British theatre impresario aims to give Sydney what it needs

Howard Panter is back in Australia and determined to give Sydney exactly what it needs: more buzz.

Sir Howard Panter at The Theatre Royal, Sydney.

Sydney needs more buzz and Howard Panter feels confident he is the man to do it.

The British theatre impresario, whose company Trafalgar Entertainment won the right to run the Theatre Royal Sydney in 2019, is back in Australia and he is looking for more places to open theatres.

“When you look at Toronto, which is roughly the same size as Sydney with 22 venues, or Madrid, which is only a little bigger it has 41 or 42 theatres, and you go out at night and there is a buzz, what Sydney needs is more buzz,” he said.

“I think you feel that around the Theatre Royal, when there is a show in success there, you look outside after the show and it’s like a party, people don’t want to leave.”

And Panter must feel like partying himself. Less than four years after the curtain rose at the Theatre Royal, the King Street venue has welcomed its one millionth patron through the doors.

The theatre, which closed in 2016 and was, for a brief period, at risk of being turned into a food court, reopened in December 2021 with the Australian premiere of the Alannis Morrisette musical Jagged Little Pill.

Sir Howard Pante at The Theatre Royal Sydney.

Since then it has played host to myriad new productions in the 1,308 days since the refurbished theatre opened its doors including An American In Paris, Girl From The North Country, The Lehrman Trilogy and revivals of The Rocky Horror Show, Six and, now, Cats.

With that success, the company has made a dent in the initial “tens of millions of dollars” investment it made to secure the 55-year lease of the venue and restore the theatre for it to be ready to host performances again after it fell into disrepair after closing in 2016.

But it isn’t just central Sydney where he hopes to emulate the success Trafalgar has seen in the United Kingdom where it owns 18 venues all over the country that tour shows from London’s West End.

Panter said he has an eye on space in Western Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast and even Perth.

“I think Australia can do with more (theatres). It will only help build the market and it will only help build the quality of entertainment for customers,” he said.

“I can’t see any downside.”

Panter has had a long association with Australia, when he was the boss at Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) the company set up a regional office in Sydney in 2012 and produced many productions in Australia including Ghost – The Musical, Legally Blonde – The Musical and Guys and Dolls, among others.

He hopes to continue that success as a producer with plans to bring recent productions of The King and I, Anything Goes and Fiddler on the Roof to Australia via the Theatre Royal as well as a play starring a major British star.

He is also in advanced discussions with Opera Australia to co-produce musicals together that can make their premiere at the Theatre Royal.

“The performing talent is second to none in this country, so when you are talking about the triple threat that is required in musical theatre, it is all here,” he said.

Originally published as British theatre impresario aims to give Sydney what it needs