John Shand Posts

September 27, 2026 / Theatre Reviews

Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, September 22 9/10 Someone said to me, “Not My Fair Lady, again!” But when it’s this good, 10 years seems rather too long between elocution lessons. It still makes most other musicals seem trashy, with their cartoon characters, simplistic stories and limp or overwrought…

September 21, 2026 / Uncategorized

  Remedy (Ropeadope) 8/10 You know that feeling when you revisit a home from your past, to find the furniture changed and walls repainted, so any familiarity or nostalgia are jumbled with an unsettling newness? This third Zela Margossian Quintet album is like that. The familiarity of the snaking melodies…

September 19, 2026 / Theatre Reviews

The Greek Theatre, September 10 8/10 The day before seeing Joyful Noise, I attended a funeral in an Anglican church for a dear friend who was an atheist, and the vicar handled the dichotomy with commendable wit and nuance. Georg Friedrich Handel, by contrast, was allowed precious little nuance by…