On that score, it’s fair to say the Northcote Theatre has some work to do to bring its acoustics up to the gilt standard of its fittings. Though the main act pulled off an OK mix, the brasher attack of support bands The Prize and CLAMM fell into a shrill sonic soup between the high, arched ceiling and hard floor of the old ballroom.

For the Gizz it was no encores, no surprises, and no political messaging to follow the moral stand over Bluesfest that made headlines last week. They came to jam, they did it with their usual gleeful precision, and they left to continue a freakish global conquest that shows no signs of faltering.
Reviewed by Michael Dwyer

MUSIC
Season Opening Gala: Zenith of Life ★★★★½
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Hamer Hall, February 24

An uplifting exploration of the human life cycle created a splendidly festive official opening to this year’s Melbourne Symphony Orchestra season.

Evoking the mystery and wonder of birth, a new work, Mysterium I from MSO composer in residence Mary Finsterer, took inspiration from the Christmas liturgical text O magnum mysterium.

Finsterer’s solemn soundscape, rather filmic in style, used a variety of percussion instruments to impart a sense of the numinous amid some deftly detailed writing before the music vanished, effectively underlining its other worldly sentiments.

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Australian soprano Siobhan Stagg brought profound empathy and commanding elegance to Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs. In realising these justly popular meditations on life, love and approaching death, Stagg spun lines of rich, mellow tone, projected with clarity and quiet assurance.

What she might have lacked in vocal heft was more than made up for in intelligent and ardent communication, most notably displayed in her moving account of the third song. Sensitive accompaniment from conductor Jaime Martin and fine solos from concertmaster Dale Barltrop and principal horn Nicolas Fleury enhanced this memorable performance, even if moments of unfocused orchestral intonation occasionally intruded.

Tapping into Mahler’s description of his fifth symphony as being “an expression of incredible energy” and “a human being…in the zenith of life”, Martin and the MSO delivered an account notable for its massive verve and mercurial climaxes.

The brass section was in dazzling form; principal trumpet Owen Morris setting the dramatic tone from the opening funeral march, with further stellar contributions from Fleury in the scherzo. The famous Adagietto for strings and harp provided a span of passionate reverie before the life-affirming finale brought Mahler’s sprawling, but astoundingly creative musical canvas to a tumultuous close.

Such a promising start offers every hope that the MSO’s star will continue to rise in 2023.
Reviewed by Tony Way

THEATRE
Anything You Can Do ★★★★
Pony Cam, Chalice Hall Northcote, until February 26

Experimental performance collective Pony Cam (aged 24-30) squares off against a team of Boomers in this merry war between generations.

Anything You Can Do is a game of playfully devised mayhem that asks unexpected questions, challenges assumptions, and offers generous perspectives on how we view and experience age. And it really is on for young and old: the getting of wisdom has never been sillier.

Question cards are given to the performers in real time, a repeated motif that resembles an intergenerational round of Cards Against Humanity. Nothing’s off the table, with answers revealing idiosyncrasies and common threads on approaches to sex, memory, taste, judgment (and much else) at different stages of life.

Stories are narrated by elders and often satirically re-enacted by their juniors, resulting in absurd juxtapositions with an expansive tragicomic impulse. There are lampoons of romantic courtship – and the gender expectations they embodied – over the decades. A reunion between old flames reveals a devastating secret.

One performer recalls meeting and bathing an elderly Frenchwoman in Paris as a young man, the poignant anecdote trashed by callow and anarchic performance art.

And the piece builds into an elaborately farcical suburban funeral – a last laugh in the face of death before a silent, moving acknowledgement that we’re all dancing in the dark.

Pony Cam unites a poor theatre aesthetic and the intimacy of community theatre with socially engaged practice, terrifically skilled physical theatre, inspired clowning and inventive visual gags.

You can’t tell by watching which elements have been scripted, devised, or improvised – or sometimes who the trained performers might be. The gleefully subversive approach to performance breaks down traditional modes to create an immediate, welcoming and joyful theatrical experience.

