Category: Reviews, News and Commentary

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Wicked

Music & Lyrics Stephen Schwartz

Book Winnie Holzman

North Shore Music Theatre

Director Alex McKellar

Musical Director Andrew Christie

Skycity Theatre

Until April 30, 2023

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

It’s not easy being green. Or blonde, for that matter.  Come to think of it, it’s not all that easy being a reviewer either.  Especially one who remains totally flumoxxed as to why Wicked is the second highest grossing musical theatre show of all time.  Yes, that’s right.  Second, sitting behind only The Lion King and just ahead of Phantom of the Opera!

How is that so?  After all, Wicked is merely a prequel to a classic, it has only a flimsy storyline and some of its scene-jumps are illogical.  There are really only a couple of semi-memorable songs, there is no great philosophical message and many of its values are really just a sketchy outline to show off lots of froth and bubble.

I mused on this while walking down the street afterwards.  Yes, ‘Defying Gravity’ sticks, as does ‘One Short Day’ and snatches of a few other tunes.  Then I suddenly heard a couple of Stephen Schwartz’s  musical themes that recur throughout the show and somehow serve to integrate whole. That’s it I thought – this is simply a happy celebratory show that doesn’t pose too many questions. It has strong family appeal, is geared towards younger people and it gets everyone toe-tapping and humming.  Put simply, it is a good night out.

In keeping with this, director Alex McKellar kept things tight and moving along while musically this would have been a dream for musical director Andrew Christie.  He had vocal strength available right across the stage.  

Tina Cross’s truly scary Miss Morrible initially established the tone of things pretty well and quickly led us to the two principal protagonists – the deadly serious and slightly intimidating Elphaba (Heather Wilcock) and the frothy, giggly Glinda (Teresa Wojtowicz).  These two experienced performers bounced off each other well, gave excellent voice and provided a key focus for the whole tale.  Elphaba’s flyaway ‘Defying Gravity’ is a role anyone would die for and Heather delivers it with due majesty.  Teresa’s ‘Popular’ rapidly establishes her character and serves to clearly differentiate her from Elphaba.  The highlight of their relationship is undoubtedly the duet ‘For Good’.  

Offsetting them is a strong performance by Caitie Houghton as Nessarose, although the love interest, Fyiero (Skyler Jed), may have strutted around well and looked every inch the part but he failed to establish any real presence, while the cameo professor (George Keenan) also failed to inspire.  There are a myriad of minor characters and a chorus that transmorgrifies into many things.  To her credit, Alex Mckellar ensures focus is shared amongst them from time to time. 

Worthy of particular mention, however, are the production values of this show.  The traditional clock-like set is excellent, and the Tess Hemming’s team have done a wonderful job of costume wrangling.  The lighting is tricksy, evocative and deftly handled –  Elphaba’s flyaway finale to Act1 and the tightly focussed spell book scene in particular.

The highlight for me however, was the crystal clarity of sound.  It is rare that I miss not a single word, and Glen Ruske and his audio crew are worthy of singling out.

So, there you have it.  In summary, an ideal family night out.  Lots of glam and glitz, a bit of scary stuff and, above all, don’t take it too seriously and it will leave you happy.

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Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Gemma New

NZSO

Mahler, Symphony No 3

Conductor  Emma New

Auckland Town Hall

April 1

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Wagner referred to his great operatic works as “Gesamtkunstwerks”  -total works of art. It’s a concept which in many ways applies to the symphonies of Mahler and particularly to actual performances of his work which manage to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic.

Most of Mahler’s  contemporaries essentially composed in short paragraphs of melodies and themes but Mahler’s lengthy works are like extended chapters and his Third symphony is close to being a full-length novel, traversing many ideas, emotions and vistas.

Mahler is one of the great personal composers so that even when there are references to other composers such Beethoven or Brahms  it is his own voice which we hear and which is integrated into his world vision.

In building this vision he also creates a dense architecture of shapes and  forms which have finely executed decorative elements. They are full of dramatic gestures and self-referential, music about his own feelings, emotions, desires  and loves.

With the NZSO’s latest performance of the Mahler’s Symphony No 3  the vast sprawl of the symphony  was presented as  a grand music drama rather than a traditional  symphonic work. Conductor  Gemma New ensured the stately tempos and the long pauses between movements helped give a sense of gravitas to the work which was maintained for the full 95 minutes. Mahler original titles from the opening “Pan Awakes, Summer Marches In”,  followed by his meditation on Flowers, Animals, Man, The Angels and Love encapsulated the composer’s world view of the nature of Man and the environment.

