Stripped-back, meditative meanderings in poetry
"You love me already," said Bill Callahan in his first exchange with an adoring crowd at Howler. "Let's try to maintain that."
Stage
Demidenko lives up to billing in Great Performers
Demidenko's previous visits have been red-letter days in Melbourne's serious music calendar, the most memorable being his solo recitals which have offered a heady mixture of technical bravura and emotional poise.
Shrine review: Drama plunges into an ocean of grief
Shrine is Winton's third stab at drama is closer to a pretty decent short story than a novel.
Theatre
Shrine review: Drama plunges into an ocean of grief
Shrine is Winton's third stab at drama is closer to a pretty decent short story than a novel.
What's on in the Canberra arts scene, May 27, 2017
What's on in the Canberra arts scene this week
They've got a lot of cheek, these three women
They've got a cheek, this trio of defiant, whip-smart comediennes from three continents.
Dance
Sydney Dance Company's Orb a bombastic, powerful double bill
Sydney Dance Company's double bill features some terrific dancing across both works.
Temperance Hall move gives new lease of life to Phillip Adams BalletLab
With a little help from Airbnb, Phillip Adams' BalletLab is bucking the trend.
Sinful entities lacking despite company's vigour
The title of Limitless Dance Company's second season, SE7EN, is a reference to the 'sinful entities inside all of us'.
Musicals
Overheated melodrama and unintentional comedy collide in dire adaptation
This Spring Awakening fails on every level as tragedy. Humour might be the one way to save it, a surrender to travesty with a knowing smirk.
Sydney's gay history worth singing about
When Alex Harding's boy-meets-boy musical romance Only Heaven Knows premiered at the Stables Theatre in Kings Cross in May 1988, Sydney's gay community was in the grip of the AIDS crisis. Now it is being revived in a new age of conservatism.
My Fair Lady revival sporadically entertaining
Anna O'Byrne sings with enchanting beauty, and eventually crisp diction, as Eliza Doolittle, while Robyn Nevin is simply sublime as Henry Higgins' mother.
Opera
Adventurous production rewarded with triumph
Economic exigency has dictated shorter and less adventurous OA Melbourne seasons recently, but this co-production with Covent Garden was refreshing.
Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci review: Superbly rendered penny dreadful opera
Shining performances and some interesting artistic choices make this a splendid double bill from Opera Australia. ★★★★½
Tiny theatre draws big names
The tiny 115-seat Hayes Theatre is getting a big reputation for staging musicals with top talent. Coming soon to the theatre: opera diva Emma Matthews, and musical theatre stars David Campbell and Toby Francis.
Comedy
Minhaj's harshest burns at the White House journos' dinner
US President Donald Trump wasn't there to roast in person at the White House correspondents' dinner, but that didn't stop the evening's entertainer, Hasan Minhaj.
Performers try critics' skin on for size
What could be more provocative than prancing around naked on stage? Talking back to critics.
Frank Woodley's festival show is a 'cavalcade of humiliations'
Soon to turn 50, Frank Woodley rightly considers himself a seasoned veteran of Australian comedy. But the anxiety never goes away.