WHATS ON
The Age
Thursday January 27, 2011
THEATRE OPENINGA "TRAGI-COMIC burlesque", a fantastical meditation on democracy and leadership. Song of the Bleeding Throat, the latest play from The Eleventh Hour, travels the bumpy highways of 19th-century politics to observe arch-conservative Thomas Carlyle as he struggles with bowel obstruction to write a seven-volume biography of Frederick the Great. Stranger still, in the play's second half, Abraham Lincoln, post his fatal head wound, lies in a pool of blood while Walt Whitman tries to revive him through the power of language.8pm, The Eleventh Hour theatre, 170 Leicester Street, Fitzroy, $25-$40, 9419 5649, theeleventhhour.com.auMUSICTHE crazily polarising CocoRosie "Yeah, shrug, whatever" just isn't the kind of reaction their pixie-voiced freak folk provokes make a third trip to Australia, following the release of album No. 4, Grey Oceans. American-born sisters Bianca "Coco" and Sierra "Rosie" Casady recorded the LP in a vintage studio in Buenos Aires, with a suitably eclectic number of guests and musical directions.Doors 8pm, Prince Bandroom, 29 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, $50, princebandroom.com.au, 9536 1168CABARETIN THE name of reconciliation, Constantina Bush has been known to say some unpalatable, politically incorrect things. The creation of Kamahi Djordon King, a Gurindji man from the Northern Territory, Bush's Midsumma cabaret show All Lubra'd Up Constantina and the Bushettes tells her story of moving from a dusty cattle station in the outback to the bright lights of the city to pursue her dream of becoming a showgirl. Black, queer, here, and definitely in your face.7.30pm, Red Bennies, 373 Chapel Street, South Yarra, $20-$25, 9495 6589, midsumma.org.auMUSICAL OPENINGSPRING Awakening is a high school musical. But, based as it is on an often-banned 19th-century German play depicting masturbation, abortion, homosexuality, rape, child abuse and suicide, it bears little resemblance to the squeaky clean Zac Efron series. The indie-rock musical adaption with music by Duncan Sheik and book and lyrics by Steven Sater won eight Tonys in its US run and had critics gushing. An Australian production by the Young Australian Broadway Chorus debuts tonight in an 11-performance season until February 5.8pm, National Theatre, 20 Carlisle Street, St Kilda, 9525 4611, springawakening.net.auartswhatson@theage.com.au
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