background. Each of these incredible actors has their own individual moments of wrenching our hearts, among all the nuance of their keeping up appearances and delivering comedic lines to a full house of raucous laughter… all without breaking character.

It’s a darkly hilarious piece about a pervasive reality, and it tells a tragic tale in a truly remarkable way.

It’s powerful and entertaining, and not to be missed.

To book tickets to What Of It, please visit https://www.oldfitztheatre.com.au/what-of-it.

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I Wanna See ‘I Wanna Be Mark Wahlberg’ Again

14 June 202513 June 2025 Isobel Knight

I Wanna Be Mark Wahlberg Rating

★★★★★

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Melody Rachel is a magnetic performer, and ‘I Wanna Be Mark Wahlberg’ gives her an opportunity to flex her muscles both literally and figuratively. There’s space within this show for movement, words, hair-flips and perfectly timed smirks to explore masculinity with a light touch and perfectly placed pair of Calvin Klein briefs.

By her own admission, this show changes every time Melody performs it, and this particular iteration for Qtopia’s Pride Fest 2025 is striking and fun. Between feats of endurance and the interplay of body and shadow, there’s stark observations and crushing moments of vulnerability.

Some of the most moving moments come from the exploration of physical expressions of gender; femininity as performance particularly has real pain, especially in contrast to the moments of comedy drawn out in the pre-show and intro investigating how men move. There’s real subtlety in this show; small movements tell us a lot, and provide both their own arc and the bedrock for the retelling of people’s reactions and assumptions (both in queer spaces and outside of them).

The intimacy of the Substation theatre space helps the energy of this show to hit straight to the heart. There’s a vulnerability for both performer and audience to be in such close proximity, and this show does crackle with energy because of this. Qtopia has fitted their spaces with precision; it’s one of the most exciting spaces to see theatre in the inner Sydney buffet. The rest of Pride Fest this June offers a collection of opportunities to see new works here. The raw walls and high ceilings allow for Melody’s use of shadow and light to feel cinematic and huge, despite the intimacy of the place.

To march so directly into the breach of navigating maleness and masculinity, femaleness, femininity and everything in between is only possible in the hands of a performer willing to put their neck on the line, which Melody does. There’s real stakes here, real laughs, real tension and a whole lot of interesting questions.

Unfortunately, this show has closed after a limited number of performances at Pride Fest this year, but should the opportunity to step into Melody Rachel’s world arise in another context, this reviewer would recommend that you do so.

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A Modern, Fun And Silly Take On A Familiar Story With A Lively And Joyful Cast!

6 June 20256 June 2025 Chantal Harrison Writer

Christ Almighty: A Comedy of Biblical Proportions Rating

★★★★★

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We had a little hiccup getting to this show, arriving at the wrong theatre. It took a little bit of asking around for the penny to drop. Luckily Flight Path theatre was not too far from the Seymour Centre (where this show has previously appeared).

We did a questionable car park and then raced over to find the door slightly ajar. We weren’t sure what to do until God himself warmly beckoned us in. We found a spot to discreetly watch the beginning until it was safe to make our way to our seats.

This was my first time at Flight Path theatre and I am a big fan of intimate theatres with effective use of staging and immersive engagement with the audience such as this. The set was bright and pretty with the nostalgic warmth of a childhood television show.

The performance opens with Jesus (played by the well-cast Giuseppe Rotondella) discovering that God (played by the hilarious Brenton Amies) is his real father and that it’s time for him to flee the nest and go on a quest. Mary and Joseph concede to his departure after an hilarious music number.

Christ Almighty: A Comedy of Biblical Proportions

Along the way, Jesus shares his “magical gifts” with devoted followers such as best mate Peter (Isaac Broadbent) and sceptics such as Doubting Thomas (Babette Shaw). His first big cultural immersion is a stoning in Sodom, where we meet activist Mary Magdelene (Emma Flynn), and my favourite song of the show “Homophobes Are Gay” sets the tone and lens for the approach to this otherwise well-known story.

Each actor commits to the many layers of their characterisation while also allowing the comedy to shine. They rolled with a few punches including loud planes overhead, the clear namesake of the theatre. There was also a painful-looking prop issue that was seamlessly woven into the narrative by Isaac Broadbent.

It was the familiar story of Christ headed to the Cross with a modern take, current references, and commentary. The audience was in fits of laughter for most of it and the cast fed off this beautifully.

The musical numbers were fun and spanned a number of genres. Another highlight being King Herod’s “Vogue” and Pontius’ rap. I’m not sure if the singers were tentative or there was a mic issue, as the last bits of a lot of phrases seemed to trail off. However, I thoroughly enjoyed “The Introspective Song” where Giuseppe and Emma were able to go all in. It was clear the two of them are established musical theatre talents.

It felt slightly too long a piece that lost a bit of momentum towards the end, this was likely the complication of staying true to the Biblical narrative’s timeline. I was grateful for the lift in energy brought by the final musical number/curtain call. Overall, I really enjoyed the cast and their commitment to character, as well as their ensemble work and I found the show to be good, silly, fun!

To book tickets to Christ Almighty: A Comedy of Biblical Proportions, please visit https://www.flightpaththeatre.org/whats-on/christ-almighty-a-comedy-of-biblical-proportions.

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