Top Gun: Maverick – a movie review by Alex First
May 22, 2022 by Alex First
Top Gun: Maverick is everything I wanted and more from a sequel 36 years on. Read more
Lohengrin: an opera review by Alex First
May 17, 2022 by Alex First
Treachery and subterfuge abound in the Australian premiere of a new production of Richard Wagner’s otherworldly romance Lohengrin at the State Theatre, Arts Centre in Melbourne. Read more
An American in Paris: a theatre review by Alex First
May 15, 2022 by Alex First
Once you learn that Robbie Fairchild was a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet you can understand why he glides so effortlessly across the stage in a stellar display as the centrepiece of An American in Paris. Read more
Girl from the North Country: a theatre review by Alex First
May 15, 2022 by Alex First
Set during the Great Depression, Girl from the North Country is a brilliantly conceived and executed theatrical production, featuring the music and lyrics of Bob Dylan. Read more
Murray Dahm talks with opera star Daniel Sumegi
May 13, 2022 by Murray Dahm
Daniel Sumegi’s rich, mellifluous bass voice booms across even over a Zoom call. Daniel admitted that he is probably more of a bass-baritone these days although he “still has all the (bass) notes” and he is singing the bass role of Heinrich der Vogler (Henry the Fowler) in Opera Australia’s upcoming production of Wagner’s 1850 masterpiece ‘fantastical romance’ Lohengrin. Read more
La Traviata: an opera review by Alex First
May 10, 2022 by Alex First
Soprano Stacey Alleaume is almost ethereal in a scintillating performance as Violetta Valery in Giuseppe Verdi’s fraught, emotion-charged, love story La Traviata (which translates to The Fallen Woman). Read more
Two mighty trees and a sapling: a music review by Fraser Beath McEwing
May 5, 2022 by Fraser Beath McEwing
Two mighty trees and a sapling: that summarised the SSO’s program last night in the Sydney Town Hall. Read more
The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson – a movie review by Alex First
May 4, 2022 by Alex First
Magnificently shot, The Drover’s Wife is a story of hardship concerning a woman living in the Australian bush trying her best to raise four young children. Read more
The Heartbreak Choir: a theatre review by Alex First
May 2, 2022 by Alex First
A delightful, poignant, funny, uplifting play with music, The Heartbreak Choir charms its way into our hearts. Read more
Matador la experienca, at Melbourne’s Meat Market reviewed by Alex First
May 1, 2022 by Alex First
Matador la experienca has taken the best of Matador and stepped it up a notch to create a totally electrifying and immersive showcase of talent. Read more
Downton Abbey: A New Era – a movie review by Alex First
April 28, 2022 by Alex First
Set in 1928, the matriarch of the Crawley family – The Dowager, Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith) – may be in failing health, but she has lost none of her bite. Read more
Exciting concert at Sydney’s Great Synagogue
Vladamir Fanshil continues his series of intimate concerts with an amazing offering at Sydney’s Great Synagogue. Read more
Friday morning with Richard, Wolfgang, Carl and Felix
April 24, 2022 by Fraser Beath McEwing
A music review by Fraser Beath McEwing Read more
The Northman: a movie review by Alex First
April 20, 2022 by Alex First
Viking mythology gets a workout in Robert Eggers’ The Northman. Eggers is co-writer with Sjon (Lamb) and directs the bloodthirsty piece. Read more
Happening: a movie review by Alex First
April 13, 2022 by Alex First
Happening 90 mins: France in 1963 was a place where abortion was a dirty word. In short, it was illegal. Read more
Ambulance: a movie review by Alex First
April 6, 2022 by Alex First
Just a fairly typical day in the life of a paramedic. Hardly! Read more
Apr-28 8:30pm SBS-World Movies: Where Hands Touch
April 6, 2022 by J-Wire
Germany 1944. 15-year-old Leyna (Amandla Stenberg), daughter of a white German mother and a black father, lives in fear due to the colour of her skin. Read more
Mozart, Haydn and Schubert according to Umberto Clerici: A music review by Fraser Beath McEwing
March 31, 2022 by Fraser Beath McEwing
The SSO hit the popularity bullseye last night with symphonies by Mozart and Schubert along with Haydn’s trumpet concerto. Read more
The Phantom of the Opera: Victor Grynberg reviews the opera on the harbour
March 28, 2022 by Victor Grynberg
It’s 25 years since I first saw a production of THE PHANTOM, that time in the original production in London’s West End. Read more
Phantom of the Opera: Murray Dahm talks with Naomi Johns
March 25, 2022 by Murray Dahm
Naomi Johns was very excited to be involved in her first-ever Opera Australia publicity when I spoke with her ahead of the opening night of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s Phantom of the Opera production which opens tonight. Read more
La Juive: an opera about the forbidden love between a Jewish woman and Christian man
February 18, 2022 by Features Desk
After pandemic restrictions shut down its scheduled opening in 2020, acclaimed French director Olivier Py’s new production of La Juive will finally have its Australian premiere at the Sydney Opera House, this coming March. Read more
The Marriage of Figaro: an opera review by Victor Grynberg
January 31, 2022 by Victor Grynberg
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is widely regarded as the third member of the greatest classical composers trio, along with Johann Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven. Read more
Killing Katie: Confessions of a Book Club – a theatre review by Hila Tsor
January 24, 2022 by Hila Tsor
Killing Katie: Confessions of a Book Club begins through the narrative voice of Linda (Bron Lim) who meets up with her fitness obsessed friend Sam Andrews (Georgina Symes) to talk about the past, and present. Read more
Shira Haas hosts IPO 85th anniversary
January 5, 2022 by Features Desk
Marking the 85th anniversary of the founding of Israel’s most revered and respected cultural institutions, the Israel Philharmonic (IPO) has released a unique Film chronicling the IPO’s history and its lasting impact on music both within Israel and across the globe. Read more
The Nazis Knew My Name: a remarkable story of survival and courage in Auschwitz
January 5, 2022 by J-Wire
This book is about Magda Hellinger. It is an amalgam of materials both from writings and stories shared by Magda as well as those she recounted through the oral histories programs of both Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust Centre and the Visual History Foundation [often described as the Spielberg project]. Read more
The Covered Wife: a book review by Jeffrey Cohen
December 13, 2021 by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen
Over the past year or so there seems to have been a fascination in one way or another with Orthodox Judaism. Read more
Come from Away: a musical review by Victor Grynberg
October 28, 2021 by Victor Grynberg
It would not be accurate to describe “Come from Away” as simply a musical. Read more
Can Robots be Jewish? And other pressing questions of Modern Life: a book review by Jeffrey Cohen
October 6, 2021 by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen
Amy Schwartz serves as the opinion and book editor at Moment Magazine. Moment is one of the more independent and thought stimulating magazine in the Jewish world started by Leonid/Leibl Fein over fifty years ago and is still being published today as an independent but also inclusive journal. Read more
Frances Prince launches her book “Gift of Time”
October 5, 2021 by Nomi Kaltmann
A new book, written by well-known community personality Frances Prince is launching this week in Melbourne. Read more
Have I got a Cartoon for You: The Moment Magazine Book of Jewish Cartoons
October 3, 2021 by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen
Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen reviews the book edited by Bob Mankoff. Read more
