THE annual Star Struck production featuring more than 3500 students from Hunter and Central Coast public schools has been such a hit since it was introduced 27 years ago that this year's theme, "No Limits", is appropriate.
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Star Struck 2019 - No Limits, which will be staged at Newcastle Entertainment Centre on June 14 and 15, and demonstrates through song, dance, music, comedy and other routines, such as circus acts, how there are no limits to the love, imagination and experiences that people have as they move through their lives.
The performers make it clear that there are no limits to what people can do when they set their sights on doing things. Since the second year of Star Struck, for example, a signing choir comprised of young people with hearing problems has been part of the performing team, with their hand movements adding to watchers' enjoyment of their songs. Their number this year appropriately will be Endless Love.
The show will also feature an Aboriginal dance company with 22 indigenous students. They have been trained by Sani Townson, who was a member of the Indigenous Bangarra Dance Company for many years and is now based in Gosford. Their routine, Mother Earth, will be a tribute to their backgrounds.
The Newcastle-based staging team is headed by teachers Casey Horner as operations manager and Kirsten Dickason as the creative director. The students involved in the show are in infants, primary and secondary schools and come from as far away as Merriwa, with teachers and trainers working with groups in different areas and the performers and staging crews getting together in Newcastle in the three weeks before Star Struck is performed.
The shows give the young performers the chance to use skills they have learnt out of school hours. An aerial team, who have trained with Circus Avalon, will perform a routine above the arena, Heightened Reality, which will have watchers in awe. Students will use puppets made by renowned Newcastle puppeteer John Deacon who helps young people to manipulate them in engrossing and amusing ways.
Performing in Star Struck has helped many participants to develop skills that have led them to become professional actors, singers and dancers. Maitland's David Harris, for example, moves between Australia and the United States, with several Broadway shows to his credit.
Star Struck demonstrates through song, dance, music, comedy and other routines, such as circus acts, that there are no limits to the love, imagination and experiences that people have as they move through their lives.
Many of Star Struck's principal players take part in training courses for the leading players. Tom Hamilton, for example, who is 17 and in Year 12 at Hunter School of the Performing Arts, is a member this year of the Talent Development Course (TDP).
The training has helped him write a song, Home, that he will perform in the show's Heightened Reality segment. And the song will be released on Spotify in the week of the Stage Struck performances.
The 13 Star Struck segments, with a total of more than 45 items, include Fight or Flight - do we fight to achieve what we think is right or do we take flight?; Dreamscope - where do we go in our dreams?; Movers and Shakers, looking at people such as Elton John who pushed the limits of music; Beyond the Stars - what is out there in the universe?; and Super Heroes - Brave and Strong, which investigates the nature of characters including Superman.
Star Struck 2019 - No Limits can be seen at Newcastle Entertainment Centre in Broadmeadow on Friday, June 14, at 10.30am and 7pm, and on Saturday, June 15, at 2pm and 7pm. Tickets - $39.10 to $55.10 - can be bought through Ticketek.
THE 2019 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow has begun its tour to 80 Australian venues, with Cessnock Performing Arts Centre and Newcastle's Civic Theatre among the first to host the show.
It is recommended for people aged 15-plus, because it will contain coarse language and sexual references.
It can be seen at Cessnock on Thursday, June 6, at 8pm (tickets $50, subscriber $45), and at the Civic nightly at 8pm from Friday, June 7, to Sunday, June 9 (tickets $55, subscriber $45).
This year's MC is Dave Callan, an Irish-born Melbourne comic best known for his roles on Rove Live and Triple J. Callan was part of the cast of Good Game from 2011 to 2016. He has also featured in many Australian and international comedy festivals and shown his skills as a comedy MC.
Cal Wilson moved to Australia from New Zealand in 2003 and has become one of Australia's most popular comedians. Her many roles have included being a comedy writer for Charlie Pickering's The Weekly in its first two years on the ABC.
Sean Choolburra won the NSW RAW Comedy Final in 2002 and has performed globally as well as appearing in shows such as the NRL Footy Show and Thank God You're Here.
Daniel Connell launched himself in a 2009 emerging comedian competition, Green Faces, in Canberra, and has been a stand-up performer at each of the last eight Melbourne Comedy Fests.
Blake Freeman is one of Australia's brightest new comedians and was the winner of this year's Melbourne Comedy Fest's best newcomer award.
