All stories by Anne-Marie Peard on BroadwayStars

Monday, May 22, 2017

StageArt: Spring Awakening by Anne-Marie Peard

Melbourne’s had the opportunity to see two adaptions of Frank Wedekind’s 1891 play Spring Awakening this month. StageArt’s production of the 2006 musical – which won eight Tonys,…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 02:41AM
Thursday, May 18, 2017

My Fair Lady, Melbourne by Anne-Marie Peard

“Words, words, words! I’m so sick of words I get words all day through.” This was always my favourite song from Lerner and Lowe’s My Fair Lady. Even with misguided-te…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 06:47PM
Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Cabaret, Melbourne season by Anne-Marie Peard

David M Hawkins’s production of Cabaret may be as pretty as Sally Bowles’s green nail polish, but the only person who loved the green was Sally* and we know her manicure was chea…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 12:12AM
Saturday, April 22, 2017

Bell Shakespeare: Richard 3 by Anne-Marie Peard

Being in the depths of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, I was calling Richard 3, by Bell Shakespeare, Chick Dick 3 because Kate Mulvany plays Richard. But no more throw away joke…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 01:01AM
Thursday, March 30, 2017

Trainspotting Live by Anne-Marie Peard

I was splashed by a wet condom and had a shite covered naked arse within touching distance. Choose life. Choose theatre. Choose Trainspotting Live. In 1993, Harry Gibson wrote the stage ada…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 12:12AM
Friday, March 10, 2017

MTC: Faith Healer by Anne-Marie Peard

Faith Healer, directed by Judy Davis, at Sydney’s Belvoir last year was so successful that the MTC put it into the Sumner Theatre. While twice as many can see it each night, most can’t e…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 03:29AM
Monday, February 27, 2017

The play that goes so wrong that it’s right by Anne-Marie Peard

The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society present The Murder at Haversham Manor. It goes wrong. Very wrong. So wrong that it’s totally right. The Play That Goes Wrong by Mischief Theatr…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 01:29AM

La Mama: The Fever by Anne-Marie Peard

In a hotel room in a third-world country, an unnamed person recounts a story of the fever he suffers from – and he’s not talking about the illness that has him sweaty and vomiting. Writt…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 12:00AM
Friday, February 17, 2017

MTC: John by Anne-Marie Peard

American playwright Annie Baker won a 2014 Pulitzer Prize for The Flick (seen at Red Stitch) when she was 33. Her writing’s won Off-Broadway Obie awards and rightly declares a new Ba…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 09:20PM
Thursday, February 16, 2017

Review: The Red Detachment of Women by Anne-Marie Peard

Can’t afford your own time machine? A ticket to the National Ballet of China’s Red Detachment of Women is the next best thing. This ballet, first performed in 1964, is one of the ‘Eigh…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 09:53PM

Malthouse: Little Emperors by Anne-Marie Peard

Little Emperors was commissioned and developed by Malthouse Theatre for the Asia TOPA festival. Australian writer Lachlan Philpott (The Trouble With Harry) was flown to Beijing to work with …

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 12:26AM
Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Victorian Opera: ‘Tis Pity by Anne-Marie Peard

The 2015 Victorian Opera production of Die Sieben Todsunden with Meow Meow took me as close to seeing how Brecht and Weil must have imagined their work. It was a highlight of that year and…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 07:00PM
Saturday, February 4, 2017

The Book of Mormon will blow your freaking mind by Anne-Marie Peard

Oh, I believe! The expectations for the Australian production of The Book of Mormon were higher than a stoner watching South Park – the Broadway run hasn’t had an empty seat since it ope…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 10:08PM
Friday, January 27, 2017

Midsumma: Technostalgia by Anne-Marie Peard

It really is astonishing to realise how much has changed in technology ­– phones, computers, the way we listen to music, the way we watch TV and  – in the past 50 years. This is the su…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 08:56PM
Thursday, January 26, 2017

Midsumma: The Happy Prince by Anne-Marie Peard

I remember reading Oscar Wilde’s fairytale The Happy Prince when I was young, and I remember its beauty and sadness breaking my heart. I loved this story about the gilded, bejewelled statu…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 12:41AM
Monday, January 23, 2017

Midsumma: I am my own wife by Anne-Marie Peard

Doug Wright’s play I Am My Own Wife, at fortyfivedownstairs for Midsumma, is a most remarkable piece. Its story twists and turns and keeps the audience guessing, it has a superbly unreliab…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 02:32AM
Sunday, January 22, 2017