The first movement with  Pan awakening from a dark winter opened with a stirring brass fanfare before leading on to some apocalyptic sounds  as though slowly emerging from the darkest of winters, and the trombone solo captured all the earthy tragedy and resolve at the movement’s heart. When the more optimistic marches appeared, they grew steadily in authority aided by the timpani and strings. Throughout the movement the various themes emerged, were repeated and revitalised.

The opening movement also saw the first of several, short gypsy styled solos by  Concertmaster Vesa Matti Leppanen as well as some fine, strident. piccolo playing led  by Bridget Douglas.

After the lyrical second movement the Third movement which initially felt light-hearted took on a  sinister undertone highlighting the subtle nuances of the work

The off-stage horn solos which seemed to come from a distant past suggested lost landscapes and history.

Sasha Cooke

In the fourth movement mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, who had emerged  onto the stage like some spectral entity gave her impassioned plea of “O Mensch! Gib Acht!” (O man take heed)  with a spellbinding urgency and passion. Her forceful voice was enhanced in her  “conversations” with  several soloists including the oboe and horn. This voice, along with her expressive face and hand gestures provided a sense of angst and regret about the future of Mankind.

The heavenly “Bimm Bamm” featuring  the combined choirs of Voices New Zealand, Wellington Young Voices and Celesta was sung with impeccable diction and freshness, interacting with the orchestra and soloist with a carefully managed balance.

The final movement which is almost a dirge or requiem brought a sense of dusk and tranquillity with all the string players producing some rich reflective sounds ending with a  dynamic climax which was greeted by the audience with a standing ovation.

Throughout the performance Gemma New seemed to be more than just a conductor. She was by turns a stand in for the composer, a singer mouthing the words of the songs, a magician and sorceress, expressing the music through her gestures and body movements which ranged from that of a dancer to a sentinel.

Opening the concert was a waiata by Benjamin Wiremu which had something of the spirit of Mahler, in its admiration and awe of nature, referencing the land, the rivers and the sea.

The work was inspired by the opening theme of the symphony (inspired by Brahms) and the  the late Māhinarangi Tocker use of the proverb – “Turn your face to the sun Let your shadow fall behind you Bend towards the lofty mountain “Salutations Mountain!” Bend towards the mighty river “Salutations River!” Bend towards the great ocean “Salutations Ocean!”. Sung by the combined choir they created images of the  forest and waters awakening, quivering with a life force.

At present you can access the live performance of the orchestra’s Wellington concert from the NZSO website

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John Daly-Peoples

William Shakespeare, King Lear

Auckland Theatre Company

ASB Waterfront Theatre

June 13 – July 1

One of the great observations about the epic Shakespearean tragedy of King Lear was made by the German writer, Goethe who said of the king “Ein alter Mann ist stets ein König Lear” – ‘Every old man is a King Lear’.

We all wonder what our twilight years will bring, and struggle to prepare ourselves for death and a life with diminished authority and abilities. The play is a particularly stark examination of the ageing process and the loss of power and prestige  whisch can have social, emotional and personal impacts on life.

The play also tells of a family feud which tears apart a kingdom, a tale which has resonances with the real life dramas which have beset the English royal family over the past few years.

When the aged King Lear relinquishes his empire, he divides it amongst his three daughters, promising the largest share to the one who professes to love him the most. But when the balance of power transfers to the next generation, Lear is cast out by those he trusts, embarking on a maddening quest for self-knowledge and reconciliation.

A nightmarish family drama of global proportions, the play forces us to face our own humanity  the profound need for compassion and the Implications of changing the political order and the devastation that can follow.

Auckland Theatre Company’s King Lear will be the first Shakespeare production in over a decade with Michael Hurst as Lear and a formidable cast which includes Andi Crown (Goneril), Jessie Lawrence  (Reagan) and Hanah Tayeb (Cordelia) playing the king’s three daughters.

For this production ATC will be  transforming the ASB Waterfront Theatre into a  traverse stage with the audience also seated on the  stage. Two of Auckland great  creatives will be  designing the set – John Verryt as Set Designer and Elizabeth Whiting as Costume Designer.

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Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Matthew Carter “Britomart crossing on a rainy day”

Matthew Carter “New Wave”

Föenander Gallery

Until  March 28

Reviewed by John  Daly-Peoples

Matthew Carter’s new exhibition “New Wave” is timely, coinciding as it does with the opening of “Light from Tate” at the Auckland Art Gallery, both of these shows being heavily focussed on light.

