Sammy J: Hero Complex, Canberra Comedy Festival, Canberra Theatre, Canberra Theatre Centre, March 20 (and Melbourne International Comedy Festival 14-19 Apr, Sydney Comedy Festival 30 Apr-2 May, Brisbane Comedy Festival 16-17 May) )

 

Sammy J's show is a decade-later return season of a show that goes deep into his past, back to his school days, and how elements of what happened then have reverberated through the rest of his life, including a mutual love of Phantom comics, multiple trips to Canberra with significant effects on the rest of his life, a light act of larceny, a few songs, Jack Reacher and a waterfall in Samoa. It's a fascinating personal story which he tells with wit and geeky charm. It's surprisingly heartwarming and a comfy show to enjoy while also being geeky as hell and deeply frivolous. 

Frankie McNair: Huge Ass Mindset, Canberra Comedy Festival, Courtyard, Canberra Theatre Centre, 20 Mar 2026 (and Melbourne International Comedy Festival 7-19 Apr)

 

Comedy festival shows run a wide gamut. But I saw two shows that were autobiographical, about personal encounters that left their narrator's changed, and about sudden reunions later in life that reflect the movement that the years between has affected. Frankie McNair's is the show with the trigger warnings in the lobby and a lot of aftercare available if necessary - the encounter is childhood sexual abuse and its effects, as you might imagine, have been monumental. But the show refuses to be just an angst fest - there's jokes a plenty, from why the "Law and Order: SVU" theme is such a sultry banger to being the latest comedian to have their autism/ADHD diagnosis, to some inspired new clowning in a 30s Private Eye setting, to talking about growing up catholic, to the titular mindset which is truly inspiring. Frankie very much Goes There in her truthful, wildly capable show. If you're looking for tonal consistency in a comedy show, this is not one for you - it's a rollercoaster that turns into a tilt-o-whirl with a quick trip through the Ghost Train, with material that is deeply confronting and other material that is wildly goofy. But if you're looking for modern standup that combines thought with clowning, that's emotional, true and ultimately quite empowering, this is something for you.  

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Canberra Philharmonic Society, ACT Hub, 12-28 Mar

 

A musical about children at a spelling bee may sound like a particuarly gruelling evening of precociousness, but filtered through the brain of an improvisational team led by Rebecca Feldman and the musical assistance of William Finn (who's work has been ofen described as Sondheim-esque, mostly due to a lot of his songs sounding very much like what would happen if someone sung their therapy), it's a hilarious, incisive and even occasionally heartbreaking musical about an unsually passionate group of kids discovering things about themselves, whether it be triumph, friendship, a resistence of parental expectation, a sudden bodily betrayal or surprising intelligence in places they never expected. 

Philo's production is a tightly cast and well-woven production, mixing in improv and audience participation into the mix as various guest-spellers are tagged in to participate. The three adults of the show (Amy Kowalczuk as the ex-bee-champion-and-present-bee-booster Rona Peretti with a truly impressive lady-bun, Tim Stiles as comfort-counsellor-and-community-service-server Mitch Mahoney who discovers his inner sympathy with the kids, and Michael Cooper as the chaotic word-pronouncer Vice Principle Panch) more-or-less organise things while the main cast of six kids go through their individual traumas - Amelia Andersson-Nickson as lonely Olive, introducing herself with the song "My Friend The Dictionary" before  breaking our hearts with the climactic "I love you Song"; Dave Collins grotesquely marvelous as the adenoidal, obsessive, magic-foot possessing William Barfée, constantly suffering under an unpronounced acute accent; Meaghan Stewart as ultra-achiever Lograinne Schwartzandgrubinnaire, coping with two very excitable dads; Joe Mansell as the goofily confused Leaf Coneybear; Ella Colquhoun as the over-it-all Marcy whose accomplishments are beginning to bore her.; and Sterling Notley as the highly accomplished Chip Tolentino whose one slipup may be due to the end of his pre-adolescence...

Nathan Patrech directs a show that could easily become genuine pandemonium and instead is just on the right side of controlled chaos. Choreographer Lachlan Ruffy plays up the goofiness with just the right amount of showbiz pizazz. And Samara Marinelli's musical direction gives high quality harmonies and a nicely bubbling soundtrack underneath. 

In short, this is a show that will make you giggle up until the point where it briefly breaks your heart, about overacccomplished kids who learn how to enjoy themselves (and one dimwit who discovers maybe he isn't as dim as everyone thinks). It's a charmingly fun show that should induce multiple giggles. 

My Brilliant Career, Melbourne Theatre Company, Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra Theatre, 7-15 Mar (and subseqently Sydney and Wollongong)

 

Five years after Belvoir's somewhat similar non-musical adaptation (down to sharing a lot of the same doubling and also having a piano on stage), the MTC's musical version shows up. There's some different points of emphasis - being a musical, the romance plot gets a lot more stage time here (being helped by Raj Labade's efortless charisma as Harry Beecham and his pure chemistry, in this case with understudy Melaine Bird as Sybylla) and some of the class questions that come up in the M'Swat section of the story seem comparitivley raced through on the way to the finale - but it's still Miles Franklin's classic story of a young woman emerging out of 19th century Australia on the way to finding herself and her options. Sheridan Harbridge and Dean Bryant's book takes the first person narrative of Franklin's novel and gives us a heroine who's simultaneously highly willed and befuddled as she emerges into adulthood over the course of a few years. The score by Matthew Frank and Bryant runs high on self-empowerment-ballads and is performed largely by the cast who fade in and out of supporting roles in between time on percussion, guitar, keyboard and double-bass. 

