CAPO Board to Expand Expertise

At the CAPO Elizabethan Ball:

Elizabeth Dark, CAPO President Tony Magee, Megan Corson

Tony Magee was re-elected President of the Capital Arts Patrons Organisation last week. First thing on his agenda is to get some performing arts expertise on the board. About time some will say - CAPO has long been a haven for visual artists and will benefit from some breadth.

Originally published in The Canberra Times, December 23, 2000

Get on board for a witty oceanic ride

Tuesday October 31 2000

freely adapted from Ferenc Molnar’s Játék a Kastélyban (Play at the Castle)

Directed by Gary Down

Costumes by Anna Senior

Canberra Repertory Society

October 30 through November 18, 2000

Reviewed by Alanna Maclean

I don’t know what the Ferenc Molnar play that Tom Stoppard based Rough Crossing on was like, but there’s no shortage of fun in Stoppard’s version of a crazy cross-Atlantic trip by a bunch of people working on a musical.

Writers Turai (Ian Carcary) and Gal (Tony Turner) have the four-day trip to complete the script for their musical, but matters are complicated by the tangled love triangle that is their leading lady Natasha (Clara Witheridge), their leading man Ivor (Tony Magee) and their composer Adam (Simon Lissaman).

Into that mix throw the steward Dvornichek (Geoffrey Borny) who appears never to have been to sea before, and a collection of chorus girls along to rehearse.

What follows is a very tightly played series of disasters as Turai and the rather calmer Gal piece their scenario together and the cognac never quite arrives where it is supposed to.

Carcary and Turner make a good team as the writers, Witheridge and Magee appear to have caught the right 1930s ambience for the leading couple and Lissaman is particularly funny as the despairing love-torn composer. A speech disorder means Adam periodically has no lines yet we are never left in doubt as to what this character is thinking and feeling.

The scene stealing is shared by Borny’s turn as the cheerfully inept steward and Russell Brown’s Titanic of a set which is moved by scene shifters in appropriate costumes. It’s a pity, however, that the lighting and set painting are a bit on the bland side for such an up-beat show.

The ladies of the chorus certainly appear in marvellous period rehearsal gear but need to be much more confident in their singing than they were on opening night.

But the cast has a ball with a witty script that demands the audience’s attention. Stoppard is always worth watching and Rough Crossing in Rep’s hands is no exception.

First published in The Canberra Times, October 31, 2000

*Title card from the Bill Kenwright UK production.

Quotes

‘Few modern playwrights serve a fizzier champagne of verbal wit than Tom Stoppard’ - New York Times

‘Hysterical’ - Broadway World

Review: A show that bursts with talent!

By Peter Wilkins

July 14, 2000

Don’t Hold Back, devised and performed by Ian Croker, musical direction by Tony Magee, an As-You-Like-It Cafe/Bar presentation, Street Theatre Studio, dinner 7pm, show 8pm, closes tonight.

Here is a talent that surges and swells on the stage in a new-cut gem of a show that glistens and sparkles with scenes and songs, casting a warm and glowing light on the human condition.

Ian Croker’s one-man show is a pastiche of past triumphs, sprinkled with favourite cameos and musical numbers. Loosely threaded by the universal theme of love in the first act and the more poignant, brash and bold plea for acceptance and recognition in the second, with songs from Cabaret, La Cage Aux Folles, and an extract from his highly acclaimed performance in The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin, Croker slips into character and song as easily as a seal slips into the sea.

In the Street Theatre Studio’s intimate, cosy comfort against the cold, Croker’s renditions of some of the big show numbers from Superstar, 42nd Street and Rocky Horror struggle to break free from their containment in the space.

At times, milked and bulging with character, Croker belonged to the bigger stage in the tradition of Reg Livermore’s outrageously camp and flouncing Betty Blockbuster. A chameleon of characterisation, Croker’s timing, inflection and instinctive creation of mood can hold the audience in the palm of his hand. It is all good fun in a show tailored for touring or testing the likelihood of transferring to the main stage.

Croker’s nostalgic retrospective is mixed with entertaining glimpses of things to come. His powerful rendition of the Transformation Song from Jekyll and Hyde begs to be seen in production. 

He is masterly accompanied by musical director Tony Magee on piano and the other members of his trio, Mark Sutton on percussion and Scott Dodd on bass.

It is time to review, to cut and paste and let a directorial eye define the structure and the theme of a performance bursting with talent but in need of a selective purpose.

The As-You-Like-It Cafe/Bar and Croker are to be applauded for taking the risk to provide fine food and thoroughly enjoyable entertainment in a venue ideally suited for intimate theatre restaurant.

First published in The Canberra Times, July 14, 2000

Champagne and fanfare launches new Ford cars

by Norma Allen

A CAR PARTY brightened up a rainy night on Lonsdale Street last week, when Gregory’s hosted the launch of the new Ford range - the sporty Cougar (in red, of course) and the Tickford series TE50, TS50 and the TL50. 

Ford Tickford TL50

Accompanied by searchlights, flashlights, oysters and champagne, a jazz band and the dramatic Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, the drapes were lifted to reveal the sleek new machines.

David Flint, managing director of Tickford Engineering and Matthew Taylor, vice president of Ford Australia told the technical story.

During the secret period of creation, the code name for the new model was JOD, the initials of the phrase Joy of Driving. And the phrase Don’t Frighten the Driver was also used: these cars have to be practical for all drivers.

Canberra Raider’s Luke Davico test drove the TS50, 1995 Miss Australia Margaret Tierney chose the red rocket, Peter Chapman “Chappo”, made friends with the TE50 and musician Tony Magee paced the TL50. 

All reported instant delight with their brief encounter.

From The Canberra Times, January 24, 2000