Live performance as a form of children’s entertainment has stiff competition these days as rapidly produced and voraciously consumed digital content vies for attention. Parents somehow need to know when enough is enough.
Now, imagine trying to exercise control with a “cut and come again” pudding that replenishes itself when eaten and can transform into dozens of different flavours. That is the in-demand item in Norman Lindsay’s classic, Aussie tug-of-war bush adventure, The Magic Pudding, with its starring irritable pudding, Albert.
“All things in moderation” comes to mind as Victorian Opera once again warmly revives composer Calvin Bowman and librettist Anna Goldsworthy’s version of Lindsay’s tale – a compact 70-minute romp that coasts along, plump with melodic pleasure.
Premiered in 2013, The Magic Pudding: The Opera has enjoyed several revivals, travelled the state and continues to provide entertaining sustenance for the whole family.
Leaning into Gilbert and Sullivan-like light opera, folk influences and anthemic music with 1920s style musical comedy, Bowman’s score is chock full of tuneful treats that mix neatly to bring flavoursome nuance to Goldsworthy’s pared-back but faithful adaptation of Lindsay’s early 20th century rhyme-laden prose.
In the pit, conductor Phoebe Briggs elevates the score with a crisp but effortless-seeming flow, enhanced by fine playing from the VO Chamber Orchestra. On stage, revival director Elizabeth Hill-Cooper maintains the energy and exaggerated gestures of Cameron Menzies’ original work, contributing enormously to the strength of the production.
Simple choreographed movements leave an indelible impact from the trio of Bunyip Bluegum (Bailey Montgomerie), Bill Barnacle (Douglas Kelly) and Sam Sawnoff (Joshua Morton-Galea) – creating splendidly danced and sung performance highlights – while encounters with the “puddin’ thieves” Watkin Wombat (Mia Koutsoumidis) and Patrick the Possum (Phoebe Tait) make for lots of comic moments in the many melees. Under the spotlight, Albert is a gangly, gruff-looking, basin-topped and lidded pudding puppet who Eamon Dooley brings to life with remarkable agility.
The visual field is aided by an effective, straightforward set by designer Chloe Greaves comprising an artistically painted bush backdrop with woody stage elements and a few rolled-in props. The costumes (revival costume designer Mel Serjeant, after Greaves) capture the caricatured fauna with a superb eye for detail and amusement, while revival lighting designer Robert Brown (after Peter Darby) catches the moods in an assortment of thoughtful ways.
The result is a magical bushland setting brought to life by a pool of talented young developing and emerging artists in a fable celebrating tight-knit friends and friendship building, the risks and excitement of adventure, and the gaiety of song.
The work opens with an affable Narrator whom Rachael Joyce imbues with much sparkle as an outfitted avian, elegantly penetrating in song despite the spoken word requiring a little more projection.
Albert’s big starring aria is a rather melancholic affair – a sympathy-inducing moment which Dooley’s handsomely burnished baritone imbues with pathos.
Montgomerie’s proven ability to adapt and give depth to the roles he plays is manifested in his erudite and distinguished portrayal of tubby koala, Bunyip Bluegum, his resonant, fluid baritone in prime form.
Kelly matches sailor Bill Barnacle’s roughened but resolute approach with an assured muscular tenor alongside Morton-Galea’s loveable flapping penguin Sam Sawnoff, to whom he gives a warm and vibrant lyrical tenor.
Koutsoumidis and Tait jiggle about entertainingly as the bumbling pair of pudding thieves Wombat and Possum. Brittney Northcott’s ripe and plummy mezzo-soprano adds depth to new-found friend and basset hound Benjimen Brandysnap, and Emma Mueller acts and sings a memorable pizzicato song as Rooster.
Alessia Pintabona works the comedy well, doubling as the gavel-swinging Judge and quirky Hedgehog while Matthew O’Leary sings with great intensity as the archetypal keystone cop. Completing the story, as checked-shirted rural folk, a small ensemble of seven adds much to the slice of enjoyment in often parroting the text as a comical Greek chorus.
It is wonderful to see The Magic Pudding: The Opera back. The many children in the audience clearly delighted in it, and I’m certain so many of their parents did too, not least because it draws young audiences into live storytelling rather than the distraction of handheld devices.
The Magic Pudding: The Opera
The Round, 379 – 399 Whitehorse Road, Nunawading
Performance: Saturday 16 May 2026
The Magic Pudding: The Opera will also be presented at Darebin Arts Centre (22 May) and Bunjil Place, Narre Warren (29 & 30 May). For more information, visit: www.victorianopera.com.au for details.
Images: The Magic Pudding: The Opera – photos by Casey Horsfield
Review: Paul Selar