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October 07, 1989

Puccini Springs to Life

Filed under: Archive,Music

1989

Murray Bramwell talks with General Manager, Bill Gillespie, and singers, Marilyn Richardson, Michael Lewis and Geoffrey Harris about State Opera’s latest production, La Boheme.

Not only has State Opera been moving out of the red, but with La Boheme, which opens at the Festival Theatre on Thursday, it appears to be in the pink. After the upheavals of the past several years,the company radiates a sense of calm and pleasing confidence. Just over a year after his arrival from …

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October 01, 1989

No Class Please, We’re British

1989

Shirley Valentine
by Willy Russell

State Theatre Company/
Sydney Theatre Company
The Playhouse,

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

Playwright Willy Russell not only touched the zeitgeist with his stage hit, Educating Rita, he also hit paydirt. The screen version launched Julie Walters as a performer with presence and showed there could be life after flab for Michael Caine. Essentially, Educating Rita was Pygmalion Revisited with just a smidge of feminism to keep it a la mode. On film, at least, …

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No Class Please, We’re British

Filed under: Archive,Interstate,Theatre

1989

Shirley Valentine
by Willy Russell

State Theatre Company/
Sydney Theatre Company
The Playhouse,

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

Playwright Willy Russell not only touched the zeitgeist with his stage hit, Educating Rita, he also hit paydirt. The screen version launched Julie Walters as a performer with presence and showed there could be life after flab for Michael Caine. Essentially, Educating Rita was Pygmalion Revisited with just a smidge of feminism to keep it a la mode. On film, at least, …

Continue Reading Back to top