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  • westsidestory
    Musicals

    REVIEW: West Side Story (The Civic)

    [West Side for Life] A whistle. The Jets gang lounge around like the they own the city. A beat. One starts clicking. The others join in. They get together and strut. On the lighter notes [...]
  • poropoti
    Theatre Reviews

    REVIEW: Poropiti (The Basement)

    [Back to the Future] Creators and performers Tola Newbery and Mara TK take us through the landscape of New Zealand’s colonial history from a Māori perspective. In what is essentially a poetic history lesson, using [...]
  • powerballad
    Theatre Reviews

    REVIEW: Power Ballad (Zanetti Productions)

    [Charged Space] For those that have seen Julia Croft in If There’s Not Dancing in the Revolution, Then I’m Not Coming, you can think of Power Ballad as its angrier, less-forgiving sister.  Back again after its [...]
westsidestory
In the Spotlight

REVIEW: West Side Story (The Civic)

by James Wenley in Musicals

[West Side for Life] A whistle. The Jets gang lounge around like the they own the city. A beat. One starts clicking. The others join in. They get together and strut. On the lighter notes their arms and legs slide out for a balletic flourish. They stop in their tracks when members of the Sharks arrive. Whites versus Puerto Ricans in 1950s New York. The dance continues, each group trying to out-man the other. You wish these gawky boys could get over their turf war and bigotry and instead team up to form a massive contemporary ballet troupe. It’s West [...]
sparrow

REVIEW: Alexander Sparrow – DJ Trump and De Sade (Garnet Station)

June 25, 2017
After first encountering character actor Alexander Sparrow do his Trump impersonation on very same night that Trump won the 2016 election, Tim George went to Garnet station to check out two of Sparrow’s latest shows: DJ Trump and De Sade. [Christ Trump] I’ve always wanted to be roasted by a comedian. I never thought it would be by Donald Trump. Reprising […]
westsidestory

REVIEW: West Side Story (The Civic)

June 25, 2017
[West Side for Life] A whistle. The Jets gang lounge around like the they own the city. A beat. One starts clicking. The others join in. They get together and strut. On the lighter notes their arms and legs slide out for a balletic flourish. They stop in their tracks when members of the Sharks arrive. Whites versus Puerto Ricans […]
poropoti

REVIEW: Poropiti (The Basement)

June 22, 2017
[Back to the Future] Creators and performers Tola Newbery and Mara TK take us through the landscape of New Zealand’s colonial history from a Māori perspective. In what is essentially a poetic history lesson, using a fusion of movement and music, we are transported from the mythic conception of our land to our capitalist present. It’s a multi-disciplinary work that […]

REVIEW: Kororāreka: The Ballad of Maggie Flynn (Red Leap)

June 14, 2017
[Leap, Climb, Slip] Kororāreka, the hell hole of the Pacific: once feared and revered by sailors across the high seas, a hot spot for mayhem, trade, and a clashing of cultures. Those who are familiar with New Zealand history may be aware of Kororāreka and the sailors, pirates and whalers who docked there, but less known are the stories of the women […]
powerballad

REVIEW: Power Ballad (Zanetti Productions)

June 13, 2017
[Charged Space] For those that have seen Julia Croft in If There’s Not Dancing in the Revolution, Then I’m Not Coming, you can think of Power Ballad as its angrier, less-forgiving sister.  Back again after its season in the Auckland Fringe (reviewed by Nathan Joe), Power Ballad is fundraising to go all the way to the Edinburgh Fringe. It is intentionally difficult to […]
Jane-Doe-1240px-(w)-x-545px-(h)

REVIEW: Jane Doe (Zanetti Productions)

June 12, 2017
[Be Heard] Eleanor Bishop attended Carnegie Mellon University in America during the ever-growing focus on rape culture. Jane Doe began out of the confusion and anger that Bishop and her peers experienced. Since then, the show has toured campuses in America and grown accordingly with new material and new performers. The Auckland show is tailored specifically for Karen McCracken, and […]
Million Dollar Quartet

REVIEW: Million Dollar Quartet (The Civic)

June 11, 2017
[Rock ‘n’ Roll Avengers] There’s a bit of scuttlebutt as to what happened when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins got together in Memphis at Sun Records on December 4, 1956 for an impromptu jam session (that, after years of legal wrangling, became an album in 1981). Cash is said to have only turned up for the […]
Jessie Lawrence

REVIEW: Jingles the Musical (The Basement)

June 7, 2017
[Take me back to the Rainbow] Perhaps you, like I was, are skeptical about a musical making a plot entirely around advertising jingles. You resent the marketing inception, you loathe the Pavlovian ear-worms that had burrowed deeper and deeper during endless commercial breaks, the very sound of which will have you craving McDonalds for breakfast, or make you smash your […]
Iana Grace in The Faustus Project

REVIEW: The Faustus Project (The Basement)

May 31, 2017
[Hell is Other People] Everybody knows the story of Faust. Smart guy wants to gain more power, conjures the devil, sells his soul and takes too long to understand his folly. It’s been replayed endlessly, from the original Christopher Marlowe play, through The Devil and Daniel Webster, Frankenstein, and the Al Pacino scream-athon The Devil’s Advocate. It’s a story that […]
Nigel played by Ben Van Lier

REVIEW: Nigel (Sapphire Theatre Co)

May 26, 2017
[90s Nostalgia] TV script writer Kate McDermott’s 90’s slapstick play Nigel is brought to life at the Pumphouse Theatre by ex Shortland Street star Blair Strang in his directorial debut. Transported back to the booming 90s we follow Nigel, a young man whose attempts for a romantic evening at home don’t go to the plan. Ben Van Lier portrays dorky […]

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