The boy from Bathurst following in Hugh Jackman’s footsteps
Australia’s Ainsley Melham is ‘Gene Kelly reincarnated’ says the Broadway director behind BOOP! The Musical.
Stage
Lyndon Terracini takes the country’s best opera singers … and goes bush
Lyndon Terracini, the artistic director behind the globally famous Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, has gone out on his own to create a new operatic festival in a very different locale.
Kip Williams is currently conquering Broadway. What’s next for the acclaimed director?
As the youngest artistic director in Sydney Theatre Company history, he revolutionised the Australian theatre landscape and took over London’s West End. Now, he’s aiming higher – and taking Succession’s breakout star, Sarah Snook, with him.
John Lithgow wins Olivier award for exploring Roald Dahl’s dark side
The American star took home the best actor trophy for his role in Giant, which confronts Dahl’s antisemitic views.
Cody Simpson: ‘Swimming saved my life’
Athlete and performer Cody Simpson reveals the sliding doors moment that steered him away from substance abuse.
‘I’ve never seen Hamilton. I’m not interested’
After 40 years of treading the boards, Anthony Warlow is a man who knows what he likes. And, what he doesn’t…
Star-crossed lovers soar as ballet company struggles to find its feet
The company has been in turmoil since 2023 when visionary director Li Cunxin left due to health concerns.
Simpson is a deadset charmer in Guys & Dolls
Casting Cody Simpson as Sky Masterson in Guy & Dolls was something of a gamble – even if he’s not entirely a newcomer to musical theatre. It has paid handsome dividends.
‘No pants dance’ just the beginning
‘Mad March’ has revealed more than one naked truth in the festival-fuelled South Australian capital.
Dancing round the elephant in the room, but the music? You can’t Beat It
‘Study the greats and become greater’ is a note Michael Jackson wrote to himself. The line appears on the Act 2 curtain for MJ The Musical.
‘A part of me grieves not being able to fly like I did’
As a career dancer Kelley Abbey tread the boards on some of the world’s biggest stages but as a choreographer she has soared to greater heights. How will she tame a stage the size of a football field for this year’s Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour?
Becoming MJ: ‘It’s the most difficult thing I’ve had to do in my life’
As journalism student Liam Damons prepares to make his professional theatre debut in MJ: The Musical, it’s apparent the production created ‘with the estate of Michael Jackson’ focuses on the glitz and glam component of the artist’s story.
Theatre boss lands plum festival role
The festival’s board has that Matthew Lutton, the long-time artistic director and co-CEO of Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre, will oversee the Adelaide event from 2026 until 2028.
Time is suspended for 105 minutes as a wedding celebration takes a shocking turn
Simon Stone’s work has been absent from Australian stages for years. Innocence is a reminder of his gift for exploring the thornier reaches of human experience.
From sexed up circuses to a roll call of comedians
With its carnival vibe, Australia’s largest arts festival transforms the South Australian capital.
Dancers honour Nijinsky legacy in vast emotional powerhouse
John Neumeier’s powerhouse ballet paints a portrait of Nijinsky that is deeply compassionate while not retreating from the man’s torments.
Regional kinships unearthed in contemporary dance
What happens when you put virtuoso dancers and choreographers in a dance lab with a Bluey engineer, feminist horror filmmaker and contemporary visual artists?
Perth Festival’s first homegrown artistic director frames a city in transition
The nation’s oldest arts festival returns with a program that pushes the boundaries even as it honours Perth’s history.
This hellishly good Hadestown cast is simply heavenly
The show boasts a suite of charismatic stars but Rokobaro is something else, scorching with off-the-charts sex appeal, wild physical abandon and powerhouse singing.
Great Scott! It’s Back to the Future: The Musical
Marty McFly and Doc Brown return for an all new Back to the Future musical in Sydney.
Hindu epic opera renders mysteries of the universe
In its entirety the ancient Sanskrit poem is longer than the Iliad and the Odyssey put together so poses quite a challenge for anyone wanting to adapt it. Did they pull it off?
Relevance the ambition for festival’s new artistic director
Perth Festival’s new artistic director Anna Reece is ready to challenge expectations of what such an event is meant to be.
From deaf moll to cancer survivor: ‘There’s always a fear it will return’
Actress Tracy Mann opens up about chemo, a double mastectomy, remarrying later in life and the one TV role that made her squirm.
Opera Australia in turmoil as another leader leaves
Opera Australia CEO Fiona Allan is to leave the company – the latest in a string of high-profile departures that have rocked the national opera company and broader arts scene.
‘I don’t like things like food trucks: I just want a chair to sit on’
As the long-time host of Bake Off, and the creator of a hit social media meme, comedian Mel Buttle has built a career out of finding funny in the everyday – including her descent into middle age.
Festival director revived live performance at city’s darkest time
Brisbane Festival artistic director Louise Bezzina has been nominated for The Australian’s Australian of the Year for her two decades committed to Queensland’s live performance industry.
Impresario Michael Cassel, backstage pioneer, recognised for globetrotting ambition
The producer behind Hamilton, Titanique and The Picture of Dorian Gray has emerged even more ambitious from a landmark year of Australian theatre.
Magic, white tigers and fraught love – now that’s entertainment
Singing while being sawn in half? What’s not to love about that?
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.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/stage