Reviews
Chicago
“Lucy Maunder has always been known as one of our “sweet” musical theatre leading ladies, but she pulls out all the stops to give us a Roxie Hart who is vulnerable and a dreamer, as well as a fiercely ambitious schemer. We haven’t seen a Roxie this complete since Nancye Hayes’ original Roxie in Australia in 1981. (Interestingly, THAT production was choreographed by our own great Ross Coleman… not Fosse). Maunder is a delight from start to finish and there are moments when she is genuinely touching.”
Stage Whispers
“Lucy Maunder’s Roxie was a force of nature, weaving together the complexities of Roxie Hart’s personality with finesse and flair. The collaboration with her ensemble boys added an extra layer of excitement, making “Roxie” an unforgettable moment in a night filled with theatrical brilliance. Maunder effortlessly shifted between playful flirtation and the character’s deeper, more contemplative moments.”
The Fame Reporter
“Performing the roles of the leading ladies, Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart are Zoë Ventoura and Lucy Maunder. From the moment these two ladies enter the stage they command attention. Ventoura’s voice is strong and her dancing ability leaves you in awe. She proved last night she is defiantly a new leading lady in Australian Theatre.
Maunder’s Roxie Hart has cemented her as an amazing Australian talent. The cheeky banter and onstage chemistry between the two leading ladies is electric and brings a smile to your face. Their individual solos are amazing and when they perform their duets together you are witnessing something special.”
Arts Review
“Enter the vixens of vaudeville, Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, brought to life by Lucy Maunder and Zoe Ventoura respectively.
These ladies had me rooting for murder like it was a sport.
Roxie (Maunder), our adorable murderess, was a perfect combination of cheeky and ambition, stirring up a storm of deception after offing her lover.
These ladies didn’t just command the stage; they owned it, all the way through until their final duet.”
Courier Mail
“Next, we’re introduced to the effervescent Roxie Hart, played by musical theatre stalwart Lucy Maunder. A washed-up chorus girl, Roxie heads down a path of deception after she murders her lover Fred Casely and tries to get her dim-witted husband Amos (Peter Rowsthorn) to take the blame.
Maunder brings the right mix of vulnerability and tenacity to the role, as Roxie grows evermore fame-hungry in her quest for an acquittal, cajoled by the smooth-talking lawyer Billy Flynn (Anthony Warlow). The pair are dynamite in We Both Reached For the Gun, where Billy dictates a new version of the truth while bouncing Roxie around on his lap like a ventriloquist.”
The Guardian
“Maunder has a wide variety of roles under her belt and yet seemed ideally suited to Roxie, leaning right into her character’s charisma whilst portraying her as a calculating entertainer. Ventoura and Maunder’s on stage chemistry is a real highlight of the show, with their back and forth rivalry that turns into a double act captivating the audience.”
Broadway World
“Maunder, who recently had a fantastic turn as Mrs Banks in Mary Poppins, revels in playing the cunning, doe-eyed, blonde with ambition. There’s a lot of expectation laid on actors who step into these iconic roles, but Ventoura and Maunder have Velma and Roxie under their heels.”
Out In Perth
Mary Poppins
“Rounding out the central adults are Lucy Maunder and Tom Wren as Winifred and George Banks. Maunder is always a delight to watch and listen to and her expressions that convey Winifred’s true feelings are priceless. She gives Winifred depth while exposing the expectations of women in Edwardian England. She captures the inner conflict the former actress has with her new role in life as a wife and mother trying to keep her husband happy by assimilating with the society he wants to be associated with.”
Broadway World
“Lucy Maunder excels as Winifred Banks.”
Sydney Morning Herald
“Bringing heart and soul to the production are Tom Wren and Lucy Maunder, as Mr and Mrs Banks. Both performers prove adept at portraying more tender aspects of the story, and it is that poignancy they deliver, that earns our emotional investment.”
Suzy Goes See
“George and Winifred Banks, played by Tom Wren and Lucy Maunder respectively, convincingly portray two parents in two very different places – one buried in his work and the other trying to do the best she can to maintain family values. Songs like ‘A Man Has Dreams’ and the heartfelt ‘Being Mrs Banks’ are highlights from these two.”
Scenestr
“Winifred Banks is no longer a suffragette, and her new songs place her solely in the role and scope of wife and mother (though Lucy Maunder has long made an art out of giving sketched-out women of musical theatre new breaths of full, fighting life).”
The Guardian
Fun Home
“Lucy Maunder is simply outstanding as present-day Alison. Vocally stunning, witty, and honest. In what feels like a mutual taking of hands, she guides us and Alison to a place of realisation and peace. This is an intelligent powerful performance, gritty and angry in places, warm and beautifully generous in others”
Australian Stage
“And Maunder warmly brings out a mature, yet equally devastating realisation of slipping time and heart-wrenching loss in Telephone Wire.”
