News

Seymour Centre Celebrates 50 Years With 2025 Season

Image: Cowbois, photo by Pollyanna Nowicki

Sydney’s Seymour Centre’s 50th year begins with the launch of the annual Seymour Season, a set of five events including three international plays and two locally produced works, presented in partnership with independent Australian theatre companies.

Catching Stars

Peter and the Starcatcher had a profound impact on Coral Drouyn when she saw it on Broadway … now she is excited to explore the Dead Puppet Society’s take on the show in this first Australian production.

Once upon a time the world was a kinder place, and we believed in dreams and lived in hope. We imagined Never-Never Land, but got stuck with Never Land:

Never show your emotions.

Never offend anyone.

Never give a sucker an even break.

Never tell anyone your dreams in case they think you’re crazy.

Angelina Thomson Joins Guys & Dolls on Sydney Harbour as Miss Adelaide

Opera Australia has announced Angelina Thomson will play Miss Adelaide in its brand-new production of award-winning Broadway musical Guys & Dolls when it opens at Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour on 21 March.

Director Shaun Rennie is looking forward to getting started on rehearsals with his cast now complete.

Karis Oka To Play Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice The Musical

Michael Cassel Group, Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, and Langley Park Productions have announced that the role of Lydia Deetz, the peculiar and quick-witted teenager with a penchant for the afterlife, in BEETLEJUICE will be played by Karis Oka. 

Pick of the Plays 2025

In 2025 The Bard is back, along with some blockbuster Australian plays, world premieres, classics updated and Indigenous works. David Spicer picks some of the highlights. 

 

All the world’s a stage for Shakespeare in Australia in the year ahead.

 

Musicals in 2025

Unpublished

A swag of hit Broadway and West End musicals never before seen in Australia will wend their way around the country in 2025, alongside some old favourites to tap the nostalgia buttons.

 

The post Covid era, along with high interest rates, combined to encourage conservative choices by musical theatre producers. The year ahead is the most innovative in a long time.

 

2024 Sydney Theatre Award Winners Announced

Image: Tamsin Carroll in August Osage County. Photographer: Brett Boardman

The winners of the 2024 Sydney Theatre Awards were announced tonight (January 20, 2025) at a star-studded ceremony, with 28 Awards presented, shared between 16 productions which played on Sydney stages during 2024. Almost 500 members of the Sydney theatre community gathered at the York Theatre, Seymour Centre to celebrate.

Disorder in Court

It’s the hottest ticket to the hottest show in town – and David Spicer scored the very best seat – on stage in full Judge’s regalia. He reports on what it's like to watch the Sydney Festival’s production of Model Murder from the bench.

The immersive theatre season of Model Murder – staged in a real-life court room in Darlinghurst - is so sold out that you can’t even reserve a standby ticket!

Stage Whispers Most Popular Reviews of 2024

The Stage Whispers website had a record 1.8 million visits in 2024 thanks in no small way to our enthusiastic reviewers who cover the performing arts in all corners of Australia. Click here to find out how to advertise your next production. 

Our most popular reviews of productions which took place in 2024 include musicals, plays and a puppet show staged in Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.