Observer

OBSERVER: Trial By Jury

Saturday, October 25, 2025

I was both excited and privileged to attend the opening night of GSOV’s 90th Anniversary Celebration and special Trial by Jury presentation at the Athenaeum Theatre.My professional operatic journey began with GSOV in 1981 as a young teenager, just 18 years old, starring as Patience, stepping onto the musical theatre stage for the very first…

OBSERVER: Macbeth

BK Opera presents Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth at the Kensington Town Hall on November 21, 23 and 25.Described as ‘a psychological horror experience that puts the audience within arm’s reach of ambition, madness and murder,’ the production will transform the Kensington Town Hall into a decomposing dinner party – ‘decadent, deranged and deeply unsettling.’Directed by Kate…

OBSERVER: Barber of Seville

The aria Largo Al Factotum (think Figaro Figaro Figaro!) is one of the best known in opera and has been used to grace advertisements and cartoons over the years.It’s one of those tunes you might not know the name of, but you certainly recognise it.Largo Al Factotum, meaning make way for the factotum, or jack…

OBSERVER: Local Theatre Report

Shows Torquay Theatre Troupe Inc: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (by Christopher Durang) Until November 1 at Shoestring Playhouse @ The MAC, 77 Beach Rd., Torquay; Director: Zina Carman. Bookings: Trybookng.com.auPEP Productions: Love, Loss and What I Wore (by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, based on the book by Illene Beckerman) Until November…

OBSERVER: Crossroads

Thursday, October 23, 2025

Dave’s AwardGuitars for Vets founder Dave Cox has received the Victorian Seniors Award for his work in the veteran community.Since 2017 Dave has worked tirelessly with the G4V project which is now a national program.Along the way they have provided 650 guitars to countless veterans whose testimonials say they’ve found that the introduction of music…

OBSERVER: Journeys

Saturday, October 18, 2025

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus celebrated its 60th anniversary in a splendid concert honouring Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611), a great Spanish composer, in the Iwaki Auditorium.Conductor, Warren Trevelyan-Jones skilfully led the singers in Missa pro Victoria, (Victoria), Versa est in luctum, (Joe Twist), O quam gloriosum (Victoria) and To the Field of Stars (Gabriel…

OBSERVER: Haunting of Spook Mansion

Producer/writer Michael Ward has announced the cast for the premiere season of The Haunting of Spook Mansion (by Ghosts), to be presented at Chapel off Chapel from November 12-23.Writer/director/actor Peter Houghton is Adrian Chambers, Emily Taheny (core cast member of Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell) is Beth Jackson and Ben Russell (international renowned comedian) is…

OBSERVER: Local Theatre Report

Shows The 1812 Theatre: Speaking in Tongues (by Andrew Bovell) Until October 25 at 3 Rose St., Upper Ferntree Gully. Director: Dexter Bourke. Bookings: 1812theatre.com.auCLOC Musical Theatre: &Juliet Until October 25 at the National Theatre, St Kilda. Director: Karl McNamara; Musical Director: Dan Heskett; Choreographer: Felicity Bender. Bookings: cloc.org.auCPP Community Theatre: Urinetown Until October 24…

OBSERVER: Dead On Target

Being a journalist leads you up all sorts of highways and byways, and most journalists have a pretty wide knowledge of what’s happening on their patch.Former Australian journalist Stephen Johnson has taken the knowledge from his decades of journalism in Australia and New Zealand and poured it into his latest crime thriller, Dead on Target.The…

OBSERVER: Flesh Mirror

In a wonderful example of abled and disabled artists and performers creating and performing together, Arts House and Melbourne Fringe presented the premiere of Weave Movement Theatre’s latest production Flesh Mirror.Multi-disciplinary in nature, six performers were in a large space dominated by a projection screen. Also in the space were several mobile video cameras which…