A New BRAVO!

Want to see a new musical called "A New Brain"?
umm... thats kinda a weird name.
Yep.

Sydney based independent theatre company SQUABBALOGIC have done it again. Bringing Sydney another serving of off broadway magic that would have otherwise been lost in the dusts of iTunes collections forever.

A New Brain is a triumph. A complete joy to watch. It's pretty to listen to, beautiful to look at, trippy, funny, emotive, and real. Something director Craig Stewart should be immensely proud of. From the small eccentricities of characters in the background to the simplicity and functionality of the set.

Wondering into the hygienically scrubbed linoleum surface- you know you're in for a treat from the get go. Stewart and his team Ash and Salle take the audience on a slick, effortlessly erratic operation of one song writer's struggle with mortality. The beautifully warm and engaging score by composer William Finn contrasts with the harsh subject matters explored of abandonment, death, and depression.

Here, not a single cast member steps out of line. Each an intricate spoke in the relentless performance machine Salle has wheeled up to deliver. Each production number a new and exciting visual treat for the audience. Every scene pops with illumination with these people to blame:

Daley shines as Rhoda, her character hardly leaving the side of protagonist Schwinn and giving it her all with a really perverse ventriloquist act.
Likewise, Daly is fierce as Schwinn's mother, exuding raw emotion, taking almost criminal advantage of the song Throw It Out.
Erickson as Schwinn's partner Roger is simply amazing- baring his soul to the audience, he doesn't miss a beat to get that last tear from you.
James-Moody has to be seen to be believed.
Leahy, as Schwinn, brings a beautiful and fragile arrogance to the role that balances his character perfectly to the ensemble. Tossed and pulled in every direction- he hardly needs to take a step all night.
Murphy is fabulously hilarious and an eyebrow expressionist scene stealer.
Pratt gives it all and a half- belting her narration and staring down the audience.
Saville's characterisation is simply delightful.
Simpson clears the floor with Eating Myself Up Alive.
Sippel gets all the best musical snippets and sings with a delightful joy.

Bring tissues. Visiting hours get pretty emotional. And at times, wickedly funny.

A New Brain is presented by Squabbalogic at the Sidetrack Theatre
from October 26th - November 12th
Tickets are $30-$35 and are General Admission

Tangled in Controversy

Hokay, appart from Disney's Tangled being a triumphant return to the fairytale, I had two observations:

Numero Uno:

The side kick actively kills the bad guy. Like it's thought out. Mother Gothel is going to fall out the window and rather than try to stop it or even just let it happen, Pascal actively participates by tripping her in the last moments. Pascal is EVIL.

Also, the androgynous chameleon wears a pink dress and it's funny. So, thats weird.

All I'm saying is expect him to go postal in the Direct-To-Disney-DVD sequel.

Numero Duo:

So the whole plot is about Rapunzel inheriting healing powers from a magical sunshine flower and being locked away in a tower until her 18th birthday. Not to be all slapped in the face with subtext but Disney has just released their first fairytale about virginity*.

Flyn Rider, the thief turned unlikely hero with super human good looks gets his chance to "take her flower" at the end. And he does, when she "gives it to him" through her magic tear to save him from death.

Its all very sweet and poetic and symmetrical, but what it really burns down to is a girl giving her flower away. And he repays her with a smothered boob hug. "I've always had a thing for brunettes" lol. Thus:

Anyhew, it just strikes me odd that no one else thought of this.

Also let me point out I cried like a girl even after 3 viewings.

*yeah, I know most fairy tales are about loss of innocence. But this is literal.

For A Better World, I wouldn't continue.

Tonight I braved a brand new theatrical production to review from Company No 3 theatre at the SBW Stables / Griffin 2011 Season entitled "For A Better World".

'Braved' being the most polite adjective I could use to describe what could only be viewed as some kind of extended HSC Drama group devised performance. Here we have four women and three men all doing their best with material beyond their knowledge.

A stage set with mirrors akin to any seedy gym lined with fluorescent lighting so as to blend in with the local Kings Cross culture, there was plenty of dazzle to distract the audience from the lack of plot and point.

The seven actors plodding half naked around the set, spreading blood, dropping feathers and creating havoc that would give the best of wardrobe and set dressers a heart attack were mildly representing a war time scenario. Each character indulging in either sexual fantasies or memories from the past as each, separately go mad and commit suicide. And don't worry. I really haven't ruined the ending, as author Roland Schimmelpfennig couldn't care less about the narrative mish-mesh of 80's war & science fiction films.