Most artists have to deal with light in their paintings to help illuminate their subjects  create texture and contrasts and for Carter light becomes an essential component of his works.

The exhibition can be read as something of diary of images and events in central Auckland, capturing disparate ways in which light plays on and highlights buildings, streets and people.

Paintings such as “Britomart crossing on a rainy day” ($2200) refer back to the work of Pierre Bonnard having many of the  features of the Post Impressionist period such as capturing a scene with seemingly, quickly applied brush strokes, distorting forms for expressive effect, the use of unnatural colour and an emphasis on strong light.

There is also a strong cinematic feel to many of the works deriving from both American “noir” and French New Wave” film. The catalogue to the exhibition notes that the title could refer to “The Wave” a previous work  of Carters. This exhibition includes a similar work titled “New Wave” ($1650) with a gesturing figure which could be a still  from a Godard film or that of a candid photo shot.

Matthew Carter “Victoria St West”

In many of his paintings  we also see an emphasis on the geometry of buildings, streets and shadows with off centre angles and views as well as strong contrasts between light, building shapes, objects and people.

In some of the paintings the artists approach seems casual as in “Victoria St West” ($2150) where the emphasis  is on the road sign and its shadow which dominates the painting. This emphasis on the common everyday fragments of life mirrors much of the  literature of the French New Wave writing of Alain Robbe-Grillet.

Matthew Carter “The Old Post Shop”

With the empty space of “The Old Post Shop” ($2200) the artist is focused on the play of light and shape in the disused space while with “Ventilator Shaft AUT – study” ($500) the concern appears to be in contrasting an architectural shape with the shadow of another architectural shape.

In others there is a quiet drama such as the ”Figures on Great North Road” ($5500) which has a strong cinematic quality and a sense of narrative  emphasised by the dramatic contrast of light, shape and colour.

In these portraits of places and figures he captured scenes of everyday events but they possess an energy which elevates them to evocative and thoughtful ruminations on the beauty and significance of the commonplace.

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Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

William Kelly (Bunnings Hat Kid) and Andrew Grainger (Paddy Murphy)

The Unruly Tourists

Composer & Conductor Luke di Somma

Libretto Livi Reihana & Amanda Kennedy (The Fan Brigade)

Directed by Thomas De Mallett Burgess

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

New Zealand Opera & Auckland Festival 2023

Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna

Until Sunday 26 March

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

A subject of anticipation, discussion and even divisiveness in some quarters, The Unruly Tourists finally hit the stage on Thursday at the Bruce Mason Centre – right across the road from where it all began at Takapuna Beach.

Billed as a comic opera, The Unruly Tourists is more of a satire built on a satire that’s built on a satire and results in something that is more of a throwback to a significantly upgraded old-style University Revue.  And that enables a satirical spotlight to be focussed on just about anything and it cracks straight into that from the getgo when inane questions to new arrivals are wheeled out within minutes – some were still humming ‘How Do Find Us’ the next morning – and that’s just in the first scene before anything much actually happened.

Yes, there are some songs that stick and, yes it acknowledges Gilbert and Sullivan but this is not pretending to mimic opera conventions.  It is music-theatre on a pure-entertainment base intended for a different audience.  It will never join the pantheon of great operatic works and is not intended to. 

The exploits and deeds (or was it misdeeds) of the unruly tourists have been well-chronicled and don’t need repeating here.  Nor will you read about every who or what is satirised – I simply do not have about 4 pages to write them.  Suffice to say it encompasses everything you have may have read or seen or had anything whatsoever to do with.  But it also satirises us – the great NZ media consumer.  Which makes it about you.  Yes, you.  The Unruly Tourist is as much about ‘us’ as much as about ‘them’.

By way of background, 2019 was one of the quietest sunniest New Zealand summers for years.  And that wasn’t great for L-plate journos working over summer and all desperate to crack that ‘breaking story’ which might just ensure subsequent employment.  Their future looked bleak: no weather-bombs lurking, no pending shark attacks, no huge increase in holiday road deaths and not even a hint of a cyclone lurking somewhere east Vanuatu.  Little wonder that the silly season degenerated into stories about tooting cars in Wellington’s Mt Victoria Tunnel (to be or not to be), a growth in sheep numbers (apparently 5 sheep for each human), the rescue of a couple of dolphins in Nelson (they were just sun bathing) and some deadly serious and totally unscientific debate about whether Jacinda’s government or that of John Key should be held responsible for a growth in seaweed on Takapuna beach (although the seaweed has actually been there for years and years).

