Stage Briefs

Time For The Arts To Become Profitable?

Pioneering play publisher Katharine Brisbane has called for a radical re-think of the way major public arts companies operate and are funded in Australia.

The co-founder of Currency Press attacked what she described “as the intractable problem of the high-minded not-for profit structure” of the arts industry in the latest Platform Paper  published by Currency House called The Arts and the Common Good.

STC Prepares Godot for London

Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame comes to a close in Sydney this weekend (May 9, 2015), but for the show’s lead actor Hugo Weaving, director Andrew Upton and designer Nick Schlieper, a Beckettian world view will continue to loom large for a while longer. 

Neil Armfield AO and Rachel Healy Co-Artistic Directors for the Adelaide Festival

Neil Armfield AO and Rachel Healy have been appointed Co-Artistic Directors for the Adelaide Festival of the Arts for 2017, 2018 and 2019.

It will be the first time in the festival’s 55 year history that two people will share the role.

Minister for the Arts, the Hon Jack Snelling said, “It is a coup for Adelaide to have secured two of the most highly regarded arts leaders in Australia who I have no doubt will curate a series of rich and unique festival programs.

Heathers Musical For Hayes

Showqueen Productions and Working Management in association with Hayes Theatre Co present Heathers The Musical from July 16 to August 9, 2015, directed by Trevor Ashley, with musical direction by Bev Kennedy and choreography by Cameron Mitchell.

CATS: West End Revival to Tour Australia

Following its season in London’s West End, the revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s record-breaking musical CATS comes to Australia for a strictly limited season, opening in Sydney on 30 October 2015 then touring to Hobart, Melbourne and Brisbane. Tickets go on sale on Friday 24 April.  CATS is touring to Adelaide and Perth in 2016 with dates and booking information to be released at a later date. 

Bring It On The Musical

Bitingly relevant, sprinkled with sass, and inspired by the hit film, Bring It On The Musical takes audiences on a high-flying journey filled with the complexities of friendship, jealousy, betrayal and forgiveness.

Bring It On The Musical will be presented at NIDA Theatres, Kensington playing from Saturday 27 June to Thursday 9 July 2015, produced by Supply Evolution.

A Long Way From Broadway - Episode 1. I Can't I have Rehearsals.

Stage Whispers is excited to support a new theatre web comedy series .... A Long Way From Broadway.

The series tells the story of a small town New Zealand musical theatre society.

Each episode will center around a musical number that celebrates what it is to participate in musical theatre.

Episode 1: I Can't I have rehearsals.

 

 

 

VIOLET: Australian Premiere

Blue Saint Productions in association with Hayes Theatre Co will premiere the 2014 Broadway revival of Violet in Australia, with Samantha Dodemaide in the title role.

Violet is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and libretto by Brian Crawley based on the short story The Ugliest Pilgrim by Doris Betts. It tells the story of a young disfigured woman who embarks on a journey by bus from her farm in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, all the way to Tulsa, Oklahoma in order to be healed.

DARYL SOMERS TO STAR IN MUSIC THEATRE COMPANY DEBUT

Daryl Somers is set to return to the spotlight in a new production of the all-singing, all-dancing Hot Shoe Shuffle.

The Triple Gold Logie-winning star of Hey Hey it’s Saturday, Family Feud and Dancing With the Stars joins the cast for the debut production of South West Sydney’s newest independent theatre group Birdie Productions.

Gerry Connolly Joins Anything Goes in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini AM and theatre producer John Frost AM today (March 19, 2015) announced that actor, comedian and impressionist Gerry Connolly would join the cast of their upcoming production of Anything Goes to play the Captain of the S.S. American during the Melbourne and Brisbane seasons.