News

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE’S $152 MILLION UPGRADE

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally unveiled a $152 million upgrade of the Sydney Opera House on Sunday June 6 – the biggest building works on the site since its October 1973 opening.

“Our Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognised buildings in the world and the upgrade is about securing its long-term future,” Premier Kristina Keneally said. “The Sydney Opera House is the single master work of a recognised architectural genius – Jorn Utzon.

Adelaide’s 10th Cabaret Festival … the ‘World’s Biggest’ with the ‘World’s Fastest’ Riggers.

David Campbell’s second Adelaide Cabaret Festival as Artistic Director, with Natalie Cole as headliner, opens on June 11. The festival has hundreds of artists and is now so big it even has its own cabaret fringe.

Tasmania’s Amateur Theatre Giants Dwarf Professionals.

The theatrical order is upside down in Tasmania’s capital. A fledgling professional theatre company staging new plays is dwarfed by mega musicals and revues run by amateurs.

David Spicer reports.

Fight to Save Brisbane's Regent

Protesters held a vigil in the centre of Brisbane last Saturday (May 29) to pressure the Queensland Government over the looming demolition of the historic Regent Theatre. The Regent Theatre in Brisbane, currently a cinema complex, is one of Australia's last remaining theatres of its kind and is under threat of demolition to make way for the city's newest office tower. For many years the Save the Regent committee has lobbied the Queensland Government to restore The Regent to its former glory as a venue for live performance.

STC in the Black, and Green

At its Annual General Meeting today (May 25, 2010), Sydney Theatre Company announced an operating profit of $607,167 for 2009, the first year programmed by Artistic Directors Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett. While the Company’s operating profit is $607,167, the recorded result also includes income of $152, 192 earmarked for the Company’s Greening The Wharf project, which means the Company’s 2009 result is a surplus of $759, 359.

GRIFFIN APPOINTS A NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Griffin Theatre Company Chair Michael Bradley today announced that award-winning director and dramaturg Sam Strong has been appointed the new Artistic Director of Griffin Theatre Company, replacing Nick Marchand. Strong, currently the Literary Associate at Company B Belvoir and director of its current hit The Power of Yes. Prior to that he established Red Stitch Writers, a playwriting residency at Red Stitch Actors Theatre in Melbourne (through which he developed and directed Tom Holloway’s Red Sky Morning).

DUSTY MILESTONES IN SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE.

Community theatre productions of Dusty for CLOC in Melbourne and Bankstown Theatrical Society in Sydney have special significance. Both have links to the ‘original’ creatives.

For Bankstown the connection is extraordinary. The company has secured the services of choreographer Ronne Arnold, who actually worked with Dusty Springfield during her many visits to Australia in the 1960s.

AUSSIE MUSICAL ‘PARIS’ IN AUSTRIA.

In what must be a first, an Australian Musical has been staged in Austria – fully translated into German. Not only did the theatre company premiere Paris by Jon English and David Mackay – the performance was almost a carbon copy of a recent Australian production.

The agent for the show David Spicer traveled to Austria to see Paris. Whether you’re confused, or not, read on.

Setting the Scene … Fifteen times.

In May and June New Zealand Opera presents The Marriage of Figaro. Director Aidan Lang and Set Designer Robin Rawstorne talk to Emma Bell about the concept behind an awesome set inspired by Spanish Architecture.

Chunky Moves - Laser Meets Dance

Since premiering at the Sydney Festival in 2008, physical theatre company Chunky Moves’ award winning production Mortal Engine has toured to the Edinburgh Festival, Mexico, Germany, Spain and the USA. Following performances at New York‘s BAM and Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre, Mortal Engine returns to Sydney for season at the Sydney Theatre from May 5 – 15.

Laser and Sound Artist Robin Fox who collaborated with Chunky Moves on Mortal Engine, explained his contribution to Stage Whispers.

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