The media, ever keen to satisfy advertisers and score readers, listeners, viewers or clickers felt that us, the great NZ public, needed a good story to amuse us all.  Even better, one that ran and ran for a while.  This truly was, after all, almost the archetypal ‘silly season’.

Meanwhile the NZ Opera had fallen foul of some criticism about the narrowness of some of its programming, General Director Thomas de Mallet Burgess had become keen to unearth more local work and expand opportunities for NZ talent and to also find new audiences by further exploring the genre.

Concomitantly, as the saga of those unruly tourists was blossoming, initially on social media and then more widely,  Burgess felt it to be a story that was prime for the picking.  So he commissioned the Fan Brigade (Livi Reihana and Amanda Kennedy), gave them free reign to come up with a libretto, and signed up then Melbourne-based Luke di Somma as composer to create a comic-opera built around the saga of the tourists and how they were received.  The format was quickly agreed with much of the early collaborative work being conducted via Covid-enforced zoom.

Designer Tracy Grant Lord gave them the Bruce converted into a kind of tent (though without the spiegel) amidst a fairly trashy set – it continues a theme after all – and Di Somma underpins this with a no-risk, kiwi-beaked, well-credentialled chorus that provides a solid base and really holds the production together. 

He also introduced some memorable tunes and led a nifty little pit band with musically-articulate deftness.  Chief among his songs was undoubtedly Mayor Phil Goff’s G&S-inspired ‘Hung Drawn and Quatered’ that not only got a singalong/clappalong out of the audience, but even achieved a tempo change from them as well.  ‘Matamatah’ also remained with me for a while, although the point of ‘I’m a Tidy Kiwi’ escaped me and wasn’t really a closer.

But he has also composed for the different vocal range of some new faces to the NZ Opera stage.  Joshua Cramond (Tommy) and Andrew Grainger (Paddy), neither renowned for opera work, gave the production considerable vocal strength and on-stage presence, while Jennifer Ward-Lealand made a wonderful glacially-aloof mother of the mob in a what looked like a mechanically-quaffed purple bouffant – it didn’t move so much as quiver.   And I’m sure either of the two boys (they alternate) would have delighted in shouting the f-word every so often.

Ebony Andrews (Manaia)

However, every music-theatre work needs its big song.  Playing more of a metaphor than a character, Ebony Andrew (Manaia) was a genuine standout.  Her ‘This is My story’, complete with subtle wiri to close, could well have ended the show.  It said a lot.  In fact I would have preferred to end The Unruly Tourists with this, thereby introducing a teensy element of reality or commentary to offset and highlight all the satire that precedes it, making it a standalaone.  She is a genuinely gifted singer and actor, is building an impressive resume with NZ Opera and several other companies and is a shining example of what we can produce in this country.  Ebony will go far.  

So thank you Mr Burgess, Mr di Somma and thank you Ebony.

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Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Eryn Jean Norvill (Dorian Gray) with cameraman

Auckland Arts Festival 2023

The Picture of Dorian Gray

By Oscar Wilde

Adapted and directed by Kip Williams

Sydney Theatre Company

Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre

Until 25 March

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Kip Williams’ genre-bending multi-media production coupled with Eryn Jean Norvill’s exceptional performance result in The Picture of Dorian Gray delivering a truly momentous centrepiece to the 2023 Auckland Festival.

This production has unequivocally joined the fairly brief list of brilliantly conceived and delivered theatrical experiences I have been privileged to enjoy in my life.  I’m thinking Anthony Perkins in Peter Shaffer’s original Equus in New York, Jim Sharman’s original 1973 production of Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show upstairs at the Royal Court in London or Peter Brook’s all-night production of The Mahabharata in a quarry in Adelaide.  Although for different reasons, each explored new work, broke barriers and become something very special to me.

Now I have another to add.  Kip Williams.

He almost made my ‘special’ list a few years back with his treatment of Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui blending real-time imagery and live performance.  That was before he tackled Dorian Gray.

Much has been written about this production and hyperbolic superlatives abound. They are all true.  So let’s unpack them.

Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ was originally conceived as a novella for Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in 1890.  His work of philosophical fiction was ostensibly a fairly straightforward parable about not being obsessed with youth and beauty, when it was really about being obsessed with youth and beauty.  Various editorial interventions occurred, new chapters were added or restored and it finally appeared as a complete novel the following year.  It was no accident that it became a ‘perverted novel’ in evidence during as the self-indulgent enfant terrible of the literary world’s well-known 1895 trial.  But it wasn’t until 2011 that these various edits, additions and deletions plus Wilde’s original were published in a single focus.

