News

Five Years of Gathering

Producer Performer Glen Ferguson of The Vic Theatre Company speaks to Coral Drouyn about his ambitious undertaking, presenting two musicals in tandem at Melbourne’s 45 Downstairs in November / December 2016.

There’s a new trend in Melbourne independent theatre – the performer/producer. One can see instantly the advantages, especially in musical theatre, but there is surely something just a little insane about anyone wanting to take on the humungous job of producing.

 

Meet Aladdin

Three is Ainsley Melham’s lucky number. It’s the number of wishes his character Aladdin is granted by the Genie and it corresponds with stretches of good fortune in his life that have catapulted the 24-year-old into the title role of the latest Disney extravaganza to land in Australia. David Spicer reports.

Ainsley Melham can honestly say that his job involves flying on a daily basis, but instead of hopping onto a plane, or into a helicopter, his mode of aerial transport is a magic carpet.

A Q & A with Mirusia

Brisbane born soprano Mirusia Louwerse has toured extensively around the globe as star soprano with André Rieu for nearly a decade.She has achieved recognition as an international performer, singing many styles of music including opera, musical theatre, pop and jazz. Mirusia has come a long way since studying opera at the Queensland Conservatorium, who, at the age of 21, became the youngest ever winner of the prestigious Dame Joan Sutherland Opera Award.

Seymour Centre Program 2017

The Seymour Centre has unveiled the line up of productions making up the Reginald Season and the Great Ideas Performance Series at the venue in 2017.

Launching the seasons Artistic Director Tim Jones said “As a University Arts Centre, I am particularly proud of the high quality, ideas-driven work within our 2017 programs. The year has a big focus on ‘visions of the future’ as expressed by a wide range of artists exploring how our personal and public futures might be shaped by our current political and environmental circumstances

Australian Stars Join West End Les Mis

Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Boublil & Schönberg's legendary musical Les Misérables is now in its record breaking 32nd year and Cameron Mackintosh has announced that Australia’s Simon Gleeson and Hayden Tee will be reunited on stage as Jean Valjean and Javert at the Queen’s Theatre.

2016 Rob Guest Endowment Award Winners

The winner of the 2016 Rob Guest Endowment Award was announced last night at a thrilling Grand Final Concert at the Sydney Lyric Theatre. Competing against five other outstanding Semi-Finalists with his performances of Part of the Painting and Moving Too Fast Linden Furnell took out the prestigious award after being chosen by an expert panel of judges, which included Kelley Abbey, Guy Simpson, Andrew Pole and Michael James Scott.

The Book of Mormon

New seats for The Book of Mormon have gone on sale. Bookings for the award-winning musical have now been extended to 30 April 2017 at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre.

Winner of nine Tony Awards® including Best Musical, the Grammy® for Best Musical Theatre album and four Olivier Awards® including Best New Musical, The Book of Mormon has already broken the house record for the highest selling on sale period of any production in the Princess Theatre’s 159-year history.

Theatre at Sydney Festival 2017

Four theatre works will make their world premiere at Sydney Festival and five international productions will be presented as Australian exclusives in the theatre offering of Festival Director Wesley Enoch’s first program. The festival will shine a light on Australian theatre, showcasing work from the country’s leading Indigenous companies as well as international theatre from the likes of Complicite/Simon McBurney (UK), Pushkin Theatre Company (Russia) and Native Earth Performing Arts (Canada). Across the 2017 theatre program, five productions feature a one-person cast.

White Knuckle Thriller For White Ribbon Month

November marks a month of reflection. The United Nations observes the 25th of November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and this is regarded and supported by the international support organization White Ribbon as White Ribbon Day.  

Sydney Gets Kinky

Hot on the heels of its Australian premiere in Melbourne last month, multi-award winning, new musical Kinky Boots, will strut into the Capitol Theatre, Sydney from April 2017.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on December 5 through Ticketmaster or kinkybootsthemusical.com.au.

Winner of every major international Best Musical award, Kinky Boots features Tony and Grammy- winning songs by pop icon Cyndi Lauper, a book by Broadway royalty Harvey Fierstein and direction and choreography by two-time Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell.

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