Author: Jesse Oey
Review: Steel Magnolias Returns To Melbourne In Full Bloom
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★★★★½ Picture this: Six women, one small-town beauty parlour, a series of life-changing moments unfolding over coffee and clouds of hairspray. Steel Magnolias returns to Melbourne in full bloom, with an astounding production and tremendous cast delivering a jubilant finale against the stunning backdrop of the Athenaeum Theatre’s old-world charm. Set…
Review: Pretty Woman Musical Makes Glamorous Finish In Melbourne
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★★★★☆ Following a smash-hit national run covering five major Australian cities, Pretty Woman: The Musical struts into Melbourne’s iconic Regent Theatre for a glamorous finish. This glossy Jones Theatrical Group production retains much of the beloved 1990 rom-com’s storyline, with the sheen of a big-budget crowd-pleaser and generous sprinkles of nostalgia throughout. If…
Review: Sweet Charity Shimmies With Renewed Buoyancy
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★★★½ As we stand centre stage in the theatre of life, facing its fickle finger of fate – could hope be our boldest, most courageous performance, and love the seductive encore we keep returning to, no matter how turbulent the reviews? Sweet Charity brilliantly shimmies into Melbourne’s Chapel Off Chapel with…
Review: The Hunchback Of Notre Dame Is Larger Than Life
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★★★★½ In a haunting, twisted world where boundaries between virtue, obsession and cruelty get indecipherably blurry, a timeworn riddle dares to ask, “What makes a monster and what makes a man?” 15th-century Paris rises in shadows and song as The Hunchback of Notre Dame returns to the stage, presented by CLOC Musical…
Review: Once The Musical Sings With Quiet Beauty
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★★★★☆ If you were given a choice between waiting hopefully for something that could be, and giving everything to what’s already in front of you – which way would you go? This is the proverbial dilemma that sits at the core of Once, an honest, heartfelt musical, now showing at Melbourne’s iconic Chapel Off Chapel.…
Review: Briefs The Works Brings After Dark Spectacle To Melbourne
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Masterfully toeing the line between risk and risqué, Briefs: The Works seductively brings in Melbourne’s thrill-chasing late-night crowds to its brand-new, magnificent Spiegel Haus. Equal parts charisma and camp, Briefs: The Works is the kind of spectacle that detonates from the get-go. From the moment you step into the jewel-box glow of the iconic Spiegeltent, this…
Review: Mamma Mia! Brings Dancing Queen Energy To Melbourne
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A sun-kissed, faraway Greek island. A mother, a daughter, one wedding, three possible dads. An old diary leads a bride-to-be on a discovery quest about her history, revealing unspoken stories along the way. What could go wrong? A familiar premise, as beloved jukebox musical MAMMA MIA! descends into The National…
Review: Sugar By Tomáš Kantor 2026 Midsumma Festival
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Showing at Arts Centre Melbourne for 2026 Midsumma Festival, Sugar performed by Tomáš Kantor is a riotous cocktail of camp glamour, irresistible pop, and larger-than-life storytelling. Brought to life through Kitan Petkovski’s precise, astute direction, with acerbic, razor-sharp writing by Ro Bright, this dazzling cabaret follows the mischievous exploits of…
Review: Harry Potter The Exhibition After Hours Melbourne
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Picture this: a tragic lifelong Potterhead, giddy with excitement at the entrance to Melbourne’s Fever Exhibition and Experience Centre, squealing at the sight of the iconic Platform 9 ¾ sign towering over the gate. That was exactly how I kicked off my Harry Potter: The Exhibition – After Hours experience, on a…
