The Narrative of Nothing
Choreography: Graeme Murphy
Creative associate: Janet Vernon
Music: Brett Dean
Costume design: Jennifer Irwin
Stage and lighting design: Damien Cooper
Sound design: Bob Scott

There’s Definitely a Prince Involved
Choreography: Gideon Obarzanek after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Music: Stefan Gregory after Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Costume design: Alexi Freeman assisted by Caroline Dickinson, with original costumes from Swan Lake (1977) and Night Shadow (1993) designed by Tom Lingwood
Stage concept: Benjamin Cisterne and Gideon Obarzanek, with original backdrops designed for The Australian Ballet by Hugh Colman used with kind permission of Mr Colman
Lighting design: Benjamin Cisterne

Warumuk – in the dark night
Choreography: Stephen Page
Music: David Page (featuring Dhuwa and Yirritja songs and stories from North East Arnhem Land)
Orchestration: Jessica Wells
Costume design: Jennifer Irwin
Set design: Jacob Nash
Lighting design: Padraig O Suilleabhain
Sound design: Bob Scott

Melbourne, State Theatre, Victorian Arts Centre, Monday 5 March and Tuesday 6 March 2012

First night: liked the costumes for the Murphy, love the dancers in it (Andrew Killian! Adam Bull! Lana Jones! Amy Harris! and everyone else), but the sidelights hit me in the eyes every time they came on, and the music was too “Night on Bald Mountain” (Mussorgsky) uncomfortable.

The Obarzanek was witty, well-presented, all the old costumes were gorgeous, I liked the use of faded backdrops, the fringes worked, and the musical arrangement was clever. There were some fabulous bits (the lift with the descending stream of people behind, the head-movement Little Swans…), and some ho-hum bits. But I love love love Madeleine Eastoe and her princely partner Kevin Jackson.

The Page I loved. Costumes, movement, people, MUSIC, everything.

Second night: got much more out of the Fire Music this time round – think I needed to hear it a second time. Still didn’t really love it though.

Still enjoyed the Obarzanek, he’s very good with groupings and stage patterns.

Still loved the Page.

After the first night it was a toss-up between the Page and the Obarzanek, but after two shows it’s definitely the Page, by a very short nose from the Obarzanek, with the Murphy a further length away in third (sorry Graeme’n’Janet). I think the Page will go down very well in NYC.