Time Warp

A Musical Tribute to the Rocky Horror Show

Barossa Arts & Convention Centre, Tanunda

Saturday 25th July - 8:00pm

I have never attended a function at the Barossa Arts and Convention Centre before and was a little worried at what I might be getting myself into, but I can happily say that I was more than impressed by the facilities and appearance of the theatre. Despite the freezing cold of the weather outside, it was a modern and comfortable theatre and held well the sound and lights of this performance.

Ill let you in on a little secret about myself, I am a huge 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' fan and would not be able to sit through any silly amature production of someone just singing the songs. This production far exceeded my expectations on what a tribute show should be! I was a little miffed when I heard that Adelaide was not on the touring schedule of the actual 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' current national tour, and when I came across an advert listed on www.my247.com.au for the 'Time Warp' tribute show, I thought "What the hell I'll give it a go!"

Well here is my review - I loved every second of this show, I laughed, I sang and I danced. The cast playing the characters embraced their roles and looked like they were enjoying bringing this show to the audience. This show is only touring regional South Australia, and after leaving Tanunda, they are travelling to Port Lincoln, Whyalla, Port Pirie and Noarlunga. I really believe this performance could have easily been marketed to central city locations and I am confident that with appropriate marketing, it could easily sell out quite a number of shows.

All of the hits from the original production were performed such as - 'Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch-Me', 'Dammit Janet', 'Time Warp', and 'Science Fiction'. The audience did their bit to participate with all of the usual props and costumes and the characters interacted fabulously with the audience to keep everyone entertained and laughing the whole way through the show.

My only gripe of the performance (and it is only a small one) is that the lady selling merchandise told me that the cast would come out after the performance to do photographs for $5 each - I guess this was not my lucky night because alas I waited and no performers appeared. I would of happily paid more than this for a few photos of my friends and myself in some cast photos - this could definately be a money spinner for future shows if production considered this.

At the end of the show they mentioned that the next production their production company (Event Theatre Australia) was presenting was 'Grease' and I will definately be keeping a watch out for when this comes. I will also be now be keeping check of the upcoming shows at the Convention Centre in Tanunda and may actually purchase some tickets for 'Jungle Book' which is advertised and being shown in August - stay tuned for upcoming blogs about this!!!

Thomas The Tank Engine and Friends

National Railway Museum

Lipson Street, Port Adelaide

Sunday 19th July 2009

.

It is school holidays and what do you do in Adelaide to amuse the children? Well taking into consideration that we have no theme parks as such in the state, you save up lots of pennies and take the kids to the train museum. They have put on a special 'Thomas The Tank Engine and Friends' display to try and cash in on the parents and carers home with their children.

.

I have been to the train museum a number of times and find it an entertaining day with my son - he is of course train obsessed so it more than satisfies him every visit we make. I do however have a problem with the cost associated by parents just for a 'Thomas' face to be put on a train. My cost for the day was:

.

$18 x 2 per Adult entry fee

$2 x 10 for train rides

$4 x 2 for cup of coffee

$15 for 'Toby' train upon exiting

$1 x 2 for hand made badges

.

Plus other food bits to spend throughout the day - I easily spent over $100, on what should normally be a fairly cheap day out. I don't normally complain about costs and I appreciate that advertising and extra staff would mean that the National Railway Museum would have to recoup some of their costs, but seriously, make it a good day out for all - yes charge an entrance fee, that is expected, but don't charge for the train rides, kids are so excited about going on them, make the experience enjoyable for all.

.

Ok, I have that off my chest and will continue to point out that despite costs, we did enjoy ourselves through out the day, Sir Topham Hat was available to answer an abundance of questions by my 3 year old son, there were live performances available - I believe a puppet show called dancing monkeys and the general atmosphere was enjoyable.

.

Normally most of the trains are open for people to climb on, but today for some reason they were closed and were only for enjoying from afar, which was also a little disappointing.

.

This is an annual event, I believe held every July school holidays. My advice would be to give the school holidays Thomas event a miss and just go to the train museum on a normal weekend - there will be less crowds, the train rides will be free, you can go in and view more trains and you will save bucket loads of cash!

Something on Saturday 2009

Presents Peter Pan

by Australian Classical Youth Ballet

Saturday 4th July 2009 - 12:00pm

Her Majesty's Theatre

.

During the colder months from May to September the Festival Theatre has sponsored some events to keep children amused on Saturdays!

.

Each event is very reasonably priced with this Peter Pan show only being $10 per person, so $20 for my son and I to take a little outing and to help stimulate his artistic side is money well spent if you ask me!

.

The total cast for this production must have exceeded over 50 dancers/performers, and the costumes and stage set up far exceeded my expectation for a once off budget show. We sat in the Dress Circle section of Her Majesty's Theatre, and they were great seats. I normally go for the stalls, however because this is a fairly small theatre the seats were perfect and we had a great view of the entire stage and cast.

.

The performers did not have any script to learn, they told the story of Peter Pan through dance and from the narration of Brenton Whittle and the Book Worm. It was performed wonderfully, and had enough action to keep my 4 year old amused and entertained. There were a few dance scenes that maybe went a little too long and kind of lost his attention a little bit - notably the Indian dance scene, it was good at first and I enjoyed it, but to a child went a little too long.

.

There is a different show on every week and various locations throughout Adelaide, so for a cheap and entertaining outing for your family, check out the following website for information to future shows:

.

http://www.bass.net.au/events/database/SOS2009/

.