MTC's 2010 Season Subscribers Break Box Office Records

Melbourne Theatre Company's 2010 Season has attracted the highest number of subscribers for the last 20 years, reaching 20,000 eager theatre viewers. 

“Simon Phillips and I are delighted to reach 20,000 Subscribers, the highest number for the last 20 years. It’s fabulous to see so many people enjoying live theatre. 2010 is shaping up to be a great year for the Company," said MTC General Manager Ann Tonks (via TheatrePeople.com.au)

The season opener, The Drowsy Chaperone, broke MTC's own Box Office records when it sold $110,000 worth of tickets on the first day of single ticket sales. Since then the season has been extended, and sold out again, becoming MTC's fastest selling production. 

However this success and level of interest is not only connected to MTC's production of The Drowsy Chaperone. Already five other shows have had their season extended to cope with the popular demand. 

2009 Green Room Award Nominations

The 2009 Green Room Award Nominations were released today.  For musical theatre, Jersey Boys and Avenue Q are the main productions nominated, while the rest of the categories seem to provide quite an even spread which reflects Melbourne's ever-expanding quality theatre scene. Congratulations to all nominated.

For the detailed nomination list see the Green Room Awards site.

Australia's 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert' Moving to Broadway

Gary McQuinn, the producer of Australian musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert, has announced that the hit musical is planned to transfer to Broadway in 2011.

The larger-than-life musical is based on Stephan Elliot's 1994 film of the same name which follows three drag queens trek from Sydney to Alice Springs in a bus the dubbed 'Priscilla'.

For more details see this article at Broadway World.  (And just ignore their 'dessert' typo).

Rock of Ages: Heading Our Way

  

New Broadway Musical Rock of Ages is set to premiere in Melbourne, Australia early next year. It is the latest jukebox musical including hit rock songs from bands such as Styx, Bon Jovi, Journey and Poison. 


It is scheduled to play at the Comedy Theaztre in April 2011 and hopes to pull a different demographic than the usual theatre audiences. Common audience etiquette does not apply, with drinking and singing being encouraged. Reports have shown that 20 per cent of people who saw the show in New York had never seen a Broadway show before.


For more information see this article from The Age. 

New Feature: Theatre Haikus

I am going to start writing haikus to describe some of the shows I have seen lately. They are easy, quick and fun. Here's a taste of some I wrote up on the boring train ride today:

It's The Drowsy Chaperone,
One long single act.
But tons of frivolous fun.

Jersey Boys: The Musical.
Live acted doco.
Like nothing you've seen before.

We're home on Avenue Q!
With fuzzy puppets,
And X-rated song 'n' dance.

There's greed, murder, corruption,
Oh, and all that jazz.
Chicago is sharp and sleek.

Wicked: Broadway Blockbuster!
And for good reason.
Grand and simply magical.

The Rain in Spain ...

It doesn't rain, it pours. And for the past four and a bit months it has been pouring. And when it pours I do not get to see any theatre. And when I do not see any theatre, this blog goes through a giant drought.

Well that's not total truth, I did see Chicago just before Gina Riley left. Never did I think that such a bare and simple staging of a show could entertain so well. Brilliant, the whole cast (especially Caroline O'Connor, Sharon Millerchip, Gina Riley and D.C. Harlock) knew how to put on a show. Tight knit, saucy and incredibly enjoyable.

I was very spoilt and given tickets to Jersey Boys as an early Christmas gift. However many times I said 'oh no you shouldn't have', I am really glad they did as I wasn't going to go otherwise. The show is completely different from anything you have seen before. It breaks the traditional Broadway Musical genre (as more and more shows these days are), bringing in a live-action documentary theme. Songs aren't sung from the heart but rather as recreations, actors perform with their back to the audiences, scenes fly in and out with very little potency and impressive sets are seen for a matter of minutes but when combined together what the audience receive are a flashy presentation on the life of the Four Seasons. The cast are excellent in their portrayals of their characters (with special mentions to Bobby Fox as Franki Valli and Stephen Mahy as Bob Gaudio) as well as the other cameos they must take on. The cast consists of 20-something guys but only four ladies who change from mothers to wives, groupies to back up singers. I urge everyone to go see this show whatever age or level of Four Seasons fan you are. I went with my Nanna, an 18 and 80 year old, and we both loved it.

In other news, I have just received subscriptions for the Melbourne Theatre Company 2010 Season in which I will be seeing eight plays, and for the Malthouse Theatre Company Season 1 (of 2) which will consist of five plays. I have promised myself (which doesn't always mean they will be kept) that I will review or at least comment on each play, despite often seeing them mid-way through a season (in Journalism Ethics we learn about news-worthiness, and anything a few weeks late isn't worth spending time on, so this is mainly just good practice).

I then will hopefully be attending some of the big blockbuster musicals heading Melbourne's way. Mary Poppins is top of that list, closely followed by West Side Story and then Cats. I have sort of been guilt-tripped into seeing Cats because I "cannot be called a theatre-lover without seeing that masterpiece". Mammia Mia and Fame will be missed for the health of my budget and possibly my impeccable taste *insert pretentious chuckle here*.

I have returned to this blog just in time as my theatre-viewing year starts tomorrow with MTC's production of The Drowsy Chaperone which has been playing to rave reviews. I nearly missed out on tickets (I submitted my subscription too late) so will be conversing with the God's at the back of the balcony. Oh well, shall be fun.

Just as a side note: I am also in the process of sorting out ways to extend this blog's niche. While theatre and the performing arts is one of my biggest hobbies, or dare I say it, passions, I believe that I am also missing out on rambling about other aspects I enjoy: films, TV shows, music and books amongst others. The term 'audience' is not simply reserved for theatre vernacular and relates to all these different mediums and more. Even fashion has it's 'intended audience'. So I will be fiddling about with the layout and such to make this blog a bit more diverse, not only so that I can practice writing in other areas, but also have a bit more fun writing about others things without starting an entirely separate blog.

That is all for now, I hope.

ramblingdaniel
(yep, that's my official blog pen-name).