Arts

Comedy Festival 30th birthday exhibition

30 years of laughs and counting

IT has been 17 years since Denise Scott wore a nude suit on stage and challenged perceptions about women in comedy.

Theatre review: The Secret River ★★★★★

COME down to The Secret River. Come down to the best live theatre you may see this year.

Theatre review: The Distance ★★★

The Melbourne Theatre Company production of The Distance almost didn’t make the distance on opening night when a technical problem plunged the stage into darkness only 15 minutes after the show started.

Theatre review: Every Brilliant Thing ★★★½

You’ll laugh. You’ll weep. You’ll rejoice in the sheer, naked humanity that washes over you during Malthouse Theatre show Every Brilliant Thing.

Caroline O’Connor back in Funny Girl

THE Production Company today announced that Caroline O’Connor will lead the cast of Funny Girl — 18 years after she performed the role in the company’s inaugural season.

Musical review: Violet ★★★★

VIOLET is a stylish and vivacious production that is sure to entertain the cynics and the faithful alike.

Everyone feels good in morning

IT started as a way of filling theatres during the day and encouraging older patrons to visit the city but the Morning Melodies concerts are now one of the most popular fixtures on Arts Centre Melbourne’s calendar.

Theatre review: Picnic at Hanging Rock ★★★

THIS stage adaptation of the compelling novel Picnic At Hanging Rock initially captures the enigmatic quality of the story that became part of Australian mythology.

Theatre review: Taxithi — An Australian Odyssey ★★★

FLOODS of hopeful Greek women migrated to Australia in the 1950s and 60s and Taxithi weaves their personal stories among the spirited songs of their distant homeland.

Sound of Music finds the von Trapps

MORE than 1000 children auditioned for the roles of the von Trapp children and these lucky 18 were chosen.

Opera review: Banquet of Secrets ★★★★

DO we all harbour secrets we fear could ruin our lives and friendships? Paul Grabowsky and Steve Vizard explore this territory for Victorian Opera.

Molly star hangs up his acting hat

MOLLY star Samuel Johnson has announced his retirement from acting to focus on raising money to fight cancer.

Molly star hangs up his acting hat

MOLLY star Samuel Johnson has announced his retirement from acting to focus on raising money to fight cancer.

Burchmore not hanging up her tap shoes

THE older Rhonda Burchmore gets, the more she’s embracing her wild side, this time with a show at the Comedy Festival — the raucous musical Twins.

Wentworth stars on stage at MTC

SEE Wentworth stars Katrina Milosevic and Kate Atkinson perform live in shows at the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Henry Lawson poems set to music

COMPOSER John Thorn has set 20 Henry Lawson poems to music in his show, Looking for Lawson, running at Bella Union.

‘White Night a great tribute to our city’

A RECORD crowd of 580,000 people have made the fourth instalment of White Night Melbourne a triumph. SEE THE PICS

Green Room Award nominees revealed

MELBOURNE’S The Production Company has earned a whopping nine nominations in this year’s Green Room Awards.

Opera review: Voyage to the Moon ★★★★

TOGETHER, Victorian Opera and Musica Viva are injecting innovation into the art form.

Dance review: Double Blind ★★★½

SPATIALLY and choreographically, it could push for further texture. Still, it remains inquisitive, conceptually rigorous and well realised by the cast.

Musical review: Saturday Night Fever ★★★½

THE memorable music, vivacious choreography and effervescent energy almost make up for any shortcomings in Saturday Night Fever.

Theatre review: Lungs ★★★★

LUNGS is an engrossing, moving and funny production with a deftly crafted script by an accomplished playwright and assured performances by two charming actors.

So that’s why chickens cross the road

THE 30th Melbourne International Comedy Festival will be launched today with the full program to be released.

Fashion forward at the NGV

ONE of the world’s most coveted couture fashion collections, incluing Dior and Chanel gowns, has been donated to the National Gallery of Victoria.

Theatre review: The Village Bike ★★½

THE title of The Village Bike does refer to a bicycle for getting around an English village, but you’d be right in thinking it also refers to a woman who spreads her sexual favours around town.

Opening night review: Ghost the Musical

IN a spectacular display of technical wizardry, tear-jerking songs and tragic romance, Ghost the Musical exploded on to the stage at the Regent Theatre tonight to an enthusiastic opening night crowd.

