Theatre and musicals in Melbourne this week

When Michael Douglas’ Wall Street wanker Gordon Gekko said, “Greed… is good,” in filmmaker Oliver Stone’s 1987 triumph, Wall Street, he nail-gunned the decade’s selfish excess to the wall so hard it basically birthed Patrick Bateman.  Set two years later and released in 1991, American author Bret Easton Ellis’ gruesome third novel, American Psycho, is hung on the self-centred Bateman, a 27-year-old preening predator in a pinstripe suit.  An ambitious investment banker obsessed with horror movies, Huey Lewis, his skincare regime, business cards, restaurant reservations and one-upping the competition, Bateman is an empty shell of a man. Lurking in the darkening void where his heart should be is a far more odious truth. Worshipping “The Donald,” he shares the now-President’s malignant narcissism.  That, and he’s also a cold-blooded serial killer. Christian Bale breathed baleful life into this slick-haired monster in Mary Harron’s menacingly marvellous 1998 film. If you pay close attention to See You Sunday’s return season production of the musical – with a book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik – you’ll spot a cameo by Bale.  Wait, what? Is Christian Bale in American Psycho: A Musical Thriller? Sort of. Directed by Mark Taylor in conjunction with musical director Aaron Robuck, See You Sunday’s spectacular production at Chapel Off Chapel stars chillingly precise Heathers bad boy Conor Beaumont as the Valentino tuxedo buttoned-up psychopath. But in...

We could have danced all night when we heard the news that one of the most beloved musicals of all time is heading back to Melbourne. That's right, a new production of My Fair Lady opens at the Arts Centre Melbourne’s Ian Potter State Theatre this November, celebrating 70 years since its Broadway debut. Staged by Opera Australia and John Frost for Crossroads Live, the revival marks 70 years since Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe first brought their adaptation of Pygmalion to the stage, a show that has since become shorthand for musical theatre's golden age. Should you be in need of a refresher, My Fair Lady follows Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle, who is plucked from the mean streets of Covent Garden and transformed into a 'lady' by the exacting (and often exasperating) Professor Henry Higgins. It's a time-tested story of class identity and transformation, carried by some of the most recognisable tunes in musical theatre, such as 'Wouldn't it be Loverly?', 'I Could Have Danced All Night' and 'Get Me to the Church on Time'. Running from November 14 to December 13, the upcoming production is based on the lavish 2016 revival, directed by the one and only Julie Andrews, who famously took on the role of Eliza Doolittle at just 20. It will arrive in Melbourne hot on the heels of a run at Sydney Opera House, and will be the first major musical to grace the Ian Potter State Theatre following its huge refurbishment. The casting for My Fair Lady will see both theatre...