As Kip Williams himself has noted, Wilde’s work conceived a physical form about a dialogue with one’s interior.  In very simple terms, chief protagonist Basil Hallward paints a portrait of a beautiful young innocent : Dorian Gray.  The artwork is admired by many, particularly his acquaintance Lord Henry Wooton whose admiration may or may not extend beyond mere aesthetic appreciation.  Either way, Dorian Gray becomes admired, feted and a central feature in both their lives.   Hallward remains the deeply moral and abstracted artist with this painting as his masterpiece – and his fantasy.  Contrapuntally, ‘Harry’ Wooton is a self-indulgent roue, indulging in life of pleasure with no regard for consequences.

Fawned upon by Wooton, Gray himself becomes increasingly narcissistic over time.  Convinced of his own beauty, he believes the accolades heaped upon him and falls ever-further into a life of indulgence and pleasure before falling in love with an actress then spurning her.  And just as happens to all of us, as life’s vicissitudes mounted and his self-indulgent lifestyle took its toll, his youthful looks began to fade.  The original artwork eventually became a virtual pastiche of himself.  In Wilde’s novel however, Harwood still sees the youth he painted, while Wooton continues to accelerate that faux image’s degenerative process.  Wilde’s convoluted tale is a narrative of this process and is, of course, really about himself.  In fact, all three characters represent facets of the writer. 

But Wilde  is not regarded as a literary genius for nothing and there are many layers of relevance to both the original novel and to Kip Williams’s interpretation.  Perhaps none more so than when one accepts that technology allows anyone or everyone to mirror Wilde’s apotheosis with the swipe of an app.  Today’s selfie is an everyday thing, just as a sepia print once was.  Both capture an instant in time but that reality begins to change the instant the image was captured.  Thenceforth we can only look backwards remembering things as they were – or choose not to.  Back in the day, the traditional slide show of that ‘family holiday’ may have bored people witless but the images could not be changed – other than in the recollections of some who suffered a viewing.  However technology now enables the mind to function differently and the viewer can manipulate the original so enabling what one wants to see.   

It is almost as if the selfie and the tortuous process of the human mind are Williams’ inspiration and become the undercut to this outstanding production. More contemporaneous selfie-styling apps and a range of different filters enable the digital image to be tweaked, distorted and turned into what we wish – whereas that old sepia print could not.  So too, is reality twisted in today’s world by influencers who often draw heavy parallels to the impossible beauty found on social media and echo how this manufactured identity can mask a psychological trauma beneath.  Think images on Tinder. 

In conceiving Dorian Gray Williams piles instance on instance, distortion on distortion and truth on contrivance and keeping up with this can only be described as mind-bending.  We slip into it not with ease, but with acceptance.  I was intrigued to see Eryn Jean Norvill credited as not only dramaturg, but as Creative Associate as well.  So both share what appears on stage and the strength of Dorian Gray lies in this brilliant combination of their gifts.

As the solo performer, Norvill takes on every single character in the play — 26 according to diverse promotional sources, but I didn’t try to count and simply didn’t care.  Each was new.  Each was uniquely different.  And each was played by Eryn Jean Norvill in a tour de force that lasted two hours.  She interacts with them, they interact with her in an environment created purely by word and suggestion, and some evocatively thematic music by Clemence Williams.  There is a myriad of rapid and seamless costume transitions and the occasional simple prop – all achieved with ever more evocative closeups inside a video screen or frame of flowers both perhaps echoing the original painting.  Size and dimension also received attention when a room suddenly appears on stage, reducing and concentrating focus even further.  Layer by layer Williams adds new tricks to the production and, at one point Norvill even interacts with five other Norvills at the same time.

 It is a bravura performance and one of the finest I have seen in a long, long time.

However, her director is careful not to eclipse this brilliance with the constantly moving on-stage crew of about 10 who handle steadicams, other hand-helds and various fixed camera positions through a choreography that is so subtle they quickly become invisible to the audience.  Their images are all projected onto a network of about a dozen different-sized, flown screens that are as much a part of this production as the performer herself.  Although technically a single-hander this production actually a cast of about 15.  Or more.  Under the supervision of Charlie Kember and Benjamin Andrew, the cinematic blend with live action was memorable in itself.

Market realities make it very rare for us to have access to world theatre of this calibre and this scale. Auckland Festival is to be congratulated on its part in enabling New Zealand to see such brilliance here in Auckland.