The Guardian
“Lucy Maunder is adult Alison creating her memoir. She gently draws us in emotionally as she finds her truth by observing and ultimately stepping into her own memory and exploding in regret, hope and a new degree of understanding”
Arts Review
“A superlative performance from Maunder”
Arts Hub
“Given that grown up Alison is in every scene, either as a quiet observer or filling in the gaps of the story with her thoughts on the situations or contemplating the caption for the image she’ll illustrate, Lucy Maunder ensures that it is clear that Alison is absorbing what she is witnessing/recalling, responding to the events even when the focus isnt supposed to be on her. There is a poignancy in grown up Alison’s reflection and as always, it is a treat to hear Maunder’s strong rich vocals”
Broadway World
Pippin
“Lucy Maunder’s surprisingly lovely, open-hearted take on Catherine, the widowed mother who falls for Pippin. She grounds the show; she reaches out to our softer parts. She gives us a few moments to catch our breath and feel some real emotion, with her softer songs that are balanced with stronger emotional conviction”
The Guardian
“Maunder is warm and immensely appealing as Catherine, and she’s in fine voice (fortunately, having a number of opportunities during Act II to showcase her sizeable vocal prowess)”
Theatre People
“Vocally, for me it is Lucy Maunder as Catherine who shines the brightest. Maunder has given Catherine that wonderful mix of charisma, humour and heartbreaking honesty that makes this role perhaps even more interesting than it was initially written to be”
Theatre Travels
“Maunder’s Catherine steals much of the show”
The Aureview
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
“…Maunder’s comic touch: she’s perfectly cast as the ambitious, glamorous, wise-cracking Weil.”
The Age
“Lucy Maunder as Cynthia Weil is superb.”
Arts Hub
“The other songwriting team, Cynthia Weil (Lucy Maunder) and Barry Mann (Mat Verevis), combine powerful vocals and acting prowess. Maunder is particularly charismatic as the self-made Cynthia, a lyricist with a ready wit.”
Australian Stage
Matilda
“Miss Honey is as gentle and kind as we imagined reading the book as a child. Lucy Maunder perfectly captures her tenderness and vulnerability, and her presence warms the stage. “
The Barefoot Review
Heathers
“Maunder’s Heather Chandler falls on the other side of the coin: she is the epitome of camp. Her hair is higher than everyone else’s, she has the most fun with her mean commentary, she’s the least human character – more a drag caricature – and her coldness is a scream. It’s a perfect role for Maunder, whose clarion tone is malleable and rings so delightfully with menace here.”
The Guardian
“Amongst all these riches, the show is stolen by Lucy Maunder as Heather Chandler. Maunder was born to play Heather Chandler and her performance is a comedic masterclass — every arched eyebrow and snarky side-eye is executed perfectly.”
The Daily Review
“Lucy Maunder as #1 Heather Chandler had completely tied down and handcuffed her part, which made the audience somewhat sad she had to die. Maunder’s physical comedy paired with Cole’s facial gags made them an on-stage frenemy couple you couldn’t take your eyes off.”
Broadway World
Grease
“Lucy Maunder stands out as the feisty Rizzo, turning in the night’s strongest vocal performance on There Are Worse Things I Could Do”
The Sydney Morning Herald
“Lucy Maunder’s rendition of There Are Worse Things I Could Do was beautifully tender”
The Age
“Lucy Maunder is in a league of her own with a brittle Rizzo”
Aussietheatre.com
“The best solo of the show belongs to a defiant Lucy Maunder as Rizzo, whose fine vibrato has the measure of There are Worse Things I Could Do”
The Australian
“Lucy Maunder as Rizzo is the highlight of the entire show, grabbing attention as soon as she struts out in her dark sunglasses and by the end delivers a commanding performance of ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’.”
Theatrepress.com.au
Irving Berlin: Songs In the Key of Black
“It should be said she’s a good, if not great actor, too; that aspect of her performance is every bit as immaculate as the vocal.
In LM’s hands, we’re touched, deeply, all over again.
That Maunder can carry the inherent difficulties and challenges of this show tune off as effortlessly as she can the heartrending (or heartbreaking) ballads is another feather in her cap.
This proved yet another example of Maunder’s vocal and theatrical versatility: she has immense, endearing, comprehensive capacity to shift the mood and dynamics, while remaining utterly consistent in the clarity and quality of her delivery; she has enviable precision. So much so, her vocal instrument gives the overwhelming impression its utterly failsafe. And this is far from damnation by faint praise. Her diction is superb; phrasing, deeply thoughtful. The last, moreover, enables the most moving interpretations of lyrics, which leave plenty of room to spare for the melodies to work their magic, too.
