A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including Munted, The Wunderbar Spectacular, and An Evening With Miss Polly Rae & The Hurly Burly Girlys. 

See more recent reviews at theatreview.org, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory.

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A selection of reviews from Theatreview from the last week including Munted, The Wunderbar Spectacular, and An Evening With Miss Polly Rae & The Hurly Burly Girlys. 

See more recent reviews at theatreview.org, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory.

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BATS, Wellington - MUNTED: Powerful and humane yet often humorous

- reviewed by John Smythe

Nothing beats ‘truth’ when it comes to good theatre. There are many ways of seeking it out and sharing it, and the Bare Hunt Collective’s ‘documentary/verbatim’ genre is an extremely compelling and effective one.

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SKYCITY Theatre, Auckland - AN EVENING WITH MISS POLLY RAE & THE HURLY BURLY GIRLYS: Utterly delectable!

- reviewed by Megan Smith

Filled with detail, intricacy and beautifully directed, the evening flowed seamlessly. A far cry from the usual format, that can often feel, well, foreseeable. By contrast we were seduced with a selection of well-paced and well-timed unpredictability. Did we expect the sailor with his back to us, slowly stripping away his crisp white navy uniform revealing his tanned muscular back, to turn out to be a hot blonde? Most certainly not. Could we have anticipated the hypnotic stage presence of the only male in the show, Arian Levanael, to be a mastery of hoop and silks, so effortless, so accomplished and well, so damn sexy in leather and then in sequins? Possible only in our dreams…

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Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland - THE WUNDERBAR SPECTACULAR: A cocktail of delight

- reviewed by Jesse Quaid

Cheerfully risque The Wunderbar Spectacular stays comfortably within the humorous side of erotic, providing a constantly entertaining variety that easily holds the attention.

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BATS, Wellington - LONELY HEART - THE MUSICAL: Musical revives old murder story

- reviewed by Laurie Atkinson

The theatrical year kicks off at Bats with something dark and strange: a home-grown chamber murder-musical. It’s based on a true story of two murderers, Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez who murdered about twenty women between 1947 and 1949.

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BATS, Wellington - LONELY HEART - THE MUSICAL: Top quality musical theatre

- reviewed by Jo Hodgson

It’s a brilliantly told tale about two deeply unhappy and lost individuals – Ray Fernandez, a gold digger, and Martha Beck, an oppressed, ‘damaged’ solo mother of two – who are brought together, one through greed and the other need, through a Lonely Hearts club.

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See more recent reviews at theatreview.org.nz, the NZ Performing Arts Review & Directory

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