Okay, so considering I get free tickets which are normally hundreds of dollars, I should tell everyone about what they have been missing out on… Here is a list of everything to date and what I thought: Air Supply 06/05/09 Concert Hall My dad requested this one. I didn’t know any of their songs before I went, but boy, Air Supply were entertaining. The show was completely sold out, the seats behind the stage were full.  They filled the whole place and more. I had one of the band’s girlfriends next to me, she knew every word, along with my dad. It was so much fun! The boys ended up getting the entire room onto their feet, dancing and singing along to their encore- “All out of love” … I was the youngest person there… Gold Jerry Springer the Opera 26/04/09 Concert Hall Horrible. The sound quality was shocking, I couldn’t understand anything that was being sung because no one opened their mouths whilst they sung (excpet Kate Miller-Heidke- love her.) The content was childish and only amusing for the first 15, 20 minutes tops. Regretted coming back after interval. A child must have written the script. Push- with Sylvie Guillem and Russel Mallipahnt 15 and 16/04/09 Concert Hall Everything about this production was great. The first night I had tickets further back in the theatre, in the dress circle. Here I was able to see all of the stage, mainly the lighting design on the floor which I missed from second night as I was in the first 6 rows. The production was broken into three solos in the first act and one duo in the second act. The first dance was Guillem and a Spanish soundtrack. It was amazing, but on the first night the soundtrack sounded like it was coming out of a crappy PA system- the second night it seemed that because I was closer it was better? This was my least favourite dance. The second was Mallipahant a solo with his shadows and a cello soundtrack. This was fantastic as it made use of a series of lights at the front of the stage which shone onto a screen at the back, so depending on where Russel was on the stage he would have an accompanying shadow dancing with him, but slightly different depending on the angle of the light… it was awesome. Then the third was another Sylive solo where she was inside a square which was projected by a lighting rig above her (I missed the lighting design on the 2nd night because I was so close.) This was amazing, the sound design of this reminded me of underwater, a submarine, it was eerie, immersive, so textured. Her dancing was also fantastic, she didn’t move around on stage, rather stayed still, but the way she shifted her body was mind blowing. Along with this the lighting changed slightly from a full square of light to an outline of light so Sylvie’s body dancing through the darkness and onto the square outline accompanied with the rich sound-scape- Mind blowing. The Finale was also great, but I feel the 3rd was by far the best. The final was a duo with the two, it was slow, intense, rich, powerful, moving. Their movements looked so effortless, but when I was sitting very close I could see the work it took to make it look effortless. All together it was fantastic. Firebird and other Legends 03/04/09 Opera Theatre There were three ballets in one, Les Sylphides- Petrouchka- Firebird. Les Sylphides- The first had no plot and looked just like a rehearsal, it looked pretty but yes. Petrouchka was really cute, about a reject puppet who falls in love with the ballerina puppet who was in love with the Negro. The Negro is angered and ends up killing Petrouchka. The dancer playing the Ballerina puppet was fantastic, the costumes were cute. Firebird was the finale, the old biddies who were at the bar for the rest of the show finally came in to watch. A production choreographed by Graeme Murphy, one expected it to breathe a new breath into a classic, and it did. The design was great, from the stone-age. However, the Firebird costume wasn’t that feathery. The dancing made regret my parents decision not to put me through ballet classes. Lady Macbeth of Mtsenks 25/03/09 Opera Theatre Tiredness overcame me this night. All I remember was the awesome staging. Each different scene a series of men would come out and shift the huge sets. Was amazing. I also remember there was surtitles even though they sung in English and it was set in Russia… strange… but visually it was great. The Magic Flute 12/02/09 Opera Theatre Went with my mum to this one, she loved it. We had fantastic house seats but were late so we had to sit in the balcony until interval. Shitty view, but the acoustics were perfect. If you want a dirt cheap seat sit on a point seat at the back and you’ll get more then your moneys worth. But onto the production, the sets were awesome. It seemed like a very basic, and slightly religious, opera… I was waiting for some meat and betrayal! The mother was great, she came flying down on a moon rig from the top of the stage and sung with the most powerful voice I have ever hear then was swung back off stage. Le Grand Cirque 18/01/09 Concert Hall This was amusing at best. The Cirque du Soleil cheaper Chinese rip-off. A Disappearing Number  19/11/08 Sydney Theatre Wow. Wow. Wow. This was fantastic. Brought out from London, Complicite theatre company shows how much better theatre is overseas. Yes, we have alright theatre companies, but I feel they are always missing something. Complicite brought it all with them from London. The staging is what caught me the most, the front section of the stage was the front of a lecture hall with a large whiteboard in the centre of the stage. The whiteboard screen was movable so the actors flipped the board moved through the board towards the back of the stage. They also did a lot of shadow and movement works through the back section of the stage and also over the screen. Special. The story was revealed so beautifully through time, the script was fantastically written (unlike my comments.) Anatomy Titus Fall of Rome 12/11/08 Playhouse This was a Bell Shakespeare performance, which was everything you expect from Bell. The young cast were fantastic, bell and the other guy had to keep up. There was a serious amount of fake blood used in this performance, there were splatter warnings for the front couple of rows, but what they did with it was interesting… they bathed each other in it, even painted the walls with it. I find it difficult to follow Shakespeare, I need it written down so I can nut it out, but I would have complained if they were trying to spell it out- there is no way for Shakespeare to win with me unless its written. But yes, the actors and the blood were the draw cards. From memory I think I have only skipped one, a comedy gala which I don’t remember much of.. it was lame and I felt myself looking around in shame – that others were laughing. Can’t remember the name, probably a good thing. Thanks for making it through, hope you enjoyed my opinion on some wonderful productions brought to me by my wonderful workplace, Sydney Opera House