Melbourne theatre and musicals in January

The auditorium of the Regent Theatre is doused in a blood-red glow tinged with anaemic green as we take our seats, a buzzing neon sign already dropping his name twice. Providing both the manic music and leery lyrics, Perfect is, well, perfect as our unseen by most living souls poltergeist of ill-repute, accompanied by a jaw-droppingly bawdy book from Scott Brown and Anthony King. Expertly conjuring the blithe spirit of the movie, complete with its iconic ‘D’ay-O (The Banana Boat Song)’ possession, you’ll want to ‘Jump In The Line’ by curtain call on this riotously rabid real good time. 

Tackled by everyone from Roman poets Virgil and Ovid to Canadian indie rockers Arcade Fire and Katee Robert’s queered novel, Midnight Ruin, the myth of Eurydice and her Orpheus finds new life in the hands of folk singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell. Her eight Tony Award-winning smash-hit musical Hadestown began life as a sung-through community project before she turned it into a concept album, and then a Broadway smash with help from director Rachel Chavkin.

Heartbreak Hotel is one of the best productions I’ve seen this year. It’s a tender-hearted exemplar of what can be accomplished when creative stagecraft meets authentic, measured storytelling. It was beautiful joining a chorus of quietly sobbing people on a cold Tuesday night while a voiceover recited Mary Oliver’s ‘Wild Geese’ and digital stars glittered on towering LED screens. If heartbreak is one of life’s certainties then its pain is something we share. 

Melbourne, it’s time to put on some makeup and pull the wig down from the shelf – because Hedwig has finally announced plans to head on over to our wicked little town. Following a smash-hit season with Adelaide Festival, GWB Entertainment and Andrew Henry Presents have confirmed that Hedwig and the Angry Inch will unleash its raw energy at Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre from June 13 as part of Rising. Seann Miley Moore stars as the hedonistic anti-heroine herself, Hedwig, opposite acclaimed actor, singer, songwriter Adam Noviello as Hedwig’s devoted yet defiant partner, Yitzhak. 

The entire journey of The Lord of the Rings is an incredibly ambitious thing to translate in this way, and musical theatre is a delicate form that can easily be mishandled. The result is a shallow tribute to LOTR that takes itself very seriously, but also doesn’t entirely do justice to musical theatre as an artform. So the question arises: who is this for? Sure, the commercial incentive to produce a show tied to a franchise that is already well known and loved is obvious (it’s the same reason we seemingly can’t go a day without Lego releasing another pricey Harry Potter-inspired kit). But there’s a thin line between boarding the nostalgia train and the risk of oversaturating the market (rumours are that viewership numbers are dwindling for the second season of Amazon’s costly new series set in Middle-earth).

Arguably none of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s shows have hit harder than his 1971 rock-opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, which arrives at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre after a much-lauded run in Sydney. First revived at London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2016 for the show’s fiftieth anniversary, it’s been restaged in Australia by director Timothy Sheader. Sheader favours a ‘more is more’ approach, leaning into every ‘Webber-ism’ that made the show a success in the first place: rock'n'roll maximalism, near-inhuman vocal lines, emotional spectacle. No crucifix is too glittery or top note too loud. Megawatt vocals and an electric ensemble cast make it a cut above the other Webber revivals we’ve seen in the last couple years. Yet its heavy-handed approach also exposes the limits of spectacle for spectacle’s sake, even when it comes to Webber.