Midsumma: Dolly Di*mond’s Bl*nkety Bl*nks by Anne-Marie Peard

I’m not going to beat around the bush. Dolly Di*mond’s Bl*nkety Bl*nks is a hot mess – but it’s the funniest and most delightful hot mess you’ll ever see. And speaking of bush,…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 06:50PM
Saturday, December 10, 2016

Reefer Madness by Anne-Marie Peard

Jimmy Harper and Mary Lane are in high school and in love and in danger of falling under the thrall of a deadly green menace called Reefer Madness. Writers Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney have …

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 09:54PM
Friday, December 2, 2016

The Gathering by Anne-Marie Peard

The Gathering is a new musical co-written by Will Hannagan and Belinda Jenkin, directed by Chris Parker and musically directed by Daniel Puckey. Opening at fortyfivedownstairs this week, and…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 12:43AM
Friday, November 11, 2016

The Odd Couple is an odd choice by Anne-Marie Peard

“Is she pregnant? No just fat.” Boom-boom. It’s such a good week to remind us that women are best kept pretty or pregnant. The Odd Couple is the MTC’s end-of-year already-close-enoug…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 10:03PM
Sunday, October 23, 2016

Kinky Boots sashays into Melbourne by Anne-Marie Peard

Kinky Boots had me at “The most beautiful thing in the world”: a song about shoes. A song about shoes written by 1980’s pop icon Cyndi Lauper. The show’s won awards, including t…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 11:52PM
Thursday, October 20, 2016

Melbourne Festival: Lady Eats Apple by Anne-Marie Peard

I’m still thinking about Back to Back Theatre’s Lady Meets Apple. I want to talk about it, but want to hold it safe and close so that its meaning stays between the performers and me. …

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 02:25AM
Sunday, October 16, 2016

StageArt: The Colour Purple by Anne-Marie Peard

At this year’s Tony Awards, the Broadway revival of the Oprah Winfrey produced The Color Purple musical received the Best Revival of a Musical and Best Actress. StageArt are currently pres…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 07:51PM

Melbourne Festival: Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour by Anne-Marie Peard

It was impossible to get a ticket for Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe, but it’s running for all of the Melbourne Festival so as many people as possible can sin…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 07:32AM
Saturday, October 15, 2016

Matlida’s last month in Melbourne by Anne-Marie Peard

Matilda’s last Melbourne performance is November 11. If you haven’t seen it, well that’s not right. And as Matilda says, “If that’s not right.  You have to put it right!&…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 01:01AM
Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Melbourne Festival: The Money by Anne-Marie Peard

The Money is every meeting I’ve ever been to. Created by UK-based company Kaleider, it’s part game, immersive theatre and live art. And almost fly-on-the-wall live documentary. A group o…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 02:19AM
Sunday, October 9, 2016

Melbourne Festival: You and me and the space in between by Anne-Marie Peard

I wonder if we go to theatre to re-create, or discover, the childhood experience of sitting in a loving lap and being read a story. Hobart’s Terrapin Puppet Theatre have been creating and …

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 12:35AM
Saturday, October 8, 2016

Melbourne Festival: Two Dogs by Anne-Marie Peard

Director Meng Jinghui is a cult theatre superstar in China and the National Theatre of China is one of the most influential companies in Asia. I can’t think of an equivalent Australian co…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 03:35AM
Sunday, October 2, 2016

Dear Delphine – Melbourne Fringe by Anne-Marie Peard

Imagine a collection of five Instagram posts. There’s maybe a picture of someone’s burger, a cat picture, a photo of an interesting building, a post-gym selfie and a shot of a tree. Sure…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 08:26AM
Saturday, October 1, 2016

The Quiet Bite – Melbourne Fringe by Anne-Marie Peard

In 431 BCE, Medea takes a knife to her children for the first time. 2500 years later a woman in Queensland stabs her children as they lie peacefully in their beds and in a tiny fringe venue …

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 10:58PM
Thursday, September 29, 2016

2016 Poppy Seed Festival launched by Anne-Marie Peard

The second Poppy Seed Theatre Festival launched its program on Thursday night in Melbourne. Embracing the development of some of the best Melbourne-based independent artists, the festival pr…

SOURCE: AussieTheatre at 05:00PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards