Cody Simpson to star in Opera Australia’s Guys & Dolls
The pop star turned Commonwealth Games swimmer will make his Australian music theatre debut as Sky Masterson in Opera Australia’s new production of the Broadway classic.
Pop star, competitive swimmer, and now musical theatre star Cody Simpson was 17 when he first discovered Guys & Dolls.
He, like many young men at that age, was obsessed with Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando “I was doing a deep dive into pretty much every musical film they had done. Then I found Guys & Dolls and I immediately fell in love with it,” he tells The Australian. “I think it’s so glamorous and glitzy and larger than life. I’ve loved it ever since, and I thought that when I’m older, I’d love to play that part.”
Call it manifestation. Simpson is now set to step into Brando’s iconic role of Sky Masterson in Opera Australia’s new production of Guys & Dolls. The show, directed by the award-winning Shaun Rennie, will debut on Sydney Harbour as part of the Handa Opera season, opening March 21.
Simpson, who hails from the Gold Coast, has packed a lot of life into his 27 years. Discovered on YouTube as a tween, he was quickly heralded as “the next Justin Bieber” (a moniker he would later shrug off during a joint tour with the pop sensation). By 13, he had relocated to Los Angeles, scored a record deal, and climbed the Billboard charts with a top 10 album.
Then came the pivot no one saw coming: Simpson returned to competitive swimming after a decade-long hiatus, chasing a boyhood dream. It paid off. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, he won gold in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay and silver in the 4x100-meter medley relay.
Simpson retired from swimming in September to refocus on his first love: performing. “Swimming was a four-year experiment for me. My heart belongs to being creative and performing,” he says. “I’ve loved it since I was a kid and always knew that’s where I belong once I got out of the water.”
For Simpson, who made his Broadway musical debut in 2018 after landing the lead role of Dmitry in Anastasia, the worlds of swimming and theatre aren’t as disparate as they might seem. “There’s a strange similarity in the relentlessness of it,” he observes. “I like having it in my life. I’m excited to have that structure again. Doing something like this keeps me going. I love having something to wake up for.”
In Guys & Dolls, Simpson will share the stage with some of Australia’s finest theatre talents, including Jason Arrow, best known for his star-making turn as Alexander Hamilton in the Australian production of Hamilton; Annie Aitken; and Bobby Fox. “I’m going to be a sponge,” Simpson says. “These are incredibly decorated, experienced performers. When you sing with somebody like that, things just come alive.”
Guys and Dolls on Sydney Harbour, March 21 to April 20, 2025
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