News

Julie Andrews to Tour Australia for the First Time

Julie Andrews, one of the most beloved stage and screen performers of all time, will visit Australia in May this year for the first time ever, Producers John Frost and Phil Bathols today (February 9, 2013) announced. She will appear on stage in Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne.

An Evening with Julie Andrews takes audiences on a journey through the life and career of one of the world’s most popular icons.

2012 Glugs of Gosh Theatre Awards

A Sydney theatre appreciation society –The Glugs - held its annual awards night this week (Feb 4, 2013), giving its highest awards to Independent theatre companies and well known theatre personalities Penny Cook, Stuart Maunder and Moya O’Sullivan.

The Glugs Club has been meeting since 1966 and the annual awards night is a spiffing affair, complete with high tea in the posh dining room of the NSW Masonic Club.

Theatre aficionados turn up for a ham sandwich and to pat the year's best on the back.

Gatsby Makes Baz Too Busy for Dancing.

UPDATE: Strictly Ballroom The Musical now to open in March 2014 - link to more details

Global Creatures today (February 8, 2013) officially confirmed the news we reported here earlier this week, that STRICTLY BALLROOM, the company's stage version of the much-loved 1992 Australian film, will move its opening date at the Sydney Lyric to early 2014.

Our Earlier Report

Torch Song Trilogy Returns to Sydney

Funny and poignant, Harvey Fierstein’s intensely personal collection of three plays chronicles a Jewish New York drag-queen’s quest for love, respect and a life of which he can be proud. From a failed affair with a reluctant lover, to a burgeoning relationship with a young fashion model, Arnold Beckoff’s greatest torment in life remains his turbulent relationship with his mother.

Soaring Like Eagles

What is the future of live theatre? Doomsayers will tell you there is no future, and perhaps the early closing of several mainstage productions, and even theatre companies themselves, last year would add weight to that argument. But there are always entrepreneurial cock-eyed optimists willing to buck the trend and put themselves on the line and we, as theatregoers, are all the better for it.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: 007th Heaven.

There’s a child inside all of us, no matter how grown up we may pretend to be. One can only wonder how Ian Fleming, creator of the great James Bond, found his inner child to write Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – one of the world’s best loved children’s stories and films. Now it’s a musical and, after a successful run in Sydney, it has its official opening tomorrow night (Saturday February 2nd) in Melbourne at the theatre we lovingly call “The Maj”.

Young Australian Jamie Ward Starring in West End Les Misérables

Australian performer Jamie Ward took over the role of Marius in the musical Les Misérables on January 28 at Queen's Theatre in London’s West End. He will play the role in the long running hit, his first on a West End stage, until mid-June, 2013.

Ward, a WAPPA graduate from Perth, has previously been seen in Australia in the musicals Spring Awakening (Hanschen) for the Sydney Theatre Company and Dr Zhivago (Young Yurii Zhivago) for the Gordon Frost Organisation.

GREASE Returns to Australian Stages

Leading Australian theatre producer John Frost and London theatre impresario David Ian today (January 22, 2013) announced that the ever popular musical GREASE will return to Australian stages later this year. Auditions will commence shortly for this new multi-million dollar production, and tour details will be announced in coming months.

Festival Fever Leaves Some Cold

It’s becoming a growth industry. No longer is one festival a year for enough for Australia’s major cities. Now Cabaret, Fringe, Comedy and even festivals of light are cramming the diary. Is the feast for audiences good for local artists?  David Spicer speaks with the Directors of the Sydney, Perth and Adelaide Festivals.

Twenty Years as Head Chief Rabbit.

The Australian Shakespeare Company’s adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows has returned for another season in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, where the show has been entertaining Melburnians for over a quarter of a century. The show is also playing at Sydney’s Botanic Gardens.