AustLit

'Meet Edna: She’s 14, chronically awkward, and everyone thinks she’s a serial liar. But none of this will matter when her REAL life starts. With Harry. There’s just one problem, Harry is in True Connection - the world’s biggest boyband.

'When True Connection announce a tour stop in Edna’s city, she realises that this is her one chance to meet Harry and convince him of their destiny. But just how far is she prepared to go in the name of love? Edna takes her obsession to unforeseen heights in this thrilling and hilarious musical comedy about first love, fan culture, and the danger of underestimating teenage girls.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'John Marsden and Shaun Tan's haunting picture book tells a story we all know: a story of colonisation, civilisation and progress — a story about displacement, destruction and culture clash. And in that landscape, it tells a story of hope taking root.

'It's a story for young people, it's a story for old people, it's a story for all of us.

'Opera Australia and Barking Gecko Theatre Company have assembled some of Australia's foremost creative talents to collaborate on a new opera for children and families.

'Gabriela Tylesova's kooky sets and costumes realise Tan's pictures in all of their mystical wonder, while Lally Katz has turned Marsden's spare poetry into an enchanting libretto. To write the score, Kate Miller Heidke: the butterfly-voiced, classically-trained indie-pop singer who is as at home on the charts as she is performing at the Met. As well as composing The Rabbits, Kate will perform in this production.' (Production summary)

'Do you think a boy bird can sing a girl bird’s song?

'A dark fairytale for grown-ups, a song cycle, a thrilling piece of solo performance, Little Bird is a gripping story of how people can transform many times over the course of a lifetime.

'Commissioned by State Theatre Company and the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Little Bird looks at the journey of young boy, Wren, from his parents’ isolated cottage all the way to the lights of the big city. Along the way a series of startling transformations occur, blurring the lines of identity, gender and reality as Wren searches for self, for love and for a place to belong.

'Little Bird has been created especially for Australian stage legend Paul Capsis by multi-award winning playwright Nicki Bloom (Tender, Land and Sea) and features songs by Cameron Goodall (The Audreys) and Quentin Grant (When The Rain Stops Falling) who collaborated on the Adelaide Cabaret Festival hit, You Me and the Bloody Sea. The production will be set in the fading Edwardian grandeur of Her Majesty’s Theatre and promises to be a rich and powerful theatrical experience. It's sure to be one of the highlights of the 2014 Adelaide Cabaret Festival program.

'Drawing upon fable, mythology and song to create a compelling dramatic and musical journey, Little Bird will leave you transported, uplifted and with tears in your eyes.' (Production summary)

'William Crotch (1775 -1847) was appointed the first principal of the Royal Academy of Music in 1822, resigning some ten years later amid a certain amount of scandal. He had reputedly kissed a student, following a particularly pleasing harmony exercise. But Crotch's greatest fame was far behind him. As a child prodigy, he had played at court for George III and also at the Chapel Royal, and been shown off by his ambitious mother, Isabella, in a London hat shop ... As an old man writing his memoirs, William expressed mortification at the manner in which he had been exploited. After all, at the height of his fame he had been just three and a half years old. The Musical Child tells William Crotch's story with very little fabrication, and is, you might feel, a cautionary tale...' (Composer's website)

'Rembrandt's Wife is a compelling story that explores the tragic relationships of one of the world's greatest painters: the death of his beloved wife Saskia, the madness of his lover Geertje and the haunting visions of his muse to be Hendrijke. A chamber opera, this work will reflect in words and music the light and colour that are the hallmarks of Rembrandt's style.'

Source: CUB Malthouse website, http://www.malthousetheatre.com.au/
Sighted: 20/04/2009