For me, the tour de force of the play was when the female lead shoots herself in the head, dresses herself in a wedding dress (complete with tasteful fairy lights), chanting wildly as a half alien half giant squid attacks one of the male actors (who has meanwhile managed to change into his birthday suit).

The cast are committed to an otherwise confusing piece, even though it calls for them to parade around in white underwear for the majority of the performance. Pity one of the men was so ridiculously prissy that any attempts of sexual interaction with the naked women before him were laughable.

I checked my watch 20 minutes into the 86 minute one-act-performance and tried desperately not to do so for the remainder of the evening.

Lucky I received free tickets on this one eh?

It's reliable. I read it on the internet.

Meeting mum and nan at Mac Square by 10am was what I set my alarm clock for last night. Seems that Coffee Club coffee is still serving the same quality of coffee they were last time I checked.

I spent some time with the family just walking around David Jones, asking if the massive signs that read 30% off all underwear meant 30% off all underwear. I found my official Davenport Australia Day wife beaters in Big W, and we settled down for a short lunch before melting in the extreme heat that wasn't the internal ice factory air-conditioning that was the Square.

Later, I found shelter in mum's kitchen preparing my tomato pasta dinner. Which doesn't seem more important than long time since-we-were-born, next-door-neighbour buddy Brendan proposing to his now fiancee Morgan. But it never-the-less appeared first in the paragraph. Congratulations guys. You need to talk to Vibrant.

Much later in the day, Mount Annan played host to my new year's evening. With an actual swim in Tuneil's pool. None of this i'm-too-self-conscious-about-my-weight crap to stop me.

Much later, after that, Louise misses her mouth when trying to eat a cup cake. The icing bounces off the cake, ricochets off her forehead and lands neatly on the grass below.

Louise's Brendan did not enjoy The Brady Bunch Movie after the 4-minutes-less-than-last-year's fireworks. I was fairly tired.

Fruit of the Moment: Strawberry Springs

Hang on, sorry. I'm just eating some chocolate.

I had a craving. And that craving was for Ratatouille. The pixar movie. And not ONE of my many hard-drives had it stored in the depths of their souls. Which, is a crying shame, as I had a craving.

Luckily, Aneesa solved this craving by getting me out of the house and down to the Wollongong CBD. Here we shopped for animal print clothes, grew concerned at inflatable-pool-chairs-in-pizza-boxes, and took our coffees at Lee and Me.

I also bought Ratatouille from Big W, (which I might add) had told myself I would do back when it first came out. I originally found the outlandish $34 dvd prices back in 2007; outlandish. So I told myself I'd eventually buy it when the price dropped. Then I had that year of not buying anything, then I was unemployed. It's all relative. Shut up.

Later, I told the flies inside Leila's kitchen what-not by hanging evil plastic devices of death everywhere for them to play with. Such joy in the mutilation of those annoying little buggers.

Fruit of the Moment: Onion Rings

by the end of your dreams

After entering a competition designed for women over a modest breakfast, I began facing the music. And the music played "you-better-get-working-on-that-portfolio-for-job-applications"*

After spending hours on the new document, with two less pages and a few additions to the commercial projects, I got me a new bundle of hope to apply with.

In other news, I applied to work at Apple today. Lets see them knock me back there via email in 3 weeks time. I'll keep 'yall posted.

Strangely, the highlight of the day was an episode of QI about cockney slang. I lead an exciting life, says I.

Fruit of the Moment: Beach Weather

*Now available on iTunes

SANTA, IM COMING FOR YOU

Okay, so while i'm being disinterested in the soft porn horror movie The Human Centipede, I thought i'd update you with my day.

Legend of The Guardians was the first movie to watch.

Followed by Knight and Day.

Then came Repo Men.

Next was Robin Hood.

And Rocket Science.

With Exit through the Gift Shop

I'd say Knight and Day was surprisingly the funnest film of the marathon. While Guardians was definitely the most breathtaking. Don't anyone watch Human Centipede, a vial graphic movie with bad acting and no plot and disturbing content. Exit was, i'd say the best film.

Styx and I just hung out all day. He was really happy with his tuna this evening. Lucky I Googled if cats could drink milk, Leila had left so much of it in the fridge that I thought Styx might like a bit before I threw it out. By the way, cats can't drink cow's milk. They are lactose intolerant. Fact.

Also, good thing I heard the bins being taken out, so thats handled as well. This house sitting business is hard stuff.

Fruit of the Moment: Vegetarian Sprinkles