Sometimes a night in the theatre can make all else pale into insignificance and impact one for a very long time. This was such an occasion.

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Auckland Arts Festival

Force of Nature

Auckland Concert Chamber

March 17

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Writing in the Guardian this week the Australian journalist Rebecca Shaw wrote that, “One thing they don’t tell you is that New Zealanders absolutely love talking about their birds. Every time I’ve been at a gathering of three or more people, they have started talking about the birds at some point.”

The sold-out concert “Force of Nature” at the Auckland Concert Chamber affirmed that notion and such was the interest that they might well have filled the Auckland Town Hall.

The concert was a celebration of 100 years of Forest & Bird with several composers and performers collaborating to create original music to highlight conservation concerns. The instruments were used to create the sounds or ambience of wildlife and in  particular the birds, utilising the shrill high-pitched sounds of the strings and woodwinds.

Ron Thorne opened the concert with his composition “Te Manawa o Raukatauri” referring to both breath and the flute of the legendary Atua Hine Raukatauri  who is the Goddess of Flutes and the personification of Music. In Māori legend, Hine Raukatauri is the casemoth who lives in her elongated cocoon and the Pūtōrino is a traditional flute in the shape of the casemoth’s home.

His flute sounds keened through the darkened concert chamber as though of giant birds  calling from a distant forest. Then as he ascending to the stage his hand movements mimicked the beat of a birds wing, his flute merging with the sound of his voice and the hum of breath.

After the opening work the other eight pieces were in the chamber music mode as well as including some taonga puoro. The NZTrio members, Ashley Brown (cello) , Amalia Hall (violin) and Somi Kim (piano) provides the backbone to the concert performing in half of the concert pieces joined by Kathryn Moorhead (flute and piccolo) , Peter Scholes (Clarinets), and Yoshiko Tsuruta (percussion).

Andrew Perkins’ composition “Nga Manu o te Ngahere” (Birds of the Forest) was played by Brown, Scholes and Moorhead capturing the sounds of the koauau, kiwi, kakapo tui korimakoruru and pango pango, Above the performers loomed a large projected image of a tui which helped give a sense of these birds whose sounds were conveyed by an ethereal flute and chirping cello along with an atmosphere of light and colour  provided by a bright tingling cawing music which traced the day from dawn to dusk.

The NZTrio played Patrick Shepherds  “He Awa Whiria” (The Braided River) accompanied by images of scudding clouds, alpine scenes and a river plain. Their playing initially seemed fitful and erratic matching the movement of the clouds. Then the music became more urgent  and dramatic highlighting the forces of the rain, snow and river and seemed particularly relevant in the wake of the recent storms.

Later they played Miriama Young’s “Place of Echo” where they provided the sharp sounds, spreading through the forest, backgrounded by the mummering of Thorne’s taonga puoro.

With Salina Fishers “Toroa” (Albatross) Thorne augmented his breathing with a conch while Amelia Hall tried to produce sounds by blowing through the sound holes of her violin.   They provided  the high-pitched sounds of  taonga puoro and high keyed sounds of the violin, the one heavy and throaty, the other wispy and light,  the two instruments providing a strange sense of communication.

With Thorne’s composition “Toroa me te Tohora” Hall, Brown and Thorne played like an experimental group pushing the instruments to create new and novel sounds with Thorne hitting stones, Hall rubbing the neck of her violin and Brown beating on the cellos stings and bowing across the instrument’s end spike. Their collective sounds  expressed a sense of an uneasy  mythic narrative.  

Janet Jennings’ “Urban Lives : Longfin Eels and Long-Tailed Bats” featured an innovative soundscape creating images of movement  form and colour mirroring a diverse ecosystem with many exotic sounds, notably Kathryn Moorhead’s clarinet and piccolo.

This was a landmark concert demonstrating the abilities of our contemporary composers to use music in developing awareness and understanding of environmental issues.

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Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Auckland Festival 2023

Emil and the Detectives

By Erich Kästner

Adapted for the Stage by Nicki Bloom

Directed by Andy Packer

Slingsby

Rangatira, Q Theatre

16-18 March

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Successful theatre simply involves having a good story and telling it well.  Sounds easy?  Well yes, it is.  Except it’s not.

However Slingsby, a theatrical production house out of Adelaide, have chalked up a string of successes by doing simply that.  And then exporting the outcomes.  This production, directed by Slingsby founder Andy Packer from an adaptation of the original German by Nicki Bloom, looks like setting some kind of a record for the company having already toured in Australia, USA, India, China, the UK and now it’s here in Auckland.