Marg Howell's set of an area of outback scrub that can upgrade to the grand mansion Caddagat and downgrade to the scrubby M'Swat farm, and she costumes the performers in adaptable outfits that feel part-turn-of-the-century and part now. The production moves swiftly and cleverly across the runtime in a stylish, capable production from Director Anne-Louise Sarks, and it's difficult not to adore Sybylla and her awkward launch into adulthood.  

Head over Heels, Well Done Creative, Hayes Theatre, 20 Feb-22 Mar

 A pop musical using the songs of the Go-gos with a plot drawn from the 16th Century pastoral romance "Arcadia" by Sir Phillip Sidney, "Head over Heels" takes place in a blissful kindgom disrupted by multiple love plots and an oracle's prophecy, involving mixed gender romances including some crossdressing, a threat to the ruler and a trip through the forest on the way to a happy ending. But in this production it's largely an excuse for a whole lot of queer joy with a bunch of performers breaking out in songs like "We Got the Beat", "Our Lips are Sealed", "Vacation", "Beautiful" and the Debbie Carlisle ring-in "Heaven is a Place on Earth". Ellen Simpson directs a clean fun frolicsome production on Josh McIntosh's adaptable set as identities are twisted, rearranged and meddled with all over the place on an adaptable space with clever units used to reveal, conceal and show off the performers. 

Stealing a lot of the show is Shannen Alyce Quan as the princessy Pamela who gets carried away by passion in the most delightful of ways - they have a goofy pleasure in their performance that makes everything they do fun. Gaz Dutlow's high-drag oracle Pythio radiates power and poise at all times, setting up and resolving the situation with aplomb. There's also a lot of joy from Nancy Denis as offsider Dametus, mostly observing the consequences of the various nobles running around her until finally getting a part to play in the finale. 

Musical director Zara Stanton keeps a tight rocking band working all the way through, and Ryan Gonzalez choreographs with 80s cheese aforefront as the ensemble moves tightly through the pop-rock classics. All in all it's 120 minutes of joy in pop-cultural form. 

The Elecution of Benjamin Franklin, Griffin Theatre Company, Belvoir Downstairs, 21 Feb-29 Mar

 

Returning to the space where it all began 50 years ago, this revival of Steven J. Spears' worldwide hit is a compelling revisit of an era when homosexuality was still illegal, when elecution lessons were considered the social-climber's ticket to success, and when the youthquake of Jagger, Bowie and Skyhooks smashed against the Australia still despearate to pretend it was still the 1950s. Simon Burke takes on the mantle of our central figure, alone onstage but building up a world around him - of Bruce, his closted friend/lover/playmate, of the censorious neighbours, of the various clients including Mrs Franklin and her stuttering son Benjamin who explodes into his life and shakes everything up with a few surprising revelations about what a 1970s 13-year-old can get up to. Declan Greene's production is set very much in the original era with Isabel Hudson conjuring up a room with the tiled floor, green curtains, many many tchotchkes on the walls and a very very active telephone for Burke to interact with.

Burke owns the stage as a figure who's sarcastic, snide, clearly very much a sexual being keeping a lot of himself under wraps a lot of the time, and finally a figure who's been broken by society's judgements. It's a marathon part, and Burke holds the stage like the star that he is - compelling from startling entrance to final blackout. 

The Normal Heart, Sydney Theatre Company, Opera House Drama Theatre, 9 Feb- 14 Mar

 Photo - Neil Bennett

Larry Kramer's 1985 play is an urgent, visceral piece of writing - an expression of rage over the inaction of various levels of government and media and the gay political response to the AIDS virus. Kramer centres himself as protagonist and storyteller, as he gets dragged into gay politics at its most urgent moment, and the inevitable personal consequences as he clashes with those around him who he sees as compromised or inactive. It's true that Kramer does lack sufficient distance to give a fully rounded version of himself or those around him, but he captures a time and a moment with pure "I was there" energy. In this production, directed by Dean Bryant, played in an institutional room (designed by Jeremy Allen) that looks like many of the hospitals, medical centres and community buildings where the activism was born, it feels very much like being in the heat of the moment when it all happened.

Mitchell Butel leads the cast as Kramer's self-portrait, Ned Weeks, a complex mix of activist, seer, lover, sentimentalist, cynic and holy terror. We feel exactly why he's like this with a few quick memories of his history with his straight brother, and we ride along with him all the way to the inevitable conclusion of those battles. Alongside him are Tim Draxl as the compromised and compromising Bruce, eager to make inways without a war, Keynan Lonsdale as Tommy, the volunteer whose life becomes taken over by the crisis, Nicholas Brown as Felix, the partner who bears the brunt of a lot of Ned's rants but stays anyway, Emma Jones as the doctor who tries to keep things just-the-facts until it becomes too overwhelming to do that any more and she joins in the rage. 

The bigger stage of the Drama theatre and some clunky scene transitions means that this falls behind the Everyman Theatre production from a decade ago in the loss of intimacy, but this is still a strong production of a major work from a major company.