JULY, as the middle month of winter, is invariably cold, so it's good that a very warming and diverse collection of touring comedy shows are coming to the Hunter.
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Newcastle's Civic Theatre will host Dr Seuss's The Cat in the Hat Live on Stage on July 10, Cessnock Performing Arts Centre has WaistWatchers The Musical on July 9, and Lizotte's at Lambton has Rugby League - The Musical on July 5.
The Cat in the Hat is an adaptation of the 1957 children's book written and illustrated by American author Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss in response to concern about the literacy of young school children, with the words "cat" and "hat" the first two rhyming words with different meanings that he came across in a primer.
The book has just 200 words, so it's not surprising that the production runs for a brisk 50 minutes.
It has been popular worldwide since it was adapted for the stage by Britain's National Theatre in 2009, with the current touring version put together by the global Showcase Entertainment Group.
The story has two bored children, Boy and Sally, who have been left at home by their mother while she does business on a rainy day, hoping for something to happen.
And it does, when the white Cat, wearing a red and white striped hat, turns up and proclaims that he has "some new tricks".
He certainly does, juggling very different items, and delivering surprises, such as getting two fast-moving creatures, Thing 1 and Thing 2, emerge from a box that suddenly appears.
The family's pet Fish, which swims in a bowl and sees itself as the children's guardian, is not pleased by the Cat's activities.
The white Cat, wearing a red and white striped hat, turns up and proclaims that he has "some new tricks". He certainly does.
The Cat in the Hat is suitable for all ages.
It has Civic shows at 10.30am and 1pm on Wednesday, July 10, with tickets $25 to $35.
Bookings: 4929 1977.
WaistWatchers The Musical, which is set in a women's gym, looks in a very amusing way at four women talking about food, diets, exercise, friendship, love, and sex while they are doing exercises aimed at helping them to lose weight or avoid putting it on.
One hopes that the exercises will enable her to eat more chocolate and ice cream.
Another needs to relieve her work stress and stay looking good.
The third woman has come to the gym to help her feel sexy again, and the fourth was recently divorced and is looking to tone up now that she's single and ready to mingle.
The musical, which was a hit in the US, is being presented by Hit Productions, with its American director, Matt Silva, again in that role.
It features a mix of new songs, with titles such as Viagra and I Went to the Buffet Line, and familiar numbers, among them YMCA.
The amusing happenings include one of the women giving into her craving for chocolate and attacking a box of malt balls she has hidden in her locker.
The musical is recommended for people aged 18 and over. Its Cessnock Performing Arts Centre show is on July 9 at 8pm.
Tickets $45-$49.95. Bookings: 4993 4266.
Rugby League - The Musical, a one-man show put together by sports satirist Denis Carnahan, who became prominent when he wrote and sang a viral state of origin song That's in Queensland, was so popular when it was presented at Lizotte's in Lambton last year that a revised version is having its premiere there on Friday, July 5.
Things that have happened in the state and national rugby league competitions in the past year have been included in its blend of sketch and stand-up comedy and musical satire, with Carnahan making this a very engaging footy show.
Audience members have a choice of dinner and show from 6pm ($72) or show only at 8.30pm ($30). Bookings: 4956 2066.
Rugby League -The Musical can also be seen at The Art House Studio, Wyong, on Friday, August 2, at 8.30pm.
Tickets: $40. Bookings: 4335 1485.
Theatre Review
The Shake Up
Tantrum Youth Arts and Branch Nebula, at Newcastle Museum, Saturday and Sunday, at 5.30pm
THE Shake-up is an interesting and engaging collection of diverse routines, most of them interactive, that look at the 1989 earthquake that hit Newcastle and people's responses to it.
As there are nine events, with many overlapping, in the two and a half hour running time, it's hard to participate in all of them, but the ones I briefly viewed while moving around in others, certainly had intense audiences.
Under the Rubble, a scavenger hunt that has competitive teams looking for seven different objects retrieved long after they had been buried, takes participants through Newcastle Museum's riveting current exhibition Earthquake Then, Now and Again. What I saw certainly has me planning to see it again.
Likewise, The Community Care Collective audio tour of that exhibition and other rooms, with participants wearing earphones, brought back memories of things I had experienced during and after the earthquake.
Adults and children were engagingly involved in an event called Build a New Newy - Cardboard City that had participants making miniature buildings out of cardboard boxes, and I observed an audience riveted by Newcastle Museum's director Julie Baird in a TV-style interview about the earthquake's impacts.
