John Shand Posts

November 5, 2026 / Features

Constantine Costi doesn’t have small dreams. He wants to slap down the hideous encroachment of technology on our lives, while at the same time championing humanity and art. How? By directing Opera Australia’s new production of Puccini’s beloved La Boheme as if it’s been devised by the very Parisian bohemians…

November 2, 2026 / Concert Reviews

City Recital Hall, October 28 8.5/10 Jazz is partly the art of surprise. If you can surprise your bandmates, with whom you’ve improvised on the repertoire’s material myriad times, there’s a fair chance you’ll surprise the audience. But if you pile surprise upon surprise, they swiftly cease to work. Jazz…

October 23, 2026 / Theatre Reviews

Hayes Theatre, October 15 6/10 It’s official: you can now make a musical from anything, even a subject more suited to a trashy teen flick. And if you’re as talented a first-time director as Chiara Assetta, you can daub enough lipstick and mascara on it to disguise its many defects.…