Michael Cassel is a rising star in Australian show business. You won’t ever see him on stage, but behind the scenes he has become one of Australia’s major producers of musical theatre – a job he set his sights on as a child. David Spicer reports.
When Michael Cassel was 12 years of age a production of Jesus Christ Superstar lit a fire in his belly. So excited was he, that he wrote to the producer Harry M Miller with a proposition.
Sydney Theatre Company has unveiled its 2018 Season – Kip Williams’ first as Artistic Director. The program features sixteen shows across five venues, comprising a range of new works by Australian writers, the epic stage adaptation of a beloved trilogy of novels, and the return of a rarely produced Australian classic. These sit alongside new productions of contemporary and classic international works.
Speaking about the season, Artistic Director Kip Williams said:
Outgoing Artistic Director Lindy Hume has unveiled the 2018 season for Opera Queensland, her final program before she hands the reins to Patrick Nolan in November 2017.
South Australia is well known for its Arts festivals, with the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and Cabaret Fringe featuring strongly in the mix. South Australia-based Cabaret performers now have the added benefit of another festival, produced in Adelaide later in the year than the others and, importantly, at no cost to artists involved, just a 50:50 door split. Lesley Reed reports.
For Queensland Ballet, 2018 will be a season of dreams: bringing dancers’ dreams to life, telling dreamy stories, continuing to reach for its dreams as a Company and making audiences’ dreams come true.
Artistic Director Li Cunxin said Queensland Ballet’s Season 2018 (QB18) will see the Company deliver performances that will exceed expectations, bringing new ballets and well-loved classics to the stage.
Australian theatre royalty Tony Sheldon will be back on the bus, returning home to reprise his role of “Bernadette” in the 10th Anniversary Celebration Tour of Priscilla Queen of The Desert.
Completing the trio of misfits who hop aboard a battered old bus bound for Alice Springs is accomplished leading man David Harris as Tick and Kinky Boots and Les Misérables alumni Euan Doidge as Felicia.
“2018 is Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s 25th year and what an incredible journey it has been,” says Glenn Terry,Executive Producer. “When I started Darlinghurst Theatre Company, the idea was simple. It began with a question; how do you create a sustainable professional theatre company where artists can stage the stories they want to tell? From our early beginnings at the Wayside Chapel Theatre, it was at the Eternity Playhouse that Darlinghurst Theatre Company finally arrived.
After the success of the SOLD OUT season of CALAMITY JANE at Hayes Theatre Co in March 2017, One Eyed Man Productions in association with Neglected Musicals and Hayes Theatre Co have announced a national tour for 2018.
Opera Australia has cast off the creative limitations of 2017, returning to its Sydney home in the Joan Sutherland Theatre in 2018.
Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini said the current closure of the JST presented a challenge to the Company.
“The renewal works were absolutely welcomed and supported by OA and we are very keen to get back into the space, but the closure was definitely a challenge.