Ghost spirits into Regent Theatre

THIRTY years after an American filmmaker dreamed up a love story about a ghost, the other-worldly magic of Ghost the Musical has arrived in Melbourne.

Celebrity panel to judge short films

A TEAM of celebrity judges will be bayside to choose the winners of the Peninsula Short Film Festival. Thousands are expected at the Rosebud Village Green for tomorrow’s screening.

Opera review: The Abduction from the Seraglio ★★★½

MORE than 230 years since its premiere, The Abduction from the Seraglio still dazzles with thrusting, youthful energy.

Legs up for a legend

IF she lived her life like a candle in the wind, Marilyn Monroe is standing tall in the afterlife. Very tall.

Rising temperatures Plan to save Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens from climate change threat

MELBOURNE’S Royal Botanic Gardens face the unmanaged loss of plant cover unless action is taken to deal with rising temperatures and lower rainfall.

Unique time Australia has ‘once in a lifetime’ infrastructure opportunity, banker says

THE low cost of financing has given Australia a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to forge nation-building infrastructure, says a leading Melbourne banker.

Auburn High Has Introduced Laptop Free Tuesday An

Kids addicted Victorian schools enforcing computer game bans to stop excessive screen time

COMPUTER game bans at camp and laptop-free school days are being introduced in a bid to loosen students’ obsessive grip on technology.

Tower approved Andrews Government approves 64-storey apartment tower for Melbourne’s King St

THE Andrews government has insisted it is pro-development as another CBD skyscraper project is ticked off.

MPs furious Critics of controversial anti-bullying program furious after independent inquiry supports program

A GROUP of MPs want a controversial anti-bullying schools program that teaches kids about the terms “queer” and “pansexual” suspended until a “full blown” inquiry is held.

Cash stash Cabbie Harmeet Singh jailed after police find suitcase with $500,000 cash

A CABBIE has thrown up in court after being jailed for 14 months over a crime that lasted just seven minutes.

The connections Melbourne’s gangland: Mafia link to world’s biggest ecstasy bust

GANGLAND lawyer Joe Acquaro’s mob connections went to the top, including the powerful Francesco Madafferi — a player in an audacious $440m ecstasy shipment in tomato tins.

Ultranet inquiry IBAC Ultranet hearing: Former Education Minister in bugged call

BRONWYN Pike has again been caught in a bugged phone call, this time agreeing to “surreptitious” drinks with two former education officials investigated for corruption.

‘They’ll find out he broke every f------ rule’

Ultranet inquiry IBAC Ultranet hearing: former principal ‘broke every rule’

A FORMER school principal accused of corruption broke every rule in the book and spent millions of dollars he shouldn’t have, but he did it all for the good of education, an inquiry has heard.

Day one Construction works begin to build extra lane on Bolte Bridge and West Gate Freeway

UPDATE: SITTING in traffic for more than two hours could be the new normal for the next 18 months, as works to widen the Bolte Bridge and West Gate Freeway sparked peak-hour pain this morning.

Bad culture Low morale at the MFB and CFA could put Victorians at risk

FIREFIGHTING in Victoria is in an “extremely unhealthy state”, a new report has found, but a CFA-MFB merger has been dismissed as a solution.

04/03/2005. Mario Condello leaves court a free man.

Pistol-whipped Slain lawyer Joe Acquaro pistol-whipped, beaten over Mario Condello’s informer suspicion

MURDERED lawyer Joe Acquaro was stripped naked and pistol-whipped in front of Calabrian Mafioso Mario Condello back in 2002.

Andrew Rule Gangland lawyer Joe Acquaro in too deep before violent Brunswick East death

JOE Acquaro - the slain lawyer who fancied himself as a mob consigliore - got in too deep to extricate himself, and his attempts to drift away quietly were interpreted as a hostile move.

Contract killing Melbourne lawyer Joe Acquaro knew life in danger but feared nothing prior to Brunswick East hit

WHEN I saw Joe Acquaro less than a week ago, he showed the signs of a man under stress. He had long ago plucked out all the hair from his arms and had lost weight, writes Anthony Dowsley.

Professional hit Lawyer Joe Acquaro had no fear, despite suspected $500,000 mafia bounty

THE murdered gangland lawyer who had a $500,000 bounty on his head learned that a foreign hitman had entered Australia in recent months, and he feared he was the man’s target.