Brent Hill is stepping right into the shoes of Hollywood rock star Jack Black, playing the lead role of Dewey in Andrew Lloyd Webbers’ hit musical adaptation of the film School of Rock, which is opening in Melbourne. The actor is well placed to mix it up with a group of precociously talented school children. David Spicer reports.
When Brent Hill was 21 he ventured off on a summer camp in Seattle and was surrounded by teenagers with a range of challenges.
Jersey Boys is like an episode of the television gangster series The Sopranos, with a great soundtrack behind it. Based on the 1960s rise to fame of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, the musical doesn’t shy away from the reality of the mafia dominated New Jersey neighbourhood they grew up in. Jamelle Wells reports that the criminal element is a big part of the show’s appeal.
Producer John Frost has announced three of the cast members of the new version of Saturday Night Fever, which will premiere at the Sydney Lyric Theatre from 29 March 2019. Paulini, Natalie Conway and Nana Matapule will be three of the ensemble of singers who will give voice to the disco soundtrack, alongside a cast of dancers. The rest of the cast, including the Australian performers who will play the roles of Tony and Stephanie, will be announced at a later date.
It’s the ultimate part for any black South African man to portray - the father of the nation, Nelson Mandela. Perci Moeketsi will play the role in Madiba the Musical on stage in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and New Zealand. He told David Spicer how the end of the Apartheid regime in 1994 changed his life.
Perci Moeketsi was only six years of age in 1994, when South Africans of all colours were allowed to vote in a general election for the first time.
Producers Cameron Lukey, Neil Gooding and Helen Ellis have announced the cast for 33 Variations, Moisés Kaufman’s Tony-nominated play, running from March 7 at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre – www.33variations.com.au.
Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe winning legend Ellen Burstyn will make her Australian stage debut opposite Lisa McCune, William McInnes, Helen Morse, Francis Greenslade, Toby Truslove, Andre de Vanny and pianist Andrea Katz.
StageArt is presenting the musical Nine, based on the Fellini film 8 ½, at Chapel off Chapel during October 2018. Courtney Glass, who plays the role of Claudia, chats to Flora Georgiou.
Flora Georgiou: Tell us about your more recent past in Musical Theatre?
Adelaide’s founding father of Adelaide Cabaret Festival and the Adelaide Fringe, the late Frank Ford has bequeathed a long lasting legacy to his beloved SA arts community.
Three generous bequests amounting to half a million dollars over the next decade will offer life-changing opportunities for artists at Adelaide Cabaret Festival, the Adelaide Fringe and Cabaret Fringe Festival.
Charlie Bucket has been found and he has a Golden Ticket! Producers John Frost, Craig Donnell, Warner Bros Theatre Ventures, Langley Park Productions and Neal Street Productions have announced the four boys who will play the role of Charlie in the new musical Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre from 5 January 2019.
From an operatic holy grail to madcap romances and journeys to the fantastical, Victorian Opera’s Season 2019 invites audiences to experience an eclectic range of new and much-loved works of opera and music theatre.
Artistic Director Richard Mills notes, “Victorian Opera reimagines the potential of opera through a diverse program, ranging from the epic richness of Wagner’s Parsifal to new operas made by and for Victorians.”
Opera Australia, GWB Entertainment and BB Group have announced the principal cast for the upcoming Australian production of West Side Story.
The cast will feature some Todd Jacobsson (Book Of Mormon) as Tony, Sophie Salvesani as Maria, Chloe Zuel as Anita, Noah Mullins as Riff, and Lyndon Watts as Bernardo.
