Opera Queensland will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2011 with two Puccini dramas, The Girl of the Golden West and Tosca, forming the top and tail of its core season and Mozart comedy Così fan tutte delivering the light relief in between.
Ian Nisbet looks behind the scenes of Hairspray, the latest big musical to open in Melbourne.
Producer Paul Dainty raised some eyebrows at the cast launch for Hairspray in June.
"The big shows now don't have names in them [anymore]” he said.
“[Hairspray will be] the most elaborate and expensive musical to be staged this year” (Herald Sun) and “the production… will cost about $1m more than [Dainty’s] current hit Jersey Boys" (The Australian).
Global Creatures (Carmen Pavlovic, CEO) and Bazmark (the multi-media company founded and owned by Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin) have announced a partnership to produce a stage musical adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s hit film Strictly Ballroom.
Baz Luhrmann will commence a creative workshop of the book, text, and music in December, 2010 in Sydney, Australia. The full production schedule and location of the premiere will be announced at a later date.
Nuns are not new to musicalisation - take Nunsense and Sound of Music - but a new Australian musical chronicling the life of our own Mary MacKillop, premiering in Sydney and Melbourne in October to coincide with the canonisation of Australia's first saint, is probably set to become the first local addition to the sub-genre.
Written by newcomer Xavier Brouwer, MacKillop has a cast of 80 and a 25 piece orchestra.
They’re calling it the “Glee Effect”. The TV show Glee is credited with increased audiences, bigger attendances at auditions and more musicals being performed. Kimberley Shaw reports.
Carrie Fisher will perform her play Wishful Drinking in Australia during October and November.
“If my life wasn’t funny it would just be true, and that is unacceptable.” Carrie Fisher
Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher’s hit autobiographical stage production, will be touring to five Australian cities from 19th October 2010, direct from a successful Broadway run - its first performances outside America.
Melbourne Theatre Company Artistic Director Simon Phillips today (September 21) announced MTC Season 2011, his last the after twelve years leading the Company.
Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett today (September 20) announced Sydney Theatre Company’s 2011 Main Stage Season, their third as Artistic Directors of the Company, comprising twelve productions at Sydney Theatre, the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House and The Wharf. The 2011 season features a variety of works concerned with the outsider, the fragility and struggle of the individual and the sometimes isolated, dislocated lives of those in search of identity and community.
Multiple Helpmann winner iOTA leads the headliners in Ziggy, The Songs of David Bowie, a homage to David Bowie, the pop phenomenon - the influential individualist with the uncanny ability to push boundaries and transform himself and the world around him. In the concert, touring during November, iOTA shares the stage with Jeff Duff, Steve Balbi, Brydon Stace, and a star-studded band drawn from the ranks of Silverchair, Noiseworks, Leo Sayer and Jimmy Barnes.
Sydney’s Belvoir welcomed a new Artistic Director, a new logo, fresh talent and a new, stripped back name in 2011 as the company celebrated the launch of its inaugural season under Ralph Myers on September 15.
