Latest news with #Hadestown
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Final funding push for Broadway experience
Students from Ella Thomas Vocal Studio model hats at the Timaru Festival of Roses, as part of their two-year long fundraising efforts. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Local singing students are making one final push to get to Broadway. A concert, held at the South Canterbury Drama League's Playhouse next weekend, will be the final fundraising effort for teenagers from the Ella Thomas Vocal Studio (ETVS) to get to New York for a once-in-a-lifetime theatre experience. To fund the adventure, the group of 30 — which includes 10 adults — have been fundraising for almost two years. The students had sold sunscreen, dumplings, held sausage sizzles and made 10,000 cheese rolls, collectively raising over $40,000 which would help with the cost of flying, accommodation and Broadway workshops. Singing teacher and business owner Ella Thomas said the students had planned an exciting adventure which included workshops and seminars in New York's Broadway theatre district as well as sightseeing and live theatre. They had trips to six Broadway shows planned, including: Wicked, Hadestown, and The Outsiders. Also on the agenda was a tour of legendary Radio City Music Hall. She said tailor-made singing workshops for the group would be run by professionals who were both accomplished performers and in-demand teachers. "The students will experience vocal training with industry professionals, tours of internationally renowned venues and nights out on Broadway itself. "The workshop tutors will provide a real-world, engaging experience that will encourage the kids to improve their skills and develop their confidence." "I'm very excited for what these students can achieve in New York." She would be performing in next weekend's concert, alongside the students, as well as guest artist Alice Sollis. Tickets for the two concerts — Saturday night and a matinee performance on Sunday — can be purchased from or by emailing jill@ There would also be a silent auction at the Saturday night concert. — APL
The Guardian
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Beetlejuice the Musical review – Eddie Perfect is simply perfect in his nutty and wild hit
What a happy coincidence: two musicals have opened in Melbourne within a week of each other that both take you to hell and back. Hadestown deals with an ancient Greek concept of the underworld, allegorical but rich with meaning. Beetlejuice has a netherworld straight out of the imagination of Tim Burton, cartoonish and strictly adolescent. Neither of them would pass muster with a fire and brimstone evangelist – who'd surely require more wailing and gnashing – but they work well enough as places of wonder and enchantment in a modern musical. In adapting Burton's keenly idiosyncratic 1988 film to the stage, composer and lyricist Eddie Perfect and book writers Scott Brown and Anthony King know just what to ditch and what to keep precisely the same. So we get the swirling vortices and striped suits, the sandworm and desiccated head, the dead gridiron players and the woman who smokes out of her trachea. We also get the two calypso songs from Harry Belafonte, the Banana Boat Song (Day-O) and Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora). If the path the story takes is simpler, it hits all the right beats and gets us roughly to the same destination. The Maitlands, Barbara (Elise McCann) and Adam (Rob Johnson), live in a twee but warmly welcoming Victorian house in Connecticut – until they're electrocuted in a wiring mishap. Into their home move the Deetzes: Charles (Tom Wren) and his daughter Lydia (Karis Oka), who is mourning the recent death of her mother. With Delia (Erin Clare), the life coach Charles has employed to cheer Lydia up, the Deetzes redecorate, disrupt and disarm the house's (dead) original inhabitants, and when the Maitlands attempt to scare them away, try to monetise their own haunting. Hanging over this problematic arrangement like a literal bad smell is the demon Betelgeuse (Perfect), who tries to manipulate everyone into saying his name three times so he can return to the land of the living. In this iteration of the story, Betelgeuse is a lord of misrule, an agent of chaos and our principle narrator (unreliable, of course). He brings the bulk of the fun and danger to the stage, as well as a plethora of jokes in highly questionable taste. Perfect bounds around the stage like a demented pinball and while his gravelly baritone is stretched to breaking at times, he's so joyous and irrepressible it barely matters. His Betelgeuse is far smuttier and debased than Michael Keaton's version and Perfect wrings every roguish morsel from it. If Betelgeuse is the musical's soul, then Lydia is its heart. Oka brings a surplus of intelligence and edge to the part, her longing for a dead mother landing with more authenticity and depth of feeling than it probably deserves. She doesn't have the most textured or resonant voice, but she makes a wonderfully droll foil to Perfect and nails the nonchalant teenage disdain. McCann and Johnson are also underpowered vocally, although they bring warmth and vibrancy to the Maitlands, who are the blandest characters on stage. Wren and Clare are delicious as the garish, highly kinky but ultimately thoroughly likable lovers. Noni McCallum and Angelique Cassimatis are terrific in small but memorable parts. While the cast are strong and the band in fine form, Beetlejuice is a musical powered less by the actors or the score, and more by the direction and design. Alex Timbers marshals the madness with absolute control of pacing and tone. The oversized storyboard set (David Korins) is brash and clever, constantly shifting mood and perspective as the house churns through its owners. Some reveals are astonishing but they're handled with such casual ease, you take them for granted. William Ivey Long's costumes are startling and funny, and Michael Curry's puppets are wickedly expressive. Jeremy Chernick's special effects dazzle and the whole thing is lit with maximalist precision by Kenneth Posner, so that the stage picture shimmers and pulsates. Although, for a work where everything is dialled up to eleven and the visual effect is often overwhelming, Beetlejuice's netherworld feels slightly underdone. With its animated perpetual corridors and diminishing squares, it seems less like a nightmare realm and more like a waiting station for the recently departed. Burton's vision of hell was endearingly eccentric, but here it lacks texture and detail. Perfect should be immensely proud of his achievement with Beetlejuice, which is frequently hilarious and consistently entertaining. His songs are lyrically consummate – he shares a love of wordplay and complex internal rhymes with fellow composer Tim Minchin – and he has a great talent for pastiche and parody. The score includes nods to Danny Elfman's soundtrack, as well as the aforementioned calypso music, without losing its jaunty sense of self. If Beetlejuice's vision of an afterlife lacks any moral or intellectual dimension, if it's really just a wacky place with puppets, childlike and emotionally remote – well, same for the source material. The stage adaptation is careening, nutty and wild, and Perfect cranks the engine of its wit so assuredly he should probably get a raise. He does, after all, 'do this bullshit like eight times a week.' And it is a hell of a lot of fun. Beetlejuice the Musical is on at Regent Theatre, Melbourne until 3 August