In the end, while this is a showcase for the swelling talent that is Maunder, generously buoyed by the others herein named, Berlin is the star and, when you think about it, it doesn’t take much memory-jogging to be reminded of his greatness. Inasmuch, Maunder has done Berlin proud and us a great service. The simpatico between Maunder and her musical director (a virtuosic pianist, to boot) is a marriage made in heaven, so let’s hope it lasts longer than most.
Songs In The Key Of Black is a love letter. To Irving, from Lucy.”
Crikey.com.au
“It takes a certain indefinable quality to grab your audience and hold them spellbound on the rise and fall of your voice, captivated by the movement of your body and the expression on your face. It’s called star power, and of it you can only say that you know it when you see it.
We are seldom given so fine a chance to appreciate a great singer, a great actress and a great musician as we have been afforded with Lucy Maunder in Songs in the Key of Black. Shimmering into view with her trademark elegance and verve she holds you from the first whispered lines and she doesn’t let you go.”
Aussietheatre.com
Reasons to Be Pretty
“It’s a lovely performance from Andrew Henry and is matched by Lucy Maunder’s Carly, whose sassy minx is gradually revealed as more vulnerable and fragile than she can bear to contemplate. It’s good to see her getting her teeth into a non-singing role and giving such a nuanced performance.”
Sunday Sun Herald
The Threepenny Opera
“Fresh from the relative ordinariness of the Russian Revolution and Dr Zhivago, Lucy Maunder taps into Polly’s fount of youth and zealous integrity with wide-eyed ingenuousness and that lovely voice. She represents her ghastly mother’s petit bourgeois aspirations, whether she likes it or not, and makes more than it deserves of the show’s least interesting but vital role of the ingénue.”
Stagenoise.com
Doctor Zhivago
“Maunder is spellbinding, her portrayal of Lara making men’s fascination with her perfectly clear.”
Theatrepeople.com.au
“Rising star Lucy Maunder has a bright beautiful voice, and is charming as Lara”
theatrepress.com.au
“Lucy Maunder (Lara) and Taneel Van Zyl (Tonia) crystallize Zhivago’s romantic dilemma with performances of unearthly beauty.”
The Age
“Lucy Maunder personifies the danger and passion of Lara beautifully.”
Sydney Morning Herald
“Lucy Maunder (Lara) gives a refreshing and raw performance, her voice has a kind of innocence in its timbre, and you could imagine this voice in a Disney movie. Anthony Warlow (Doctor Zhivago) and Maunder have developed their characters with great depth and generate an intense chemistry onstage. Warlow’s voice truly never disappoints.
Memorable moments were Anthony Warlow and Lucy Maunders duet, performing the signature song “Now” and the incredible duet between Lucy Maunder and Taneel Van Zyl who plays Zhivago’s wife, Tonia. They sing in the Library, where they lament and sense a common link over their love for Doctor Zhivago”
Dancelife.com.au
“Maunder’s Lara is a model of sensual intelligence and her singing is very fine.”
Sydney Morning Herald
“The enigmatic, alluring Lara is brilliantly played by Lucy Maunder”
Artshub.com.au
“The cast, led by Warlow, Lucy Maunder and Taneel Van Zyl, are all in fine voice. The onstage chemistry between the leads as they portray the participants in one of literature’s most famous love triangles was very apparent, even from the back of the theatre.”
Peterayoung.com.au
“Lucy Maunder as Zhivago’s great love Lara, and Martin Crewes as her husband-turned-avenger Pasha Antipov are the breakthrough stars of the show. Maunder is convincing as the woman who has three powerful men in her thrall; and even more, that Zhivago’s wife Tonia comes to understand and accept why….
…In the world of musical theatre the reported budget of $5.5m is chicken feed, (Spiderman has probably spent that in a week and apparently is still a disaster) yet Dr Zhivago is lavish looking, rich in talent and is a night out to remember – if the great sweep of history and grand tragic romance are your thing. And some day soon Maunder and Crewes will be Broadway- or West End-bound.
Stagenoise.com.au
“And deserving of much praise is the rising star Lucy Maunder as Lara, who captures the heart of Zhivago, perhaps the only weakness to her otherwise strong-willed nature. Maunder is stunning – and can now proudly declare herself one of the leading ladies of Australian musical theatre.”
AussieTheatre.com
“Lucy Maunder is exquisite as Lara”
timeoutsydney.com.au
“Maunder cracks Lara’s complexity and brings her to life, particularly in the duets with Warlow.”
The Daily Telegraph
“Maunder’s presence is everything her character’s should be; always felt.”
crikey.com.au
“Maunder sings most attractively, with a velvety lower register, and works gracefully.”
The Australian
A Little Night Music
“Lucy Maunder effervesces as the flirtatious, yet sexually reluctant young wife Anne.”
stagewhispers.com.au
“Lucy Maunder shines as Anne.”
Sunday Sun Herald