News

Adelaide Cabaret Festival a Hit

The Adelaide Cabaret Festival under the new Artistic Direction of David Campbell is proving an artistic success and being well patronized.

Kate Peters reports that the mood around the Festival theatre is euphoric.

There’s a buzz that I haven’t felt for a long time. With up to 4 venues all featuring excellent shows (lasting well into the night with a visit to the classy Piano Bar), this is a well-funded, enthusiastically supported festival which is now regarded as world class.

Top Broadway Award for Geoffrey Rush

Actor Geoffrey Rush has won a Tony Award - Broadway's most coveted prize - for his heralded performance in Exit The King. Rush won in the Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play category. The win is the latest honour for the 57-year-old Australian, who has won an Oscar, two Golden Globes and three Screen Actors Guild awards for his film work. The win was predicted by Peter Pinne in the current edition of Stage Whispers Magazine.

Kookaburra's Founder Broke

Kookaburra Founder Peter Cousens says the demise of his music theatre company has cost him his reputation and his home. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald Mr Cousens revealed the great personal financial cost of the failed venture. "Having guaranteed the debts of the company, I have materially lost everything - my home job and no doubt, my reputation," he said.

Dances, Puppets and Elephants on a Grand Scale : Postcard from Thailand.

The hit song from Chess claims “One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster,” but frankly you’re going to need much more than one night to savor Thailand’s theatrical delights, as Peter Pinne found out when he became Stage Whispers’ first official foreign correspondent.

Chicago Rocks Warnie's Socks Off

It was a tale of two musicals in one big city.

Opening night after Chicago at the Lyric Theatre in Star City had a big splashy party.

Pictured, Jeanne Little, Maria Venuti and friend celebrate after receiving a copy of Stage Whispers Magazine.

Across town at the opening of Warnie the Musical - the Producer's cancelled opening night drinks.

The news is grim, because while Warnie the Musical ran for five months in Melbourne it is scheduled to run for three weeks in Sydney.

Hundreds farewell Charles 'Bud' Tingwell

 

Hundreds of friends, family members and fans packed Melbourne's St Paul's Cathedral on Wednesday May 21, 2009 for the state funeral to farewell legendary actor Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, who passed away at the age of 86.

 

The eulogies focussed as much on his war record as his acting career.

"People asked what was it like to have a famous actor for a father,"  said his son Dr  Christopher Tingwell.

"I was prouder of him being a Spitfire pilot ... that fitted the bill more of a hero."

TOURING MAGNOLIAS. Director Darren Yap speaks to Neil Litchfield

A new production of Robert Harling’s 1986 play Steel Magnolias, complete with a fully functioning hair dressing salon set, commenced a 23-week Australian tour on June 5, 2009, at Sydney’s Seymour Centre, followed by 100 performances across 30 venues. Steel Magnolias saw Jacki Weaver, Jennifer Hagan, Ana Maria Belo, Debra Lawrance, Geraldine Turner and Marian Frizelle touring in a Tarago to venues as far afield as Adelaide, Ballarat, Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne, Launceston, Rockhampton, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga.

THE ART OF BEING CONNED.

John Bell can’t ever remember being ripped off. When I spoke to the artistic Director of the Bell Shakespeare Company he was knee deep directing a play about crooks.

Come in Spinner: Warnie the Musical

What an SM-ess I Am In.

It began as a joke. While looking for material to write a full book musical, Eddie Perfect, the Melbourne based cabaret artist and musician pitched this up to his manager. “What about Warnie the Musical?” A few light bulbs went off. “He sent me every book ever written about Warnie and I started to build a profile,” he said. Eddie showcased an early draft of the musical at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2007 and got producers across Australia appealing for the rights.

From Soap to Song & Dance

Craig McLachlan talks to Peter Pinne about Chicago.

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