Review: Fame the Musical

FAME THE MUSICAL

Wrote William James on perspectivism: “We are practical beings, each of us with limited functions and duties to perform. Each is bound to feel intensely the importance of his own duties and the significance of the situations that call these forth. But this feeling is in each of us a vital secret, for sympathy with which we vainly look to others. The others are too much absorbed in their own vital secrets to take an interest in ours. Hence the stupidity and injustice of our opinions, so far as they deal with the significance of alien lives. Hence the falsity of our judgments, so far as they presume to decide in an absolute way on the value of other persons' conditions or ideals.”

Perspectivism as a philosophical tradition has a history way back to Xenophanes and is a fancy-pants way of suggesting that you may say “tomato” and I may say “tom-ah-to” and we can both be right. Anti-perspectivists might claim that if you go on to say “potato” and I respond with “po-tah-to” then you have every right to say “po-tah-to isn't a word, fool” and to assert that I have committed some kind of error here. Personally, in this situation, I'd be more concerned about my undiagnosed echolalia combined with an inability to pronounce the names of foodstuffs correctly.

In any case, all of this is one method of explaining why I can say “awkward misfire of a production” while you say “delightful musical romp” and we can both be describing the same thing. The thing in this case is Fame the Musical.

Review: Richard III

RICHARD III

By Melbourne Theatre Company.

A few months ago I was having a conversation with my neighbour after our front windows were smashed on two different occasions. He's in his 60s and even though he left Italy when he was 11 he still has a really thick accent and some strangely pre-WWII attitudes. For instance, he's certain that the brick through his window was the result of a centuries-old, transcontinental enmity between Lebanese and Jewish people, and the idea that he's an innocent victim of a bizarre imagined race war makes for entertaining banter at least.

He's a lovely fellow with some odd opinions, is what I'm telling ya. When he started up about how he sadly had to hand over all of his guns during a firearm amnesty a couple of decades back, I got a bit concerned. He then went on to explain that if he'd caught the baddies he wouldn't have shot them anyway – of course – because that just gets you into more trouble. A better solution would be to do what they did back under Mussolini's reign: get a pint of castor oil and force the vandals to drink it. For the next six months they'd be crapping themselves several times a day, which would mean they couldn't hold down a job or live a normal life. That sounded like a suitable punishment, by his reckoning, and it's a sad thing that nowadays you can end up the criminal if you get caught forcing a man to drink a pint of castor oil. Look at Italy under Mussolini, though: no criminals there, he said.

And then came the clincher: “I'm not saying we need a fascist leader,” he explained. A shrug. “Weeeell. Maybe for a little bit.”

Comedy Fest: Things Missed Along the Way

Golly gumbucks, it's over. There were craploads of shows I didn't get time to mention here so here's a quick purge of half-baked things that accreted along the way. There are another ten or so that don't get a mention (including some brilliant stuff) but hey, Capital Idea doesn't pay by the word and let's face it: more ill-thought-through commentary by me written for the sake of completeness isn't enriching anyone's life. If you do care to read on, knock yourself out.

2010 MICF Barry nominees

I'll keep it quick. The shortlist for this year's Barry award are:

Asher Treleaven - Secret Door

Damian Callinan - The Merger: Sportsman’s Night 2

Josh Thomas - Surprise

The List Operators For Kids - More Fun Than A Wii

Sammy J and Randy - Rickett’s Lane

Wil Anderson - Wilful Misconduct

Some interesting facts: the winner(s) will be male and Australian. For the first time ever a kids' show may score the top prize. Or a puppet. None of the nominees are newcomers to the festival. Quite a few are playing relatively small rooms. They're all very worthy of the award.

Golden Gibbo noms are:

Asher Treleaven - Secret Door

Geraldine Quinn - Shut Up And Sing

Sam Simmons and David Quirk - The Incident

Poet Laureate Telia Neville - While I'm Away

Stevn Shefl And His Translator Fatima 

The winner (and winners of Best Newcomer, Age Critics Award, Piece of Wood and Festival Directors' Award) will be announced at some godless hour of Sunday morning next week.

Comedy Fest review: Andrew McClelland's Somewhat Accurate History of the Fall of the Roman Empire

ANDREW MCCLELLAND'S SOMEWHAT ACCURATE HISTORY OF THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

 

Anyone attending one of Andrew McClelland's history shows is bound to learn something. I learned that I'm a bigger nerd than I'd previously realised. Also: some barbarians lathered up in their own shit before going into battle. Isn't that all I have to say to get you along to this one?

Comedy Fest review: Jon Richardson - This Guy at Night

JON RICHARDSON – THIS GUY AT NIGHT

There are two kinds of people in the world, says Jon Richardson, and I instantly cringe. But go with his generalisation and you'll find the key to his surprisingly engaging comedy. The tongue-in-cheek division is between Putters and Leavers. Ask someone where their keys are. A Putter will answer “they're where I put them”. A Leaver will reply “Wherever I left them!” Richardson is, unquestionably, a Putter. He's a man for whom everything must be Just So, and since things are usually a lot messier than that allows for, he's also a fairly miserable and disappointed finder of human failings.

Comedy Fest review: +1 Sword

+1 SWORD

If some wizened gnome had prophesied that I'd be fronting up to two comedy festival shows based on Dungeons & Dragons this year, I'd have laughed heartily. If the same godforsaken goblin had then told me I'd thoroughly enjoy both I would have had to deliver him a kick in the scrying ball. But what rude and arcane enchantment is upon me! I did like 'em! Liked 'em both!