Erich Kästner’s novella, Emil und die Detektive, was first published in 1929 and has never been out of print.  It tells the story of a group of kids who come together to help young Emil find justice.  Very simply, Emil catches a train to visit family in the big city but all of his money is stolen enroute.  However the thief soon discovers that Emil was not such an easy target after all when a group of quick-thinking and resourceful children pool resources to track him down.  Can a bunch of kids work together to uncover and outsmart the true criminal? 

The answer is told in Slingsby’s signature intimate theatrical style.  Director Packer uses only two skilled actors, plenty of smoke and mirrors and, working with Designer Wendy Todd, has constructed a delightfully focussed way of shrinking big things out there in the real world right down to a miscroscopic children’s perspective.  Emil and the Detectives provides dark and light, intrigue and suspense, and it enthralled this opening night audience. 

The two actors are multi-skilled, the carefully outfitted stage management crew are on the ball and the lighting works well.  However the star of the opening night was undoubtedly Anna (5) who was attending her very first live theatrical performance.  At one point, and totally unexpectedly, she heard an old-style phone ringing underneath her seat.  So, doing what any five-year-old would do, she answered it and found herself in conversation with Emil on the stage.  Like a seasoned professional, Anna spoke calmly and clearly, remembered the secret children-only password and didn’t miss a beat.  The audience love it

There is more to the original novella than just a simple tale told from a child’s perspective though.  It is very carefully and subtly layered and has more than a casual link to the independent-children-versus-devious-adults genre (think Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series or even Oliver Twist).  Streetwise city kids, a hard-working single mother and Emil’s past brush with the law that all add grit and nuance to this satisfying tale.  It poses questions for children too.  How do we find our friends in the world?  How do we work together to defeat tricksters?   There is a plenty to unpack.  It is inventive, imaginative, and boldly theatrical,  not only for kids but for anyone who enjoys good storytelling – told well. 

So if you’re a teacher, see if you can get it on your class-outing list.  And if you’re a parent or a grandparent here’s your chance to go and see this show – with children!  They will be enthralled and so will you.  It is the perfect way to introduce 8-12 year-olds to the world of theatre where they may even become captured for life.

Very highly recommended.

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

Auckland Arts Festival

The Big Drum Off

Rodger Fox Big Band 50^th Anniversary

The Rodger Fox Big Band

Leader Rodger Fox

With Gregg Bissonette, Dennis Chambers, Peter Erskine

Bruce Mason Centre

11 March

Reviewed by Malcolm Calder

As they say, time flies when you’re enjoying yourself.  Well, time certainly flew on Saturday night and both audience and performers enjoyed themselves equally at this outstanding concert.  And, rather amazingly, jazz afficionados have been saying that about Roger Fox’s legacy … for fifty years.

Billed as the Great Drum Off, this gig brought together three of the world’s most outstanding drummers – each of whom has made his mark and left a legacy – featured in three 30-minute sets that demonstrated what they are noted for and what they do.

First up was the agile and highly innovative Greg Bissonette, making his second return visit to our shores.  His musical career is both lengthy and amazingly diverse, extending from some early work with arrangements by the legendary Maynard Ferguson through to playing double-drums with Ringo Starr’s Allrounders.  On Saturday his set ended with a funky band re-arrangement of Billy Cobham’s Stratus that left me exhausted.  I had absolutely no idea where some of the double-rhythms and contra-rhythms came from as he made his kit dance almost by itself allowing his effervescent creativity full reign until he whooped and hollered the set to a conclusion.

Then Gentleman Peter Erskine stepped up using a smaller kit, and some well-chosen words, that highlighted his and Rodger’s common interests and their mutual commitments to jazz education.  Now an Emeritus Professor at the University of Southern California, Peter has performed with countless bands in concert and studio and his percussive skills have featured on albums by artists that include Diana Krall, Queen Latifah and Linda Ronstadt as well as several classical orchestras.  But he is at his best working with a band.  ee demonstrated this again and again through some standards that began with Stan Kenton and Ferguson, and then highlighted the American big band sound.  It was all so smooth and so easy I was in awe.  For me, his final choice – Neil Hefti’s Sunday Morning – was a memorable standout.

Finally, Rodger introduced a powerhouse in the form of Dennis Chambers who barely spoke at all.  Instead he kicked straight into a fire-breathing attack on the funky classic, Cissy Strut, rolled straight into some Santana, then set up some room for the horns and guitar to wail but allowed space for his own incredible driving leadership.  Like the other two guests, Dennis has been around for a while now and he is even better at setting stages afire with his scorching chops and unshakeable groove.

