Category Archives: Culture

War Horse @ Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts review

Posted on May 20, 2019 | Leave a comment

Whilst it sometimes seems that the only major touring theatrical productions we get in Hong Kong are big-budget musicals and kids’ shows, War Horse makes a winning case for why great live drama deserves to be brought here and celebrated too.

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Tagged best play, best stage design, best theatre drama, best theatre show, Christopher Shutt, Handspring Puppet Company, HKAPA, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Joey, Khalid Daley, Lunchbox Productions, National Theatre, Paule Constable, Rae Smith, review, Scott Miller, theatre, Toby Sedgwick, War Horse, War Horse HK, War Horse Hong Kong, War Horse touring production

Mamma Mia! @ Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts review

Posted on January 20, 2019 | Leave a comment

Dust off those dungarees, folks – Mamma Mia! is back in town.

I have to admit, my views on Mamma Mia have softened over the years. Whilst I have always wholeheartedly adored ABBA’s music (and if you cannot bring yourself to recognise its genius, we need to have words), I used to find the musical too thin, too cheesy, too ridiculous to be worthy of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ gold-plated songbook. But then I got over myself, the world went to hell in a handcart, and I suddenly found myself loving Mamma Mia for exactly all the reasons that I side-eyed it in the first place.

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Tagged ABBA, best musical, Helen Anker, HKAPA, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, jukebox musical, Lucy May Barker, Lunchbox Productions, Mamma Mia, Mamma Mia HK, Mamma Mia Hong Kong, Mamma Mia tour, Mamma Mia UK, Matthew Rutherford, musical, Phillip Ryan, review, Shona White, theatre

Priscilla Queen of the Desert @ Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts review

Posted on October 12, 2017 | Leave a comment

The second that three divas descended from the ceiling belting out It’s Raining Men, I knew that Priscilla Queen of the Desert was going to be my kind of show.

Adapted from the 90s Aussie film starring Guy Pearce, Hugo Weaving and Terrence Stamp into a jukebox stage musical, Priscilla tells the story of two drag queens and a transgender woman’s journey across the Australian outback, and all the adventures (i.e. excuses for massive song-and-dance numbers) they encounter along the way.

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Tagged best musical, best musical costumes, best musicals, best theatre costumes, Candida Mosoma, Daniel Buys, David Dennis, HKAPA, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Lizzy Gardiner, Londiwe Dhlomo-Dlamini, Lunchbox Productions, musical, Phillip Schnetler, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Priscilla Queen of the Desert HK, Priscilla Queen of the Desert Hong Kong, Priscilla Queen of the Desert South Africa, Priscilla Queen of the Desert tour, review, theatre, Thembeka Mnguni, Tim Chappel

The Play That Goes Wrong @ Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts review

Posted on September 21, 2017 | Leave a comment

If you’re in desperate need of a laugh right now (and let’s face it, the way 2017 is going, who isn’t?), then get yourself down to see The Play That Goes Wrong stat.

This Olivier-winning, Edinburgh Fringe-to-West End-to-Broadway runaway hit represents farce in its purest form –it’s very silly, but very very funny. Taking the format of a play within a play, it sees amateur dramatic company Cornley Polytechnic attempting to stage a production of a (made-up) 1920s whodunit, The Murder At Haversham Manor. Murder mystery parodies and am-dram theatrics might be pretty easy comedy targets, and the slapstick is done with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer… but who cares when it is this much fun?

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Tagged Alastair Kirton, best farce, best theatre comedies, best theatre sets, comedy, Ediburgh Fringe, farce, HKAPA, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Jason Callender, Lunchbox Productions, Nigel Hook, The Play That Goes Wrong, The Play That Goes Wrong HK, The Play That Goes Wrong Hong Kong, The Play That Goes Wrong international tour, The Play That Goes Wrong New Zealand, The Play That Goes Wrong review, theatre

Wicked @ Hong Kong Academy Of Performing Arts review

Posted on December 22, 2016 | 2 comments

It’s been a while since I got goosebumps in the theatre… So enter Jacqueline Hughes as Elphaba in Wicked to deliver a whole year’s worth of them in one night.

It’s over a decade since Wicked, the smash hit musical based on a novel reimagining the events of The Wizard of Oz, first debuted on Broadway – which of course, means it’s only now arriving in Hong Kong for the first time. It tells the story of how Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West became well, wicked and it’s probably not much of a spoiler to say she wasn’t really that wicked at all… just you know, misunderstood, except with green skin (actually created using MAC eyeshadow, fact fans).

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Tagged Carly Anderson, Defying Gravity, HKAPA, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Jacqueline Hughes, Lunchbox Productions, musical, musical theatre, review, Stephen Schwartz, theatre, Wicked, Wicked HK, Wicked Hong Kong, Wicked Manila, Wicked Philippines, Wicked Touring Production, Wicked UK Touring Production

Swan Lake On Ice by The Imperial Ice Stars @ Hong Kong Cultural Centre review

Posted on May 2, 2016 | Leave a comment

If you’ve ever found ballet a little bit (whisper it) boring, then have I got the show for you – Swan Lake On Ice.