Arts festivals could happily program this alongside international forerunners – such as UK-German theatre company Gob Squad, Belgian collective Ontroerend Goed and the community-building participatory projects of Canadian pioneers Mammalian Diving Reflex – as it’s just as fearless and fresh.
Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead

DANCE
Ballet Under the Stars ★★★★
The Australian Ballet, Sidney Myer Music Bowl, February 25

Where does Terpsichore go for the summer? To the beach? The country? One thing is certain: the spirit of dance does not remain in the city. The last substantial evening of concert dance seen in Melbourne was a triple bill at the beginning of December, 2½ months ago.

There have been one or two holiday events but not much else. That’s some kind of dearth for a city where the performing arts scene is supposed to be the envy of the nation. March, which will bring the launch of a new dance festival with the unprepossessing name of Frame, can’t come quick enough.

But before that, to put an edge on expectation, Saturday featured the return of Ballet Under the Stars after a hiatus of several years. The evening had a convivial fete-like atmosphere, despite the wind and the rain, with a range of preshow entertainment including a performance by Djirri Djirri Dancers.

The main program opened with The Vow, a newish piece by Lucas Jervies that is something like the knockabout wedding farce Dimboola re-imagined as over-elaborated ballet kitsch. It works well enough as dance-in-the-park comedy, however, and there are fine performances by Riley Lapham, Nathan Brook and Marcus Morelli.

There was also an excerpt from Swedish choreographer Johan Inger’s I New Then, a playfully nostalgic contemporary piece set to songs by Van Morrison. Inger’s light-hearted but rhythmically interesting jaunt looks back to the panting desires of adolescence – the awkwardness, crudity, anguish and joy.

The program also featured two showcase regulars. First, principal dancers Ako Kondo and Chengwu Guo whooshed through Le Corsaire pas de deux, bringing the crowd on the grassy slope to its feet. Then the evening closed with a selection from classical favourite Don Quixote act three. Joseph Caley’s striving leaps and Benedicte Bemet’s screw-tight 32 fouettes garner the most enthusiastic shouts of the evening.

This finale was something of a teaser for The Australian Ballet’s new production of the Don – a homage to the company’s 1973 landmark film version – which opens in mid-March.

The film, which stars Nureyev himself alongside Robert Helpmann and Lucette Aldous, features sets and costumes designed by the legendary Barry Kay. The new stage production aims to recreate those designs in all their gaudy glory.

Finally, Orchestra Victoria sounded formidable under the baton of newly appointed company music director Jonathan Lo. The rendition of Arturo Márquez’s Danzon No.2 was one of night’s highpoints.
Reviewed by Andrew Fuhrmann

JAZZ
Fran Swinn Quintet ★★★★
The Jazzlab, February 26

Fran Swinn is not exactly prolific as a bandleader. The Melbourne guitarist released her debut album as leader back in 2011, and only recorded her second album – Old Idea/New Idea – last year. But while Swinn is not entirely comfortable being in the spotlight, generally preferring to perform in other people’s bands, her own music is eminently worthy of audience attention.

The repertoire from Old Idea/New Idea has had only a few public airings since the album’s release, with various musicians in the drum chair (replacing the album’s drummer, Rajiv Jayaweera, who is now based in Europe). Sunday’s gig at Jazzlab featured James McLean on drums, who is perhaps a more extroverted player than Jayaweera, but still keenly attuned to the understated warmth that permeates this music.

Some numbers drifted and swayed with quiet elegance; others sashayed or shuffled with an infectious samba-like rhythm. All were pinned to wonderfully appealing melodies that Swinn and her band kept alive during their solos, offering spontaneous variations and lyrical counter-melodies.

Tunes like Lyle St and High Ideals recalled the breezy insouciance of the Pat Metheny Group, especially with Josh Kyle’s wordless vocals doubling Swinn’s guitar or spiralling upwards into effortless falsetto notes. Nadje was a graceful waltz augmented by lightly buoyant solos from Sam Keevers on piano and Sam Anning on bass, while Swinn added flecks of country-tinged grain to the wistful lope of The Sad Cowboy Five.

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The concert was bookended by a handful of new tunes that don’t appear on Old Idea/New Idea. One of these (In Her Stride) was perfectly aligned with the restrained mood of the album. The other two – the upbeat, bustling Champions and the propulsive A Hook For A Friend (featuring Keevers on Nord keyboards rather than piano) – were much more dynamic, suggesting fresh avenues for Swinn and her fine ensemble to explore.
Reviewed by Jessica Nicholas

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