News

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.

Side By Side By Sondheim: Special Charity Event

On Friday 20 April, some of Australia’s most popular and acclaimed stage performers will gather to appear in a one-off performance of the acclaimed musical revue Side By Side By Sondheim.

Side By Side By Sondheim is a celebration of the earlier work of legendary Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and features songs from groundbreaking musicals that revolutionised Broadway, including West Side Story and Gypsy.

ANNIE CHILDREN’S CAST ANNOUNCED FOR QUEENSLAND

Producer John Frost today announced the 24 local children who have been cast in the upcoming Brisbane production of the Annie.

There will be three different casts alternating in the roles of Annie and the seven orphans during the season which opens on April 7 in the Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s (QPAC’s) Lyric Theatre.

The three girls cast as Annie in the Brisbane production are Jazmine May, Anita Munro, and Chloe Thiel.

Jersey Boys to Tour

Melbourne Return season announced.

It has now been announced that Jersey Boys – The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons will return to Melbourne, playing at Melbourne's Princess Theatre from January 10, for a strictly limited 14 week season.

This follows the Brisbane and Adelaide seasons. Jersey Boys opened at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC on July 13, 2012. The show will also play at the Festival Theatre, Adelaide, from October 26, 2012.

Summer of the 90th Year for our ‘Doll’ Playwright.

56 years after its premiere in Melbourne, The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler is a hit all over again under the direction of Neil Armfield, selling out last year in Sydney at Belvoir and now opening in Melbourne, Wollongong and Brisbane. ‘The Doll’ is lauded as a game changer for Australian theatre, not only because it portrayed Australian life, but because it was the first Australian play to tour internationally. Lucy Graham caught up with the ninety-year-old playwright Ray Lawler at his bayside home in Melbourne.

Soccer Mums and Dads in New Aussie Musical

New Australian musical Every Single Saturday has grown from an initial 10 minute incarnation to a full-length song and dance story of soccer mums and dads which is set to tour to Glen Street Theatre, Sydney’s Theatre Royal, Laycock Street Theatre, Gosford and Parramatta Riverside Theatre during February and March 2012. Writer / composer Joanna Weinberg speaks to Neil Litchfield.

Where did the idea for Every Single Saturday spring from?

The Marriage of Figaro

Benedict Andrews' new production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro for Opera Australia, features a set created by Ralph Myers, costumes by Alice Babidge and lighting by Nick Schlieper.

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