
Right from the opening beats when this story about an all-girl group preparing to perform at the grand Apollo Theatre begins, the audience knows that they are in for a musical treat with Dreamgirls.

The Richard Bona Quintet's show was a fizz of showmanship, playing to a hugely responsive audience who stood for an ovation at the end of the set, leadiong into an encore and an audience boogie.

Masters of the musical short story, the New York based The Bad Plus offer a surprising night of rock-inspired jazz twinned with classical piano on a date with Ragnarok.

Bendigo has dedicated this Autumn to Ned Kelly; from the Imagining Ned exhibition at Bendigo Art Gallery to NED – A New Australian Musical at the Ulumbarra Theatre, formerly the Sandhurst Gaol, the perfect place where to premiere a show about Australia’s “favourite” outlaw.

A warm and winning performance by writer/performer Adriano Cappelletta makes his autobiographical cabaret, This Boy’s In Love, a late night delight at The Old Fitzroy.

Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet moves at a breakneck pace, cleverly enabled by the revolving set utilised in Black Swan’s production which opened last night at the Heath Ledger Theatre.

So what would drive an amateur – what would drive a woman – into boxing? That’s at the heart of English writer Charlotte Josephine’s gutsy exploration of a woman in the ring, Bitch Boxer on now at The Old 505.