Falling Stars

Six the Musical | Global performance of "Ex Wives" and "Six" in isolation
(full version of opening song "Ex Wives" and part of closing song "Six")

24 April 2020. Everyone's doing isolation songs from their homes, and it's a delight to get this showcase of the various international casts of Six, plus their fans. There's something powerful about seeing all these people from around the world, joining their voices together, like there are invisible strings connecting everyone.

SIX the Musical perform flashmob at the Tower of London
(full version of closing song "Six")

31 August 2019. Half a year earlier, with a huge crowd of people, in the middle of the city. I love that everyone in the audience is singing along, chanting the words, and waving their arms to the beat. The energy is wonderful.

What I love about both videos is the joy that shines through. They capture something of what musicals make me feel - how music reaches into our hearts, and connects us to other people.

Too soon to say best musical of the year? Saying it anyway!

This is the third day of torrential rain - wind gusting it sideways, trees down on the train lines, flooding on the roads - and somehow I made it out into the city, where brave tourists in plastic raincoats were taking photos of the mist enshrouded Harbour Bridge. The only reason I ventured outdoors was because I had tickets to Six, a pop musical about the six wives of Henry VIII, now playing at the Sydney Opera House.

Totally worth it.

Listen up, let me tell you a story
A story that you think you've heard before

I loved the opening song in the trailer. It gave me chills. I love the idea of women of history reclaiming their story, especially after how slandered and maligned some of them were. I love historical fusions that use modern vocab and anachronistic references.

At 75 minutes with no interval, made up of showcase songs, it felt like a concert or cabaret, rather than a traditional musical with a linear narrative. I loved how each of the six had a different style of song, from energetic dance number to emotional power ballad. (The program book and liner notes mention what musical artists inspired the style of each song, eg Catherine of Aragon's are Beyoncé and Shakira, Anne Boleyn's are Lily Allen and Avril Lavigne, etc.)

The Australian performers were awesome. (I wish there was an Australian cast recording! The singing and arrangement are a bit different on the studio cast recording.) I loved that the band was all women too. I loved that the costuming was a glorious fusion of medieval and futuristic.

( Spoilers )

A few weekends ago, I got to see Hugh Jackman in concert, once again, at Sydney Olympic Park, during his 2019 world tour.

He is such a great performer - clearly loves being on stage and bantering with the audience. He made jokes about how he knows some people like to leave concerts early to get out of the car park, so he'd give everyone a heads up two songs before the end. And when some guy cheered at the video clip of Wolverine, he said, "A Wolverine fan! I hope you're not just a Wolverine fan, otherwise it's going to be a long night for you."

There was the most adorable little kid in the front rows, dressed in a ringmaster costume with a top hat. He must have been five or something, just dancing to the songs with a huge smile on his face. Hugh seemed delighted by his enthusiasm, and stopped to chat to him a few times.

I was hoping for some songs from The Greatest Showman, and I was not disappointed. He opened with "The Greatest Show" and "Come Alive", which was a great power combo for getting everyone energised. Keala Settle appeared as a guest, performing "This Is Me", and debuting a song from her new album, "Harder".

He also did songs from Les Mis, Peter Allen, and Broadway. It was entertaining to see him as Gaston, one of his earliest musical roles. The penultimate song was "From Now On", a rousing feelgood number, and he finished with "I Still Call Australia Home", always an emotional favourite.

The program book was full of glossy photos, but alas no program. Fortunately, the setlist is available online:

Australian setlist

International setlist

Hamilton is finally coming to Australia!!!

Sydney secures Australian premiere of Hamilton

Lyric Theatre. February 2021.

There's a million things I haven't done
But just you wait, just you wait

A few weeks ago, I finally got to see The Book of Mormon at the Lyric Theatre.

I'm not a huge fan of South Park style humour, but I am a huge fan of musicals. And from what I'd heard, this was a very good musical. And it delivered pretty much exactly what I expected.

( Spoilers )

So last weekend, I went to see In the Heights at the Hayes Theatre. It's been on my list of musicals to see ever since that episode of Ugly Betty when Justin was over the moon about it, and wow, was it really ten years ago that it first came out? And of course by now I was curious about LMM's first major project, and whether the seeds of Hamilton could be seen in it.

The website said it was a sold out season, but to check back daily for returns, which is how I was lucky enough to snag a ticket. It was my first visit to the Hayes Theatre, an easy walk from Kings Cross station. When I got there, I understood one of the reasons it was sold out: the theatre is tiny, only seating 111, which meant that anywhere was a great view.

( Spoilery reactions )

So I went and saw the musical of Kinky Boots at the Capitol Theatre on Friday. It lived up to the hype! I'd enjoyed the movie when I saw it years ago, and this was a good adaptation of the story to the stage. It moved at a cracking pace. It was sparkly, upbeat, and uplifting. Cyndi Lauper's music had a great '80s pop atmosphere to it. All the cast were excellent, but Callum Francis as Lola stole the show.

Some of my favourite numbers: "Take What You Got", "The History of Wrong Guys", and "Not My Father's Son". Pretty much all the songs were great - I'll be listening to the cast recording for a while.

Possibly the best movie musical of all time, so anyone doing a stage version has big shoes to fill. But it's hard to go wrong when you start with such great songs, and the Australian touring production did an admirable job.

Everyone talks about how they MADE IT RAIN ON STAGE for the showstopping title song. And it was pretty impressive! Sprinklers in the ceiling pouring water down, and a shallow pool across the whole floor to collect it. Lots of splashing about. The first three rows of the audience were provided with rain ponchos for protection.

My personal highlights were "Make 'Em Laugh" and "Moses Supposes", two of my favourite songs from the movie. Adam Garcia, who was meant to be the lead, was injured, but his understudy (a role shared between Robyn Arthur, Rodney Dobson and Mike Bishop) was a great Don Lockwood. (I was impressed when I realised a different version of the film clips would have to be made for all three understudies.) It was cool to see Jack Chambers from So You Think You Can Dance Australia as Cosmo Brown, probably one of the most fun stage roles ever. Gretel Scarlett was a great Kathy Selden, especially in "Good Morning" and "Would You?" And Erika Heynatz was hilarious as Lina Lamont, who actually gets a song here, "What's Wrong With Me?".

This isn't anything as coherent as a review of Heathers: The Musical, but I need to ramble about it.

I've seen a lot of musicals in my time. But I can't remember any that made me so impressed and so uncomfortable at the same time.

( Spoilers )

Overall, it was incredibly well put together. The cast was fantastic. The plot was lean and brisk. Every beat was true. Every reaction was earned. Every song was a punch of emotion. It's just about a note perfect example of a musical. The cool thing about adaptations is, they give you a chance to refine the essence of the original. I should have guessed, from the calibre of the songs, that it was co-written by one of the co-writers of Legally Blonde: The Musical. Not always easy to watch, but very worthwhile.

For my own future reference as much as anything else. Will probably be updated from time to time.

General

Official Broadway website
Wikipedia

Videos

Lin-Manuel Miranda performs at the White House Poetry Jam
Promo clip for the Public Theater show
Ten minutes of Hamilton clips (the B-roll) - deleted

Lyrics

Official soundtrack website with downloadable CD booklet
Annotated lyrics on Genius.com

Communities

Hamiltunes on Dreamwidth