News

Green Room Awards: 2011 Recipients

The 2011 Green Room Awards, for excellence on the Melbourne stage for the period January 1st through to 31st December 2011, were announced at a ceremony this afternoon, Sunday 18th March, 2012, at The Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne.

MTC 2012 Lawler Studio Season.

MTC Associate Director Aidan Fennessyhas announced the 2012 Lawler Studio Season.

Kate Gaul: The New Electric Ballroom

Stage Whispers’ Whitney Fitzsimmons recently caught up with director Kate Gaul to talk about her exciting new show, The New Electric Ballroom, staged as part of the Griffin Independent season.

Whitney Fitzsimmons: The New Electric Ballroom is set in a fictional town on the West Coast of Ireland. Do you think it will be hard for Australian audiences to relate to?

Mary Poppins Songwriter Dies

Robert B. Sherman, half of the team of songwriting brothers who created the scores for Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, together with numerous other film songs and scores has died at the age of 86.

Together with his brother, Richard M. Sherman, Robert Sherman won two Oscars — for the song Chim Chim Cher-ee from Mary Poppins, and for the score of the same film, created with Walt Disney, whose studios they worked at as staff composers from 1960 to 1973.

Legally Blonde The Musical: Australian Cast Announced

The coveted role of Australia’s Elle Woods in the musical Legally Blonde, which premieres on October 4, has gone to Lucy Durack, with Rob Mills as Warner, David Harris as Emmett, Erika Heynatz as Brooke Wyndham and Cameron Daddo as Professor Callahan, it was announced by producers Howard Panter and John Frost, together with the NSW Minister for Tourism, Major Events and the Arts George Souris on March 5, 2012.

It has now been announced (June 1, 2012) that the role of kooky beautician Paulette will be played by Helen Dallimore.

Outdoor Theatre: The Joys and Perils.

Lucy Graham reports on the challenge of staging a show open to the elements.

Wondering whether to cancel your planned barbecue tonight? Spare a thought for Glenn Elston, for whom theatre productions over the past 25 years have included recalcitrant possums, a cast member falling into a lake, and many cancellations.

WA Premieres of Xanadu and Clinchfield at WAAPA

During March 2012, the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts presents the WA premieres of light-hearted roller-skating Broadway musical Xanadu, and a new award winning drama by Caleb Lewis about the execution of a circus elephant which killed its trainer.

WAAPA presents the Broadway musical adventure Xanadu, opening in Perth on March 17 at Edith Cowan University, Mount Lawley.

900 U.S. Movie Screenings for Love Never Dies

Australia’s production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies, filmed for Blu-rayTM and DVD, will have 900 screenings in the U.S. next week before it is released globally. ‘This is a terrific ‘thumbs up’ for us,’ Tim McFarlane, Producer of the Australian production of Love Never Dies and Managing Director of The Really Useful Company, responsible for The Really Useful Group’s activities in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, said in Sydney today.

New Leadership Team Announced for State Theatre Company of SA

State Theatre Company of South Australia (STCSA) has announced Geordie Brookman and Rob Brookman as the incoming Artistic Director and CEO/Producer of the company respectively.

State Theatre Company Chair, John Irving, said the appointments marked a new era in the Company’s long and proud history.

Legally Blonde Producer Upstaged by Blonde Kevin and Ranga Julia.

Howard Panter is one of the biggest name in theatre in the UK. His Ambassador Theatre Group owns 39 venues, including the Savoy and Piccadilly theatres. The company also  co-produces hit musicals and plays by the bucket load. The biggest hits include Ghost the Musical and the latest production of West Side Story which also toured Australia.

But in Sydney for another visit, his latest gala announcement was dashed by the leadership challenge in Canberra.

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