News

Wicked's New Playboy Prince

David Harris will be joining the hit musical WICKED in the role of Fiyero for the 2011 national tour, WICKED Australia Co-Producer John Frost announced today.

Sydney Festival 2011 - January 8 –30

Festival Director Lindy Hume today announced details of Sydney Festival 2011, a program of theatre, dance, music and film with artists from all over the world set to run from January 8–30. The 2011 Festival, Hume’s second as Festival Director, brings narrative to the forefront with storytelling on every scale.  

Malthouse Season 1, 2011

Malthouse Theatre’s new Artistic Director Marion Potts has announced her first season of ten productions, including three World Premieres, three Melbourne Premieres, four dance productions, three new adaptations of classics, two Malthouse commissions, and two return seasons by popular demand.

The season begins in February with Marion Potts’s direction of her own “epic, almost operatic adaptation” of John Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, collaborating with composer Andrée Greenwell.

OzMade Musicals 2010

Magnormos showcases nine new and recently produced Australian musicals in OzMade Musicals on November 15th at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. The annual one-night only event will be hosted by Rhonda Burchmore, who replaces the previously announced Toni Lamond, currently recovering from minor surgery

The Divine Miss Bette - A Cabaret

The Divine Miss Bette - A Cabaret, a one hour show based on Bette Midler, plays at Slide Cabaret Club on November 11.

Performer Catherine Alcorn says, “The Divine Miss Bette is absolutely the next best thing to seeing Bette herself as my vocal coach, Steve Ostrow, is the very man who discovered her in New York City in the 1970's. He is famously known for having owned the Continental Baths where Bette and Barry Manilow launched their careers.

The 2010 Sydney Cabaret Showcase

The Annual Cabaret Showcase is set to present a new line-up of cabaret talent in Sydney this December. Now in its 8th year, this year’s Showcase promises to be the biggest yet! Produced by Your Management, the event provides the opportunity for cabaret and musical theatre talent at all stages of their career, to showcase their abilities in front of an audience and before a panel of judges assembled from Australia’s leading entertainers and entertainment industry professionals.

More Misses than Hits in Regional Tours.

David Spicer reports that audiences in regional Australia are staying away from most of the plays, dance, children’s theatre and comedy acts which are sent on tour by the Commonwealth Government’s Playing Australia Program.

In 2009 the most successful productions came from the private sector, whilst works produced by traditional subsidised State Theatre Companies were amongst the least successful.

The last time Stage Whispers scrutinised the figures it ruffled some feathers at the Arts on Tour office in New South Wales.

Doctor Zhivago Musical - Cast Announced

The principal cast of the musical Doctor Zhivago, to premiere in Sydney in February 2011, was announced by producer John Frost on October 22.

Acclaimed musical star Anthony Warlow who plays Doctor Yurii Zhivago will be joined by Lucy Maunder as Lara, and Taneel Van Zyl in the role of his wife Tonia. Martin Crewes plays political radical Pasha Antipov, Bartholomew John plays corrupt attorney Viktor Komarovsky and in the roles of Alexander and Anna are Peter Carroll and Trisha Noble.

Belvoir Goes International

Belvoir has announced that two of its shows – The Diary of A Madman and The Sapphires – will tour to New York and London respectively in 2011. Belvoir’s General Manager Brenna Hobson said, ‘Belvoir’s local, national and international touring program forms a key part of the Company’s activities each year. We’re thrilled to be taking these productions overseas, and to be introducing new and wider audiences to our work.’

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