Legally Blonde a great show
Mentioned in Despatches:
Remember when the Waikato Museum was known as the Waikato Museum of Art and History, and then became the the Waikato Art Museum? Did you know that the current version was the result of a rebranding exercise designed to develop and implement a fresh and vibrant visual identity for the museum? And that it was confirmed by Hamilton City Council at an extraordinary meeting on February 13, 2005? And that as a result, no one other than regular visitors has any idea that the museum is both a foundation repository and a centre for the display and performance of the arts in the city. Political memory is not simply short, it is also shortsighted. More on this topic soon.
Review
What: Legally Blonde – The Musical
Who: St Pauls Collegiate School
When: 7pm, Monday, July 2
Where: Southwell School Performing Arts Centre
Director: Bruce Rawson
Musical Director: Timothy Carpenter
Choreographer: Leona Robinson
There were moments of showbiz genius on Monday night. While Mr Musical Director Carpenter may have earned his place with an inter alia line of jazz piano riffs worthy of an Eliane Elias or an Oscar Peterson, the real highlight among so many was a swift blow to the ear of the libidinously muscular delivery man Kyle.
Delivered by Anna Hamilton’s Paulette, backed by a voice which cut like a carborundum saw through roofing iron before turning to honey in the same wanton breath, said Kyle received the superbly staged blow to the ear when he hit on Paulette. That Kyle was played with such suggestive ambiguity that he took the collective audience’s breath away was made even more enjoyable when one realised that the actor was the socially acceptable head boy Lane Tims, who went on to deliver Irish dance with quite memorable footwork and leg lift.
Characters were carved with cutting clarity, like Harry Forte’s Professor Callahan’s hit on Elle, or Liam Walde’s sleazy Warner’s proposals, while the exemplary support role in minor orders, as it were, was nailed by Siobhan Read’s gutsy idealist Enid with split-second timing and clarity.
The final thunderous audience accolades, however, were appropriately for Macy Coffin’s Elle, the original blonde, who was so convincing as she sang her character from ditsy fashion-driven blonde to case-winning lawyer, and Cameron Coull, who took the dry-as-dust character Emmett off the shelf and turned him into a sympathetic and entertaining winner.
The show moved with remarkable pace. Full cast frontals delivered by choreographer Leona Robinson had the ensemble in a wonderful rhythmic interchange, while a Greek chorus delivered a contrasting elegance somewhere between
Swan Lake and the free flow of contemporary dance. This performance offered so much enjoyment and value for cast and audience one has to wonder why schools have to work so hard to foster music and drama in their curricula.
Review
What: Be Persuaded: A Jane Austen Experience – Curator’s Talk
Who: Fiona Baverstock
When: Friday, July 6
Where: The Waikato Museum of Art and History
Curator: Fiona and Keith Baverstock from Dressing Australia Museum of Costume
Look at yourself. Wonder why you spend as much as you pay in rates to be tolerated in society? Then, a quick trip to the euphemism – lavatory (a label now further out of fashion even than laving tories ) – or loo, or ladies. Swear heartily at the impracticality of your fashionable garments for such operations. Head upstairs to find stunning wearable art, dresses, dressing gowns, bibs and tuckers, even original spencers – named after the Earl of Spencer burned his tail coat and found he had a useful short jacket … aha.
But wearable is not a synonym for comfortable in Jane Austen’s novels any more than it is today. Find the wee dark dress standing proudly on its plinth. The four-year-old boy who wore it would have looked a very pretty distance from slugs and snails, but the period decreed it fashionably acceptable, and useful in practice. Small boys have difficulty handling trouser fasteners. Here they could simply lift the front and water the garden with seemly efficiency.
Is this kind of levity appropriate in a critique? In this case, completely so, because wear the right attitudinal hat and keep asking the why questions, and you will see fashion as a detailed and informative doorway to the lives and cultures of humans wherever they were, or are. The exhibits – which are the real thing, not copies, so keep your acidic fingers away from them despite your silk fetishes and tactile desires – were, and are, in exhibit notes passionately and informatively introduced by La Baverstock, and the visual display is memorable. It is there until late October, but you will well want to visit and learn and enjoy a couple of times. Just watch what you wear, that’s all.
Coming up:
July 7-21, Riverlea Theatre: Hamilton Playbox presents Peter Pan
July 10-22, Waikato Art Museum: A selection of portfolios submitted for NZCEA level 3 appraisal in 2017
July 12-21, The Meteor: Artful Dodgers - a cheeky twist on Dickens
July 17-21, The Meteor: Professor Novum’s Adventures in Orbit Wednesday, July 11, 1pm, Gallagher Centre: Trans Tasman Duo Dancing Duos; Two Pianos with Katherine Austin and Glenn Riddle
Friday, July 13, 1pm: Mayor’s Music Matinee Friday, July 13, 7-9pm, Waikato Diocesan School for Girls chapel: Gwen Lyon Fundraising Concert
Saturday, July 14, 3-4pm, Waikato Museum: Cambridge Brass Quintet with a programme of French music Saturday, July 14, 5pm, St Peter’s Cathedral: Civic Choir sings its new concert, Ave Maria Saturday, July 14, 7:30pm, Claudelands Arena: Simon Trpcˇeski performs Edvard Grieg’s with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Sunday, July 15, 1:45pm, Gallagher Concert Chamber: Hamilton Vocal Competitions for the Waikato Young Singer Award