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sioux City Broadway at the Orpheum 2025-2026 lineup announced
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — The Sioux City Broadway at the Orpheum lineup has been announced for the 2025-2026 season. The season, which runs from December 2025 to May 2026, will feature seven productions. See them listed below. PRODUCTION DAY TIME Manheim Steamroller Wednesday, December 10 7:30 p.m. Hadestown Tuesday, December 16 7:30 p.m. A Magical Cirque Christmas Friday, December 19 7:30 p.m. Mrs. Doubtfire Monday, February 2, 2026 7:30 p.m. Clue Live on Stage! Monday, March 30, 2026 7:30 p.m. Meredith Wilson's The Music Man Monday, April 27, 2026 7:30 p.m. Riverdance 30 – The New Generation Thursday, May 28, 2026 7:30 p.m. To learn more about the Sioux City Orpheum, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Afternoon Briefing: Piping plover Searocket returns to Chicago
Good afternoon, Chicago. On March 12, 2024, Laterria Smith's phone buzzed with a text that was, according to Cook County prosecutors, like 'something out of a horror movie.' It was an automated message from the Illinois Department of Corrections informing her that the man who had terrorized her since high school would be released from prison shortly after threatening her life, Cook County prosecutors said Monday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. One day later, they said, he barged into her Edgewater apartment, stabbed her 11 times and more tragically still, fatally stabbed her 11-year-old son, Jayden Perkins. The prosecutors opened their case today in the trial of the alleged attacker, Crosetti Brand, 39, who is facing felony charges of murder, attempted murder, home invasion and aggravated domestic battery in slaying on March 13 of last year. Here's what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History A beloved Chicago mom celebrated a special day over the weekend with a return to Montrose Beach. Her name is Searocket and she is partner to Imani, the piping plover son of local celebrity pair Monty and Rose. Read more here. More top news stories: The school board president is trying to nix the superintendent requirement. Why does it matter? Who will fill Dick Durbin's US Senate seat in Illinois? Here are the candidates. Cop on mayor's detail suspended after allegedly drinking at Trump inauguration celebration, showing up for work Tim Anderson had been one of the few Sox players in recent years to own a Chicago-area home. In Flossmoor, he and his wife paid $450,000 in 2017 for the home. Read more here. More top business stories: Urbana-based Carle Health to lay off 612 workers, as it winds down its insurance companies Dow jumps 950 and S&P 500 climbs 2.6% following a 90-day truce in the US-China trade war The Chicago Sky made their last three roster cuts yesterday, finalizing the 2025 roster less than a week ahead of the team's season opener against the Indiana Fever. Read more here. More top sports stories: Chicago Bears rookie camp roundup: How Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III are making an early impression Could the Chicago Bulls land the No. 1 pick — and Cooper Flagg? How the NBA draft lottery will work. 3 takeaways from the Chicago Cubs' series loss, including Pete Crow-Armstrong's HR vs. team that traded him 'Union Station Music,' takes over the Great Hall in a onetime performance on May 15, during rush hour. Read more here. More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories: Talking about mythology in the musical 'Hadestown': 'It's a sad song / But we sing it anyway' Review: It was a more poised and ready Sharon Van Etten at Salt Shed While Republicans insist they are simply rooting out 'waste, fraud and abuse' to generate savings with new work and eligibility requirements, Democrats warn that millions of Americans will lose coverage. Read more here. More top stories from around the world: President Donald Trump signs executive order setting 30-day deadline for drugmakers to lower prescription drug costs At least 10 people sickened in US listeria outbreak linked to prepared foods
Sydney Morning Herald
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Robber barons and moonshine: This show about the road to Hades is a hell of a good time
MUSICAL THEATRE Hadestown ★★★★ Her Majesty's Theatre, until July 6 Ancient Greek and Roman myths involving the underworld tend to agree on the ease with which mortals can find the road to hell. In Anais Mitchell's folk-musical Hadestown – a retelling of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, draped in a distinctly American mythos and musicality – the road becomes a railway line, and Hades a pinstripe-suited robber baron, whose train ferries denizens of jazz-age speakeasies to 'eternal overtime' in a factory at the end of the line. The other point on which the myths agree is how difficult the underworld is to escape. As Dryden put it in his translation of Virgil's Aeneid: The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labour lies. We know that Orpheus will fail, that a fatal glance backward will condemn Eurydice to the underworld forever, but the tragic love story swells with every repetition and Christine Anu's Hermes – glam emcee in this steampunk adaptation – is determined they're going to tell it anyway. If Hadestown is too schematic to provide much emotional depth or tragic catharsis, it is musically superior to most Broadway blockbusters. This production delivers Mitchell's score (which started as a concept album and bloomed into a stage show) with propulsive catchiness and assurance. It's usually billed as a folk-musical, though the range of popular music referenced is much wider than that term suggests. Anu unleashes brassiness for the opening scene-setter, Road to Hell. Adrian Tamburini's Hades has a gravelly, embittered bass with dark country vibes going on – infernal shades of Johnny Cash or Nick Cave or even Tom Waits lurking in the low notes.
