What the critics say

Is this what you'd call a lining up of the creative planets? Earlier this year, the Maidment Theatre staged the debut of composer John Rimmer and librettist Witi Ihimaera's opera, Galileo.

Its subject was the 17th-century Italian scientist who laid the groundwork for modern physics and was severely punished by the Catholic Church for his views, particularly his deduction that all planets revolved around the Sun. Rimmer first started thinking about the project 10 years ago, and then came the Catholic Church's commission of inquiry in 1992 that ruled in favour of Galileo, after all these years.

After a long fight to get funding, the multi-media opera was finally staged in April, with our critic William Dart calling it a "an engrossing production ... its message is universal and yes, there are still Galileos among us, struggling for justice and enlightenment against a bigoted establishment".

It seems another composer has found Galileo's story inspirational as well. American composer Philip Glass' latest opera - Galileo Galilei - has just completed its European premiere in London's Barbican Theatre.

American Mary Zimmerman, who wrote the libretto, told the Independent she wanted to "capture the great passion in Galileo's science". Unlike some of Glass' operas - such as the testing, four-and-a-half-hour-long Einstein on the Beach - Galileo Galilei apparently has a narrative and is only 90 minutes long.

However, the Observer thought the vocal lines banal and the music tame, while the Guardian critic must have had a really bad night, saying it was "as feeble and excruciatingly dull a piece of music theatre as anyone could have the misfortune to encounter".

Hey there:

Georgie Girl, Annie Goldson's and Peter Wells' documentary about the life of transsexual Wairarapa MP Georgina Beyer, last week picked up its fifth award, best documentary, at the International Festival of Gay and Lesbian Cinema in Madrid.

At the same time, it also took the best film award at the New Zealand Media Peace Awards. Beyer was in Madrid for the awards, while Goldson was promoting the film in New York.

Georgie Girl has also won the audience award for best documentary at this year's Sydney International Film Festival; the excellence in documentary award in San Francisco's Frameline International Film Festival; and the audience award at the Queerdoc Film Festival.

Wells points out that as well as the New York and Madrid screenings, the film is also playing in Hawaii, Capetown and Korea:

"Is this some kind of a hat-trick?" he says, with pride.

Makeover madness:

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, that weird creature from the British series of Changing Rooms, has the job of designing the costumes for a Christmas production of Peter Pan at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

Amazingly, the man who inflicts gilt, stencils, frills and all manner of tackiness on his victims, has used a black theme for the show, inspired by Arthur Rackham drawings.

Captain Hook is played by Richard Wilson, aka Victor Meldrew of One Foot in the Grave. Despite the insane level of fame generated by his Changing Rooms role, Llewelyn-Bowen "yearns to be taken seriously as a creative artist", according to the Guardian.

- Linda Herrick

The Gaze of Our Lives, Wes Fieldhouse; Portraits, Peter Wichman, Oedipus Rex Gallery

Wes Fieldhouse reproduces photographs from National Geographic in paint and groups them in threes in ways that emphasise the strangeness and the richness of the world.

Peter Wichman's portraits produce a range of characters whose personalities are as theatrical as the strange groupings that usually feature in his work. Together they make an exceptionally powerful show; until December 13.

- T.J. McNamara

La Boheme, Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber:

A lively production of Puccini's Parisian student love tragedy by stalwarts of the Auckland music scene, the Opera Factory; directed by Paul Person, who co-founded the touring Perkel Opera in the 1960s which gradually grew into NBR NZ Opera; Thursday to Sunday at 7.30pm.

- Linda Herrick

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Sky City Theatre:

The Auckland Theatre Company production is extended already, with extra performances from December 16-21, and midnight matinees on December 20 and 21.

Said our reviewer, "It is whiz-bang with whistles-on wizardry", singling out Joel Tobeck's Frank'N'Furter as "a marvellous creation". Perfect for the silly season.

- Linda Herrick