Stage Briefs

Diana : The Musical Roasted by Critics

The Netflix pre-Broadway opening of Diana: The Musical is being roasted by critics. The musical was closed prior to opening in 2020 and is finally opening this November - but producers released a filmed version of the musical on October 1.

“A right royal debacle so bad you’ll hyperventilate,” wrote The Guardian

Phantom 2022 Dates Confirmed

Opera Australia in association with The Really Useful Group, will present Cameron Mackintosh’s  new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in 2022. The production, originally scheduled for 2021, will now open at the Sydney Opera House in August 2022 and Arts Centre Melbourne in October 2022.

inSPACE 20th Anniversary Program

Image: Womb

The 20th anniversary of Adelaide Festival Centre’s inSPACE Development Program has been revealed, with eight new works-in-progress selected for development. The program will run from January 2022 until October 2022 and will showcase a range of genres including dance, theatre, musicals, cabaret and performance art.

Merrily We Roll Along Returns to The Hayes Stage

The Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical Merrily We Roll Along will recommence at the Hayes Theatre Co on Thursday 21 October. A Broadway fable about friendship, compromise and the high price of success, Merrily We Roll Along played its first preview in June before shuttering due to the Covid 19 lockdown in Sydney.

Neurodivergent and Dementia-friendly Drama for Adelaide’s RUMPUS Theatre

Set in the context of the climate emergency and COVID-19 pandemic, Clock for No Time asks the great existential question: What endures when ‘we’ are gone? It seeks to answer this question by juxtaposing the brain neuropathologies of Simone (who has an Acquired Brain Injury) and her father Ian (who has Alzheimer’s Disease) and how facing the realities of their conditions in the context of a father-daughter relationship may help Simone find the answer.

The Perth International Burlesque Festival Celebrates 8th Annual Tour!

The best of the best burlesque in the West!

Join the Perth International Burlesque Festival as they take their unapologetically fabulous tour across WA. Headlined by Lucy Lovegun alongside comedy queen MC Sugar Du Joure - the forecast is set to HOT with glitter for days, glamour to boot & almost too much fun for you to handle!

The 24 Hour Musical Project

Australia’s only 24 Hour Musical Project returns to re-launch the 2020 show that Covid19 lockdowns forced into cancellation. On October 2nd & 3rd The Project will bring together a bunch of talented (and possibly slightly crazy) theatre makers to learn, rehearse and perform an all-singing, all-dancing musical in just one day. Profits and fundraising benefit the Actors’ & Entertainers’ Benevolent Fund QLD.  

Moulin Rouge Cleans Up At Tony Awards

Moulin Rouge! The Musical has cleaned up at the Tony Awards. It won the coveted Best Musical award and nine other Tony Awards including Best Director for Alex Timbers and Best Choreography, Costumes and Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical.

Melbourne's Theatre Doldrums

The Victorian Government has announced a slow and gradual re-opening of Live Performing Arts, with no word on when major musicals and plays can get back to business.

Under the road map for re-opening announced today by Premier Dan Andrews "at 80% 16+ double vax, indoor seated entertainment is subject to 1 in 4 square metres density and a max of 150 people."

Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella Moved To 2022

Lyndon Terracini for Opera Australia and John Frost for Crossroads Live today (September 14, 2021) announced that due to the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, they have made the difficult decision to move the Tony® Award-winning Broadway production of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella into 2022.