Yep, if the average pointe work on solid ground never struck you as being quite challenging enough, the introduction of frozen water and blades about 4mm in thickness should do the trick nicely!

Joking aside, The Imperial Ice Stars’ production of Swan Lake On Ice is exactly the kind of show that the word “spectacle” was invented for. Taking Tchaikovsky’s original much-loved score and transferring the action to an ice rink is a move bound to outrage more than a few ballet purists – but when Odette (Olga Sharutenko) actually takes flight during the swooningly romantic dance between her and Prince Siegfried (Bogdan Berezenko), it feels like something straight out of a fairy tale.

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Tagged Alex Kazakov, ballet, best ice dance, best ice skating show, Bogdan Berezenko, dance, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, ice dance, ice skating, Imperial Ice Stars, Imperial Ice Stars Hong Kong, Lunchbox Productions, Olga Sharutenko, review, Swan Lake On Ice, Swan Lake On Ice HK, Swan Lake On Ice Hong Kong, theatre, Tony Mercer

The Illusionists @ Hong Kong Cultural Centre review – it’s a kind of magic

Posted on April 17, 2016 | Leave a comment

Do you believe in magic?

These days, I’m not sure anyone over the age of 8 really does – and thankfully so if it means women no longer get burnt at the stake for crimes like being too old, too young or having a mole in the wrong place. But with a show like The Illusionists, it sure as hell is fun suspending your disbelief for two hours to live in a world where magic just might be a real thing.

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Tagged best magic show, best magicians in the world, Charlie Frye, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hyun Joon Kim, Krendl, Luis De Matos, Lunchbox Productions, magic, magicians, review, Sam Powers, The Clairvoyants, The Illusionists, The Illusionists Hong Kong, The Illusionists review, The Master Magician, theatre, Thommy Ten and Amélie van Tass

Singin’ In The Rain @ Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts review

Posted on September 28, 2015 | Leave a comment

You know a musical is made out of special stuff when it turns a source of misery – namely, a thundering relentless downpour – into something of total undiluted delight.

Singin’ In The Rain is one of my favourite films, let alone musicals, of all time, and it’s with some trepidation that I approach any stage adaptation of MGM’s glorious Gene Kelly vehicle. So I’m happy to report that Lunchbox Productions’ version of the Chichester Theatre revival, which plays in Hong Kong until 25 October 2015, is a dazzling shot of endorphins straight to the heart.

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Posted in Culture, Hong Kong, Theatre

Tagged Andrew Wright, best musical, Bethany Dickson, Chicester Festival, Duane Alexander, HKAPA, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Jonathan Church, Lunchbox Productions, Mila De Biaggi, musical theatre, review, Singin' In The Rain, Singin' In The Rain HK, Singin' In the Rain Hong Kong, Singing In The Rain Hong Kong, Steven Van Wyk, Taryn Lee-Hudson, theatre

La Soirée @ Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts review

Posted on September 17, 2015 | Leave a comment

I sit typing this review slumped in bed… and if it’s a good day, slumped in bed is exactly where I’ll stay!

However, a night at La Soirée – the Olivier award-winning, Edinburgh Fringe alumni of a show that’s in Hong Kong for just eight performances – was a reminder of just how amazing the human body can be… you know, when it’s not slumped in bed watching old episodes of The Apprentice and stuffing Oreos into its mouth.

A raucous blend of circus and cabaret, the show features around a dozen acts all with different specialities, from comedy to contortionism and just about everything in-between – with the overall effect being something like the Royal Variety Show as presided over by Graham Norton (now there’s a TV show idea!).

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Tagged Asher Treleaven, Bath Boy, best cabaret show, best circus show, cabaret, Captain Frodo, Circus, David O’ Mer, Edinburgh Fringe, Hamish McCann, HKAPA, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, La Clique, La Soiree, La Soiree Hong Kong, La Soiree review, Lunchbox Productions, review, The English Gents, theatre

Australia’s Next Top Model, Cycle 7 – the full Monty?

Posted on June 3, 2015 | 3 comments

I stopped recapping Australia’s Next Top Model when I hit Season 7; after re-watching it recently, I remembered why – it was boring.

Yes, the show had its most successful winner ever in the shape of the stunning Montana “Monty” Cox – who has since walked for the likes of Chanel, Dior, Givenchy and Tom Ford at London, Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks (*waves happily at awful Season 4 winner Demelza Reveley, last spotted advertising Ferrero Rocher*). That’s her up above managing to rock having no eyebrows in a Dubai desert by the way. And her managing to rock a ridiculous beehive and sweltering winter clothes in summer down below. Goddess.

But a cast of beautiful girls does not necessarily great television make, and given the fact that Season 7 didn’t include:

• Girl forced to repeat the phrase “I am a power pussy” down the phone to her mum
• Model shagging member of the crew, who had to be escorted off-set
• Batshit-crazy constestant having meltdown over someone speaking too loudly in a taxi
• Massive bullying scandal and the host not turning up for the finale
• Punching of walls, swearing on catwalks and stealing of lines in a commercial
• The wrong winner being announced

It was substantially less good than any of the seasons of AusNTM that preceded it. Hell, there weren’t even any proper meltdowns at makeover. Is that not the main reason for makeovers?

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