Rodger was there every step of the way, adding a couple of his trademark trombone solos, every inch the masterminding band leader, casually counting the band in and keeping things very tight indeed.  Over 50 years, some of the country’s greatest players are current or former jazz students at the New Zealand School of Music where Fox teaches and the current line-up sounds as good as ever.  Acknowledging an underlying theme of education, this concert followed a workshop earlier on Saturday.

This was an intelligent jazz audience too.  When Rodger asked for someone to give him a 120-beat from their head … someone responded.  That certainly brought smiles right across the stage.

Yes, time did fly.  And people did enjoy themselves – both on the stage and in the audience.

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Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Auckland Arts Festival
Light from Tate: 1700s to Now 

Auckland Art Gallery
Until June 25

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

In the pursuit of capturing their images of the world artists have never been far from creating images where  light plays a part in their real, metaphysical and metaphorical depictions. The importance of the sun as life giver and symbol of the divine has been around for centuries and the allegory of  Plato’s Cave whereby individuals discern only the shadowy  images cast by light stresses the importance of light in the creation of art works.

The exhibition “Light from Tate: 1700s to Now” touches on this  philosophical enquiry into the nature of light as well as its  historical, scientific and aesthetic aspects.

The exhibition  featuring more than 70 artworks from the Tate Gallery outlines how artists have responded in their search for, and the use of light over the last three hundred years across different media. The show also provides several mini-exhibitions such as the group of nineteenth century English landscape artists including Turner, Constable and John Linnell. Then there is a boutique show of Impressionism with Monet, Sisley and Seurat and one of German abstract photography of the early twentieth century as well as an impressive group of Josef Albers’ works.

It was only since the Renaissance that artists focussed on light to major extent. Leonardo da Vinci  studied the  optical properties of light and showed how light could  be used to create perspectives and shapes. Later artists such as Georges de La Tour used light to create dramatic scenes in which there were a few defined light sources while  Vermeer made light a vital part of his paintings.

One of the first works in the exhibition is almost the antithesis of the other works in the show. This is Anish Kapoor’s sculptural work which features a velvety black interior from which it seems all light has been sucked out  leaving a void.

In contrast to the Kapoor are four Turners, which, from a distance look like abstract paintings but closer inspection reveals their religious and spiritual connections with “The Angel Standing in the Sun”.  The landscape tradition is referenced with “Sun Setting over Lake” and there is a  scientific basis to “Light and Colour (Goethe’s Theory)”.

Other early nineteenth century works include the dramatic “Destruction of Pompeii” by John Martin and Joseph Wright of Derby’s “Vesuvius in Eruption” where the artist uses both the light from the eruption and the moonlight to illuminate the landscape and the shimmering sea.

There are also a few John Constable’s such as “Harwich Lighthouse” where we see the artists interest in painting aspects of light with his focus on .cloud formations which take up two thirds of the view.

The group of Impressionist works show the way these artists aimed at capturing the fleeting effect of light on scenes and objects. In Monets “Japanese Bridge the light has infiltrated the greens and blues making them glow like some  molecular form or his “The Seine at  Port-Villez where the light has seems to have washed out the colours.

As if in a musing on the Impressionists. Yokai Kusama’s “The Passing Winter” creates a  contemporary Impressionist work with light, colour, reflection and repetition and Pae White also has a take on Impressionism with her “Morceau Accrochant”, a three-dimensional shape of dense varied colours like a flock of birds or flurry of leaves.

One aspect that really none of the art works address is the prismatic qualities of light. The one work which  touches on this is Bridget Riley’s “Natajara” with its sliced-up slivers of primary colours which jostle and flicker on the canvas.

There are several contemporary light installations which explore various dimensions and qualities of light from Dan Flavin’s  elegant homage to the skyscraper and Tatlin to James Turrell’s “Raemar Blue” in a meditative space, There is also Liliane Lij’s “Light Reflections where two globes rotate over a surface referencing planetary movements and the role of the sun.

Danish artist Olafur Eliasson is included with two impressive works. One is “Yellow versus Purple” where viewers walk through the rotating, coloured shapes which are at the ends of the colour wheel.  The other is “Stardust Particle” where two rotating  shapes display the aesthetic and scientific properties of light, creating a universe of light.

Accompanying the exhibition is a catalogue edited by Kerryn Greenberg, former Head of International Collection Exhibitions at Tate with a foreword by Gallery Director Kirsten Lacy

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