Stage Briefs

Australian Musical (Off) Broadway Bound

It’s a long way to go from the suburbs of Melbourne to Broadway, but the two Australian creators of The Mapmaker’s Opera hope to do just that after securing a spot as an Official Selection of the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival’s Next Link Project.

Composer and Musical Director, Kevin Purcell 54, and Bookwriter/Lyricist, Victor Kazan 66, both based in Melbourne, are the creative partnership behind this new stage musical, which is a love story set against the backdrop of the Mexican revolution.

The Magic Chicken

Without doubt, there’ll be some fantastic school holiday fun in April when the Adelaide Festival Centre presents the culinary chaos of The Magic Chicken, produced by New Zealand’s Theatre Beating.

Potted Potter Returns

Potted Potter - The Unauthorized Harry Experience - which toured Australia in 2012 returns in 2014. Potted Potter takes on the ultimate challenge of condensing all seven Harry Potter books (and a real life game of Quidditch) into a seventy minute parody. This show features all the favourite characters, a special appearance from a fire-breathing dragon, endless costumes, songs, ridiculous props and a generous helping of Hogwarts magic!

Truth, Beauty and a Picture of You: Cast Announced

The cast has been announced for the premiere production of Tim Freedman and Alex Broun’s new Australian musical Truth, Beauty and a Picture of You, playing at Sydney’s Hayes Theatre Co from Friday, May 9 to June 1, 2014.

Directed by Neil Gooding, Truth, Beauty and a Picture of You stars Ian Stenlake, Erica Lovell, Justin Smith, Toby Francis and Ross Chisari.

Hello My Name Is: No Two Shows Alike

Adelaide audiences with post-festival blues who are yearning for yet more unusual, innovative and fun performance experiences need look no further than Port Adelaide independent theatre company Vitalstatistix and its six-show season of Hello My Name Is.

Granted the Creative Australia Fellowship last year and described by The Age as an “entertainer at the top of her game”, Director/Creator Nicola Gunn’s award-winning performance in Hello My Name Is becomes one that ensures no show is exactly alike.

Lake: Fluid and Challenging Dance Event for SA

South Australia’s South-East and Riverland audiences are in for a completely new experience in contemporary dance when maverick choreographer Lisa Wilson brings her production Lake to Mount Gambier’s Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre and Renmark’s Chaffey Theatre.

Country Arts SA says Lake is dance like you’ve never seen it before. The stage will become an intriguing and beautiful aquatic world as it is flooded with 2,800 litres of water.

David Harris in Time is a Traveller

David Harris will appear in Time is a Traveller, presented by Working Management and Hayes Theatre Co, as part of the A Month of Sundays Cabaret in Residence at the Hayes Theatre Co on every Sunday from April 13 – May 4.

The son of a coal mining dad and a secretary mum, this is the story of an Aussie country kid and what lead him to tread the boards in some of Australia’s biggest musicals.

New Zealand Opera Appoints Stuart Maunder As General Director

Australian-born international opera and music theatre director and arts manager Stuart Maunder has been appointed General Director of New Zealand Opera.

New Home for Jambles Rambles Show

The third Jambles Ramble Show comes to Sydney on March 23 in its new home at the Polo Lounge of the Oxford Hotel, 134 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, the show’s home for the foreseeable future.

The show is a tonight show style pastiche, featuring guests being interviewed, singing their songs and entering into the spontaneous fun  and games of a great theatrical evening.

This will be third month of the show which has already chalked up guests including Paul Capsis, Phil Scott, Michael Cormick, Bob Downe and Catherine Alcorn.

Rocking Music Theatre Pinocchio

Windmill Theatre returns to Sydney, following the success of multi award-winning School Dance, with a rollicking revision of the classic tale of a wooden boy with a nose for trouble. Pinocchio, a show for all the family, plays at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House from 11 April – 4 May before touring to Broadway in 2015 for a season at New Victory Theater, New York.