News

Intimate Sweet Charity at the Hayes

Sydney’s new home for independent musical theatre, the Hayes Theatre Company, named after Australian triple threat legend Nancye Hayes, opens in February 2014 with a new production of her breakthrough show Sweet Charity. Director Dean Bryant spoke to Neil Litchfield prior to rehearsals.

How do you scale back a Broadway musical like Sweet Charity for an intimate space?

Dreamsong: New Satirical Australian Musical

New satirical Australian Musical DreamSong will open for a 10 day season at Theatre Works, St Kilda from 10 to 20 April.

Australia Day Honours for High Profile Performers

High profile performers Geoffrey Rush, Nancye Hayes, Jacki Weaver and Rhonda Burchmore, and theatrical producer John Robertson, have been recognized in the 2014 Australia Day Honours.

Geoffrey Rush has been recognized with the Companion (AC) in the General Division, for eminent services to the arts as a theatre performer, motion picture actor, and film producer, as a role model and mentor for aspiring artists, and through promotion of the Australian arts industry.

Winner of an Oscar, two Golden Globes and an Emmy Award, he was 2012 Australian of the Year.

2013 SYDNEY THEATRE AWARDS

Independent Theatre Company Sport for Jove’s Cyrano de Bergerac and musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels were the big winners of the evening at the 2013 Sydney Theatre Awards with three awards a piece. Cyrano took out three awards including Best Production, Best Director and Best Male Actor in the Indie categories, while Dirty Rotten Scoundrels scooped the small pool of three categories for musicals.

Short+Sweet Cabaret 2014

Sydney’s inaugural Short+ Sweet Cabaret concluded with a Gala Final at New Theatre, Newtown on Sunday January 19. Fifty artists appeared in 10-minute performances during the two weeks of the festival (January 8 – 19), across two separate programs and a special Wildcard performance.

With wide-ranging performances traversing music, comedy, burlesque and more, a number of prizes were presented across various categories.

Best Original Music - Thomas Albert + Samuel Valentine - Dirty Sexy Politics

Trevor Ashley’s Huge Year

Getting into a dress and glamming it up is a well-worn ticket to stardom for Australian male performers and Trevor Ashley has made a lucrative career out of it.

David Spicer reports.

No fewer than seven of his cabaret extravaganzas were staged in 2013; from cruise ships to the West End to the most prestigious stages around Australia.

His next big gig is Diamonds are for Trevor at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Playhouse, a tribute to Dame Shirley Bassey.

The Right Temperament

Coral Drouyn comments on some of the hottest tickets for the Midsumma Festival.

Grand Finalists for International Cabaret Contest Announced

Heats of The Your Theatrics International Cabaret Contest (YTICC) wrapped this week after heats in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Auckland. The Grand Final line-up competing for the chance to win the largest cabaret prize in Australasia will be: Sydney heat winners Melody Beck, Sarah Gaul, Brendan Hay, Monique Salle, and audience vote winner Ben Hudson, as well as inaugural Adelaide heat winner Candy Chambers (aka Jamie Jewell), Brisbane winner Jessica Papst, Melbourne winner Jenny Wynter and wild-card Ivy Lucille, and finally Auckland winner Joanna Millett.

International Cabaret Contest: The Heats Begin

The 2014 Your Theatrics International Cabaret Contest, the new incarnation of the Australian Cabaret Showcase, began its 11th year with the Sydney heat at Slide on Monday January 6.

Finalists now announced.

King Kong Cast Members in Charity Concert

Cast members of King Kong are putting together a charity concert in support of Mission Australia, to be performed on January 19, 2014.

“A couple of months back, I decided to organise a charity concert for the cast of King Kong to perform in,” Josh Robson, who is currently performing in the production of King Kong at the Regent Theatre as part of the ensemble told Stage Whispers.

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