Arts
ARTS NEWS
Vorn free to warm up Jive
SINGER songwriter Vorn Doolette, right, is not one to blow his own trumpet - he does play the guitar after all.
Brave taking it on
SCOTTISH music has become something of a career for Greg Moore, who has not a whit of Scottish accent in real life.
Mimicry to the Max
LET'S face it. No one plays Australian politicians the way Max Gillies does. His silver-bodgie Bob Hawke was eerily accurate, his stump-footed John Howard the very definition of dorkiness.
Golden Cate is heading to our festival
ACCLAIMED actor Cate Blanchett will give the keynote address to open next month's Australian Performing Arts Market in the Adelaide Festival.
THEATRE NEWS
Toy Symphony
THOSE well-worn lines about bringing characters alive on stage are taken to extremes in Michael Gow's play.
Magical musical a bit of a moggy
Festival Theatre, until January 24 THREE decades on, is Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats still the proverbial's pyjamas, or is it starting to look a little mangy?
Like It is
DIRECTOR Daniel Clarke's third show in a week, Like It Is, builds on a workshop in last year's Feast Festival in which young people speak about their experience of being gay.
The Dead Ones
A lectern, a spotlight, a few snapshots projected on a screen and a mass of memories. That is Margie Fischer's raw and beautiful Feast show, a work in progress.
Gorge
Until November 21 @ Space Theatre Three new 10-minute plays by different authors are each staged twice on different nights, by six companies.
MUSIC
Elder Conservatorium Chorale and Symphony Orchestra
A PROGRAM that definitely wore its heart on its sleeve, a chorus and orchestra full of enthusiastic youth, a conductor noted for being able to keep the lid on things and let fly when it counts musically, and a solo singer with a voice that soars to the rafters, plus real rafters, and you have the ingredients for a memorable evening's music making.
Adelaide Philharmonic Chorus
@ St Peter's Cathedral ON the day when the New Born King took a back seat to Funi and Wang Wang, it was up to the Adelaide Philharmonia Chorus to reassert the compliments of the season in their Christmas concert.
Classic Hour
RICHARD Meale's death prompted Arvo Volmer to open his final Classic Hour concert with the composer's Cantilena Pacifica.
Emma Horwood and Aleksandr Tsiboulski
The commendable Ngeringa Farm Concert Series capped a fine year with a superb afternoon¿s entertainment from soprano Emma Horwood and guitarist Aleksandr Tsiboulski. Overtly and very successfully hawking their new CD Songs of Life and Love, an enormous program ranged across the ages, from the 16th century John Dowland to Dominick Argento¿s lyrical if whispy Letters from Composers from 1968.
Dean's portrayal inspired
BEETHOVEN wrote his last will and testament after he realised that his growing deafness was going to be profound and irreversible.
OPERA & DANCE
Strong performance from dance class
INTRIGUINGLY titled Stink Box Blabber Mouth, the graduation performance of AC Arts' strongest dance class in years delighted an enthusiastic audience of family, friends and dance lovers.
Two-step to another time
SWING Sesh dancers Luna Godfrey and Mitch Wheatcroft have joined the thousands of people stepping out to see John Brack's iconic paintings of suburban Australian life.
The Flying Dutchman
WHY wait till next year. This new production of Wagners' first great melodrama is festival standard and world class.
Imperial Russian ballet, Swan Lake
Performance: Venue: Her Majesty¿s Theatre Date: 5 November (season 5 and 6 November) Trading on the cult of its illustrious namesake, the glasnost-inspired Imperial Russian Ballet company tours classics all over the world, performing six and sometimes seven days a week. You¿d think, therefore, that a hardened troupe, with Bolshoi brains behind it, would be up there with the best. Not so, alas, and while the company¿s account of Swan Lake was commendable enough, the overall impression was less than stellar.
The Yeomen of the Guard
@ Scott Theatre - Until Oct 24 It is inexplicable and heartbreaking that the G&S; Society schedules such brief seasons for such major shows.
BOOKS
Vampire fans still devouring books
VAMPIRES live - at least in the minds of readers. Against the gloom of the economy and the hype of new technology, books are selling better than ever, largely thanks to a fad for vampire novels.
Week 4: How microbes rule our world
A WINDOW on a world of mystery and intrigue normally reserved for scientists is open to lovers of books and art this week, during the Great Big Science Read.
Week 4: Extract from Small Wonders
Extract from Small Wonders: How microbes rule our world by Idan Ben-Barak (Scribe $26.95)
Week 4: Suggested reading list
A SELECTION of books taken specially from the Premier's Reading Challenge booklist to learn about the Earth.
Week 2: Poo - awful, but fascinating
HUNDREDS of schoolchildren are taking ``a rather disgusting but scientifically fascinating'' tour of the human body for the Great Big Science Read.
VISUAL ARTS
Tandanya treasure hunt
TANDANYA National Aboriginal Cultural Institute has leapt into the big league with a $1.2 million boost over six years under a new Australia Council scheme for funding indigenous arts.
India proves catalyst for art
CHOOSING life as an artist was a leap into the financial dark Eliza Piro did not dare to take when she left school.
Samstag scholars
TWO Australian visual artists will study overseas next year, with the return of Australia's richest privately funded art awards.
Laser spectacular to light up the Port
LIGHT and music will be a feature of the 2009 Port Festival next month. The festival's main event will be a spectacular laser light show, Fish Opera, to be staged on Saturday night, October 10.
Show of grandma's naive art
THEY call her Mamy Kangourou. The name derives from the first artwork that Marie-Claire Ralph sold - a painting called Mamy Kangourou Breakfast, which was on display at the Interleaves Bookshop on Henley Beach Rd.
Entertainment Highlights
Sheen's car stolen and trashed
A LUXURY car belonging to troubled Hollywood star Charlie Sheen has been found crashed in a Los Angeles ravine after he reported it stolen.