Flying in my gondola

  Left – Lana Jones. Photo – Lynette Wills. Cover – Eloise Fryer and Ben Davis. Photo – Jeff Busby Australian Ballet’s  Cinderella  has been beautifully revamped by choreographer  Alexei Ratmansky . Formerly artistic director of the renown Bolshoi Ballet, and currently the artist-in-residence with the American Ballet Theatre in New York,  Ratmansky  is white hot in the ballet world and very much in demand, because of his skill in merging classical technique with a contemporary sensibility. The beloved fairytale is moulded into a different type of happily-ever-after, which although does feature a fairy godmother ( Lynette Wills ) – albeit slightly resembling Mary Poppins with an elongated nose – it does not incorporate a carriage which is fashioned from a pumpkin, nor do any mice show off their sartorial talents, or morph into hoses. What  Ratmansky’s  Cinderella  does have, are two silly step sisters and a ruthless but equally comical step ...

Left – Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Emma Matthews. Cover – Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Taryn Fiebig, Richard Anderson & Shane Lowrencev. Photos – Jeff Busby. Mozart’s  infamous  Don Giovanni  and considered by many to be the greatest opera ever written, is based on the legendary fictional lover  Don Juan , not easily resisted by any woman, no matter her social status or nationality, and whom they loved and despised in the same breath. Opera Australia’s  highly anticipated  Don Giovanni , directed by  David McVicar , focuses on the dark side of the sex addicted nobleman, who cannot control his appetite for conquering every and any woman who crosses his path, regardless of her age or shape. Much like some present day players,  Don Giovanni , keeps a tally of his trophies, with numbers in the thousands, from all over Europe and Asia Minor, and with numbers so impressive, he could easily be dubbed the Wilt Chamberlain of the 18th century. Teddy Tahu Rhodes ...

Renown South African singer  Belinda Davids , opened her Australian tribute tour,  The Greatest Love of All – The Whitney Houston Show , at the Athenaeum Theatre this weekend with a passion and talent which channeled the late great Whitney Houston so well that, if you were to close your eyes, you’d swear that the diva herself was belting out her award winning songs for her Melbourne fans in attendance. At the beginning of the concert, as the lights dimmed and images of Houston flashed onto a screen, the energy in the theatre was simply electric. The audience was extremely pumped and enthusiastic… maybe, too much even. I overheard someone say: “They do realise that the  real  Whitney Houston is not going to come out on stage, don’t they?” But, within minutes of the concert, the same person was as enchanted by  Davids ’ performance as the rest of us, and by the end she had moved many to tears.  Self-taught and blessed with a four octave vocal range,  Dav...

Opera Australia  has opened its Melbourne season with one of the company’s best-loved productions,  Giacomo Puccini’s  Madama Butterfly –  in this case the revival of Moffatt Oxenbould’s 1997 production of the famed tragic story of  Cio-Cio-San  (cio translates to butterfly) and her American husband. Soprano  Hiromi Omura  dominated the night, and was superb in her role of  Butterfly . Besides possessing a beautiful and silken voice,  Omura  also successfully projects a naiveté and demureness of a young girl in love, as well as that of a woman consumed by total despair at the understanding that her husband intends not to return to her. Tenor  James Egglestone  portrays her husband,  Pinkerton , as lustful, selfish and even arrogant, but he also conveys a somewhat regretful concern for  Butterfly  as well. Just when you thought you could hate him, you almost feel sorry for him. Mezzo-soprano,  Sian...

Grammy-nominated  Meghan Trainor  is performing her first big tour, trotting around the globe, with Melbourne being one of her stops in Australia. Even if you don’t recognize  Meghan  by name, unless you’ve been stranded on a deserted island during the last eight months, it is impossible to say the same of her pop phenomenon,  All About That Bass , which ruled the airwaves for so long that, even her own mother expressed disbelief over the song’s mass appeal. It’s not surprising that  Bass  was, and still is, on everyone’s lips and minds; with positive self-love lyrics, catchy 1950s doo-wop inspired music, one can’t help but tap to it and nod in approval, if you’re a parent, and even if you’re not. At the risk of sounding like a fuddy-duddy,  Meghan ’s music successfully appeals to the young and the old, without the all too familiar in-your-face raunchiness present in both lyrics as well as in fashion choices displayed by some other pop stars (he...

Who is  Khaled Khalafalla , and why is he happy exactly? Born in Saudi Arabia to Egyptian parents, Khaled  may discuss identity exploration, and his own fitting-in challenges in everyday Australian culture, but he possesses that special something which Aussies are renown around the globe for, the ability to take a jab at oneself, and everyone else around them. Khaled  successfully pokes fun at his culture, and everyone else’s, carefully walking that dreaded ‘gone too far’ line, and never crossing it. But one thing is for sure, no one is spared in the process. Front row or back row audience members; if  Khaled  makes eye contact with you, you’re becoming part of the show. Fear not though, Khaled  is charismatic and funny, not irritating and offensive. On the night I attended, the award-winning  Khaled , actually started out a little lukewarm, and laughed a bit too hard at his own jokes, and just when it seemed as though perhaps we were going...

Gitanos music ambassadors to the world,  The Gipsy Kings , kicked off their 2015 world tour in Australia, with a stop at The Palais Theatre in St. Kilda, which is where I, along with the most culturally diverse audience ever, got to enjoy their amazing music (to the left of me, Chileans, in front, French, to the right, Greek, in the back, Japanese). The Gipsy Kings , composed of two families, the Reyes from Arles and the Baliardos from Montpellier, France, have been performing since the 1960s, in theatres such as Carnegie Hall in New York, and for the likes of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Brigitte Bardot, among others. Their first album,  Gipsy Kings , was released more than twenty years later in 1987, featuring familiar flamenco-like music and vocals with a twist, with which they literally took the world by storm. The Gipsy Kings ’ roots are from Catalonia, Spain, so it’s no surprise that their music should have the same source of inspiration, but it’s been reinvented a...