Recent ABR Arts reviews

• Lauren Carroll Harris reviews Wonder Wheel (Entertainment One) 1/2 star
• Francesca Sasnaitis reviews In Cahoots (Fremantle Arts Centre)
• Dilan Gunawardana reviews The Disaster Artist (Roadshow Films) ★★1/2
• Sophie Knezic reviews four exhibitions of works by Del Kathryn Barton, Louise Paramor, Helen Maudsley, and Gareth Sansom (NGV Australia)
• Michael Halliwell reviews Coronation of Poppea (Pinchgut Opera) ★★★★
• Susan Lever reviews Muriel's Wedding: The Musical (Sydney Theatre Company/Global Creatures) ★★★★★
• Michael Shmith reviews Opera: Passion, Power and Politics (Victoria and Albert Museum)
• Andrew Fuhrmann reviews Waiting for Godot (Wits' End / Eleventh Hour Theatre) ★★★
• Helen Ennis reviews Robert Mapplethorpe: the perfect medium (Art Gallery of New South Wales)

Vale Dmitri Hvorostovsky (1962–2017)

Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Flickr)Dmitri Hvorostovsky, one of the world’s greatest baritones, has died at the age of fifty-five after a two-year battle with brain cancer. Hvorostovsky came to international prominence in 1989 when he won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition (besting Bryn Terfel in the final round). His greatest roles included Don Giovanni, Eugene Onegin, Germont, Rigoletto, and the Count di Luna. He toured Australia memorably in 2006. He was a magnificent Verdian and a great exponent of Russian songs. Over twenty-three years he gave 180 performances at the Metropolitan Opera. His final appearance was in May 2017 when, though visibly unsteady, he sang Rigoletto’s ‘Cortigiani, vil razza dannata’ at a gala concert, drawing a huge ovation.

The Met suspends James Levine

James Levine, another stalwart of the Metropolitan Opera – perhaps its most important artist in the past four decades – has been suspended by the company following multiple allegations of sexual abuse. Four men have now accused Levin of molestation in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Maestro Levine has long been the subject of rumours, and the Met was alerted to a police investigation in 2016. Levin led 2,500 performances at the Met and was music director from 1976 to 2016.