Magic, white tigers and fraught love – now that’s entertainment
Singing while being sawn in half? What’s not to love about that?
Stage
A black cast – in whiteface – reimagines the wild west
Sydney Festival marquee show Dark Noon inverts the usual westerns script, as a black South African cast depict three centuries of US history in 100 frenetic minutes: ‘This is what it looks like when you write someone else’s history. Can you see how ridiculous it is?’
Opera, theatre, music and dance: special performances of 2024
Rating the best stage performances of the year is impossible, but here are a selection worthy of special attention.
Creative thinking for a cultural powerhouse
We’re fourth in the world for creative thinking, but a cultural strategy could take us to the top.
QPAC chief has ‘no empty seats’ plan
If the new chief of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Rachel Healy, has her way, there will be no empty theatre seats as she breathes new life into programming.
Why Les Miserables is a one-man show
Victor Hugo based two central characters on the colourful double life of crook-turned-detective Eugene-Francois Vidocq.
Flying high: Peter Pan’s origin story brought to life
Broadway writer Rick Elice talks about his Peter Pan origin story Peter and the Starcatcher, surviving grief and how staging a musical can resemble a military operation.
Dangerous ground: reconciling the two sides to Michael Jackson
In more ways than one, Roman Banks took on the most difficult role on Broadway when he was cast as the treasured and troubled pop icon in MJ: The Musical.
Fear and self-loathing at Cirque du Soleil
When Review was invited to run away to Cirque du Soleil they jumped at the opportunity … only to realise a wannabe acrobat was a mere office clown.
How this ballerina became one of Australia’s greatest
For 20 years, Robyn Hendricks has dazzled audiences of The Australian Ballet with her talent, grace and determination. This month, she plays an iconic role to cap off her anniversary with the company.
The devil wears thin in west end
As The Devil Wears Prada hits London’s West End, the fashion editor of The Times (and former Vogue assistant) reveals the reality of life at a glossy magazine.
‘I fell in love with it’: Cody Simpson takes on 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.
TV classic around again with a musical twist
Round the Twist was a staple of after-school television in the 1990s and early-2000s and now the wacky stories have been adapted to the stage in musical form.
Faces and facets of Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes is tipped for an Oscar for his doubt-stricken cardinal in Conclave. He talks to Jonathan Dean about power, the problem with religion and why he’s never done a TV show.
Brothers in harmony with the Kimberley
The seven Pigram brothers have been performing together since they were teenagers.
Jesus Christ rocks as hard as ever
The classic take on the Jesus tale by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber remains a show worthy of all the hallelujahs and hosannas you can muster.
‘When we did Jesus Christ Superstar, we were the hip generation’
Tim Rice says his days being part of the “in” crowd are over. But that’s not to say he doesn’t understand mass populism, he did, after all, write a musical about the most famous person to have walked the Earth: Jesus Christ.
Cracking good idea to bring ballet a wider audience
Watching as a nine-year-old dancer, David Hallberg ‘felt the magic’ during a performance of The Nutcracker. Now The Australian Ballet’s artistic director shares the enchantment.
Heresy! A play by any other gender
Writer Jodi Picoult aims to ‘convince you all’ that Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and more of the Bard’s other best-known works were in fact written by a female poet.
‘It’s all fun and games until someone pulls out a phone’
Shaun Micallef has seen huge disruption in the entertainment industry since his TV debut 26 years ago. But one thing hasn’t changed.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/stage