Stage Briefs

Rolling Thunder Vietnam Returns in 2016

THE Australian concert drama Rolling Thunder Vietnam – Songs That Defined A Generation returns for an exclusive national tour in July-August 2016 to commemorate the 50thanniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.

The production toured nationally after premiering at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) in Brisbane, under the musical direction of Chong Lim (John Farnham Band, Dancing With the Stars).

Jerry Hall to Reprise Mrs Robinson in Sydney in 2016

Jerry Hall will reprise her role as seductress Mrs Robinson for the very last time in the Sydney season of The Graduate. Having previously played in this iconic piece of American culture in the West End, Toronto, Broadway, North America, Perth and Melbourne, Jerry Hall will make her way to Sydney next year. The production will play a strictly limited season from December 2nd 2016 at Sydney Lyric Theatre.

Return Melbourne Season for StageArt’s In The Heights

StageArt in association with The National Theatre in St Kilda, will present a return season, for three shows only, of their successful 2015 production of the musical In The Heights as part of both StageArt’s and The National Theatre Season 2016 launching in November. StageArt’s full season launch on October 15 will include three premiere musicals and a subscription season, its biggest and boldest season yet.

NIDA 2015 End-of-year Productions

NIDA has launched its 2015 end-of-year production season featuring five full-scale student productions.

From 14–27 October, audiences will be treated to a diverse range of works showcasing Acting, Costume, Design, Properties, Production and Staging students.

Million Dollar Australian Musical Plan

Melbourne Theatre owner Jason Marriner has proposed setting up a million dollar fund to workshop and showcase Australian musicals.

As CEO of the Marriner Group, he oversees four of Melbourne’s iconic East End theatres, the Princess Theatre, the Regent Theatre, the Comedy Theatre and the Forum Melbourne.

The proposal came at the end of a symposium on Australian musical theatre, held this week at the Victorian College of the Arts.

Traditional Opera on the decline in Australia

The national opera review discussion paper has painted a picture of a traditional mainstage art form in steep decline. Here are some of its main findings:

Since 2009, attendances at Australia’s Major Opera Companies have increased by 55 percent or 9.2 percent per annum, defying global trends. However, that achievement has come primarily through the strong diversification of Opera Australia’s activities into musicals and events such as Handa’s Opera on Sydney Harbour.

Sam Strong New Artistic Director at QTC.

Queensland Theatre Company (QTC) today (September 22, 2015) announced their new Artistic Director, Sam Strong .

Sam has been the Associate Artistic Director of Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) since 2013 and is also currently Chair of Brisbane-based Circa.

Jerry's Girls: Full Cast Announced

Eleven of Australia’s top musical theatre Leading Ladies - Rhonda Burchmore, Nancye Hayes, Silvie Paladino, Christie Whelan Browne, Virginia Gay, Claire Lyon, Kirby Burgess, Chelsea Gibb, Debora Krizak, Josie Lane and Natalie O’Donnell
 - come together for a great musical theatre event in November, along with with Brent Hill.

Simon Gleeson to Lead Asian Tour of Les Misérables

Cameron Mackintosh’s acclaimed new production of Boublil & Schönberg's legendary musical Les Misérableswill launch the Asian tour in Manila in March 2016 with tickets going on sale on Tuesday, 29th September.

Seasons 2016

With numerous theatre companies across Australia announcing their 2016 seasons over the last few weeks, we thought it was time to collect together links to our coverage of the various seasons.

Click on the links below for more detail of individual seasons.

 

 

 

 

 

National

Bell Shakespeare

Opera Australia