Do you love the cut and thrust of MasterChef a little too much? Do you scream at the TV screen, urging your favourite contestant to kill it? Is your snarling fervour just a wee bit more than might be deemed healthy? Like, bloodthirsty Hunger Games too much? If your answer is yeah, well, have we got the show for you.
Parramatta-based Blush Opera took the brutality of reality TV to the next level with their wicked fun show Chop Chef earlier this year. Slicing and dicing the fates of six wannabes locked in a battle to the death over creating the best dish, this wickedly sharp satire of the mores and frankly too muches of cooking shows is opera, but not as you know it. Add a delirious dash of musical theatre and a pinch of viciously dark comedy and the recipe is a winner. Sure, some bodies are gonna be DOA by the end of the show – that’s nothing new for the operatic form – but they won’t be daintily fading away. Only one fierce competitor will be left standing, and no dirty trick is too hot for these kitchen rules.
Created by Blush co-artistic directors Jermaine Chau and Paul Smith (Fancy Me Dead) and music director Luke Spicer, Chop Chef will cut a bloody swathe through Riverside Theatres. It's directed by Nicole Pingon and Kenneth Moraleda, with the knives out cast of Ayako Ohtake, Lisa Cooper, Jermaine Chau, Gavin Brown, Benjamin Caulkwell and Nick Geddes.
Recorded live, it's been heated up in the microwave for an online watch party you can stream from home on Friday, July 16 at 7.30pm, for $20-$25, which will be topped by new content including a behind-the-scenes making of clip, plus a live conversation with the creative team. You'll be able to rewatch it on demand until August 1, minus the bonus content, for $15-$18, then you can rewatch it as much as you like.