Observer

OBSERVER: All Is Good

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

In a delightful entertaining flight of the imagination, Theatre Works and Inotrope Productions’ show All Is Good … In The Glow Of Moonlight provided a moving evening of song, laughter and tears and a window into what life as an artist must have been like in Stalin’s Russia.In a depiction of the afterlife suggestive of…

OBSERVER: Ordinary Days

Following the award-winning presentation of Elegies: A Song Cycle in 2024, Clovelly Fox returns to Fortyfivedownstairs from August 20- 31 to present the musical Ordinary Days, written by celebrated composer and lyricist Adam Gwon.Ordinary Days is described as ‘a charming and moving musical about making simple connections in a chaotic city, and tells the story…

OBSERVER: Curtains

The Diamond Valley Singers present an eight-performance season of Curtains – ‘The Musical Comedy Whodunit’ from July 11 – 19 at Warrandyte High School.Set in the bright and optimistic world of 1959 Boston, where the premiere of new musical ‘Robbin Hood’ takes a dramatic turn. The show’s diva, Jessica Cranshaw, collapses and is rushed to…

OBSERVER: Lang Lang

The centre piece of Lang Lang’s MSO recital was Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana, which is a deeply expressive, multidimensional work that lives at the intersection of music, literature, and psychology.The emotional volatility of the piece speaks to the duality not just within the work but within Schumann himself.There is impulsiveness and introspection that Lang Lang brought…

OBSERVER: MSO Mornings

In one of its regular Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Mornings concerts, classical music lovers were treated to two works by the composers Maurice Ravel and Modest Mussorgsky both of which had rousing passages to stir the emotions.The first short piece was Alborada del gracioso by Ravel; it is the fourth of five movements that make up…

OBSERVER: The Mikado

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Victoria presents The Mikado from July 17 – 20 at the Alexander Theatre, Monash University, Clayton.With music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and the libretto by W. S. Gilbert, The Mikado is a comic opera, featuring entertaining songs such as I’ve Got a Little List, A Wand’ring Minstrel I, Three…

OBSERVER: Soldier Boy

Friday, June 27, 2025

This Theatreworks production of Soldier Boy is masterfully adapted by writer Anthony Hill into a play from his bestselling novel based on a true story.Set in WWI in 1915, 14-year-old, Melbourne boy James Martin is resolute in his desire to put up his age and serve with the Australian forces overseas.Playing James, Oliver Tapp’s nuanced…

OBSERVER: St Kilda Film Festival winners

St Kilda Film Festival has announced the winners of Australia’s Top Short Film Competition for 2025.Australia’s longest-running short film festival award winners will take home a combined $40,000 worth of cash and prizes across 14 categories.The prestigious Best Short Film Award, courtesy of City of Port Phillip, was awarded to The Meaningless Daydreams of Augie…

OBSERVER: Lightscape

The wonderful night time transformation of Melbourne ‘s botanical gardens into the dazzling sound and vision extravaganza that is Lightscape returns with a whole new show this year.If you’ve not been before, Lightscape is a series of over twenty different installations set up on a walking trail which winds its way through the gardens for…

OBSERVER: Scandinavian Film Festival

The 2025 Hurtigruten Scandinavian Film Festival, presenting the best new cinema from the Nordic region, will be presented at Palace cinemas from July 11 to August 3.The unveiling of this year’s program revealed a diverse and thought–provoking selection from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland with 2025 Cannes Grand Prix winner, Sentimental Value as the…