Get your 2025 cultural calendar sorted with our top arts picks
Our highlights of the 2025 cultural calendar include the must-see events of the stage, screen, streaming, plus our picks of both the festival circuit and Australia’s blockbuster art exhibitions.
Take out your cultural calendar – we have good times galore. Our list of hot tickets to this year’s big shows include Broadway sensations Back to the Future, MJ the Musical and Beetlejuice, with the legendary Cats poised to return. There’s also the pick of TV and films for rainy days and downtime.
Australian audiences will soon greet international pop acts Dua Lipa, Drake and Oasis, among others, and give a fond farewell to Bluesfest. First up, our beloved summer festivals with Krapp’s Last Tape in Adelaide and PJ Harvey in Perth among the highlights, plus Sydney Festival’s rollicking rock opera Sigfried & Roy. Stay cool.
Looking for the top travel destinations to add to your 2025 bucket list? Look no further than our hot list of restaurants, hotels and destinations.
MUSIC
Royel Otis
Touring from December 21 to January 5
Fresh from their clean sweep at the Aria Awards, and a US and European tour, this breakthrough indie-pop duo are bringing tunes from their debut album Pratts & Pain to festivals across the country – Lost Paradise, Beyond the Valley and Wildlands.
Luke Combs
Touring Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in January and February
For the first time an American country music star headlines a full stadium tour in Australia. Such is the popularity of Luke Combs that the North Carolina singer’s Suncorp, Accor and Marvel stadium shows in support of his album Fathers & Sons sold out in minutes. Combs is also responsible for last year’s moving cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car, as well as the stomping Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma from last year’s Twisters movie soundtrack.
Max Richter
Touring nationally from February 10
Richter is the internationally acclaimed, German-born British contemporary composer who has scored Hollywood films like Ad Astra starring Brad Pitt, and Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival; now he’s touring for his ninth album, In a Landscape, supported by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble.
Drake
Touring Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in February
Canadian hip-hop star Drake is the biggest name to tour this country since Taylor Swift. Across eight studio albums, and 13 Billboard Number 1 hits (that’s as many as Michael Jackson ever had) Drake has oscillated between styles throughout his entire career, drawing in fans of rap, as well as pop and R&B.
Billie Eilish
Touring Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne in February and March
The now 22-year-old Billie Eilish reaches our shores for her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour which has now completed its North American run to stellar reviews. Eilish, who first found fame as a 15-year-old, blends elements of pop, rock and electronic music to create a style that started in her bedroom studio and now sells out arenas worldwide.
Kylie Minogue
Touring Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney in February and March
The Queen returns. After a Kylie Renaissance in 2023 off the back of the success of her hit single Padam Padam, Ms Minogue is touring for her 16th studio album, Tension. Expect largesse onstage and off it as Kylie’s legion of devoted fans welcome her home.
Dua Lipa
Touring Melbourne and Sydney in March
UK pop queen Dua Lipa is touring Australia in support of her third studio album, Radical Optimism. This woman is responsible for some of the biggest dancefloor hits of the past decade, including Levitating, Houdini, Don’t Start Now, and last year’s Dance The Night from the Barbie movie soundtrack.
Gracie Abrams
Touring Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth in May
The American singer-songwriter returns to Australia for the second time in 18 months – and this time with a hit album and a Taylor Swift duet up her sleeve. Abrams, the daughter of US showrunner and film director JJ Abrams, has carved her own path with folk-pop songs of love and longing.
Bluesfest
Byron Bay, April 17 to 20
This will be the final instalment of the Bluesfest event, which has brought some of the biggest names in music to Byron Bay each Easter weekend for the past 35 years. While you say goodbye to an institution, enjoy sets from Crowded House, Gary Clark Jr, Kasey Chambers and Hilltop Hoods.
Oasis
Touring Sydney and Melbourne in November
It has been more than 15 years since the Gallagher brothers played live together – and by all accounts, almost as long since they last spoke. But the pair have patched up their differences to put together a reunion tour that represents the hottest ticket of 2025. You can expect anthemic singalongs and plenty of nostalgic tears – so long as Liam and Noel can remain civil to one another.
Metallica
Touring Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney in November
These veteran heavy metal legends return to Australia for the first time since 2013 and their devoted following will be sure to welcome them back with open arms. Expect tracks from their latest release, 72 Seasons, as well as all the Metallica classics.
MUSICALS AND THEATRE
The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale
Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, from January
The fantasy series to rule them all is making its way down under from Middle-earth, in time to celebrate the 70th anniversary of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. The Australian debut of this musical adaptation revitalises the beloved tale of hobbit Bilbo Baggins on his journey to destroy a cursed ring – once and for all.
Never Have I Ever
Melbourne, February 15 to March 22
Melbourne Theatre Company adapts this wildly successful British play by comedian and podcaster Deborah Frances-White. Set over the course of a boozy dinner, this modern-day Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? finds four old friends divulging dangerous confessions.
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Sydney, February 17 to April 5
Sydney Theatre Company presents a contemporary stage adaptation of this gothic Australian classic, set in the aftermath of the disappearance of a group of schoolgirls. Following her breakout role as Priscilla Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, Olivia De Jonge leads a cast of rising stars on the Sydney Opera House stage.
Candide
Sydney, February 20 to March 14
Leonard Bernstein’s music meets Voltaire’s acclaimed satirical writing in this Opera Australia production of Candide, starring musical theatre mainstay Eddie Perfect. Strap in for an adventure to a world gone mad where ignorance isn’t always bliss.
MJ the Musical
From February at the Sydney Lyric Theatre
This jukebox musical portrays the life and career of Michael Jackson with a focus on the heady time leading up to his 1992 album Dangerous and its subsequent world tour. With direction and choreography by ballet star Christopher Wheeldon (who was also responsible for The Australian Ballet’s hit 2024 production of Oscar).
Hadestown
Sydney, from February; Melbourne, from May
Perfect for lovers of ancient Greek mythology, this musical – which retells the epic tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice from Greek mythology – became an overnight success when it hit Broadway in 2019. The eight-time Tony Award-winning show is set to premiere in Sydney, followed by Melbourne.
Guys and Dolls
Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, March 21 to April 20
Having tried his hand at an international pop career and an international swimming career, Cody Simpson turns his hand to musical theatre with a starring role in this Opera Australia production. Bobby Fox has joined the cast alongside Jason Arrow, who casts off his long-time role as Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton after a three-year run.
Les Miserables
ICC Sydney, Rod Laver Arena and the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in April and May
This beloved story of love and retribution in revolutionary France returns as an arena spectacular in 2025. The Cameron Mackintosh production includes Matt Lucas and Marina Prior as The Thenardiers. Englishman Alfie Boe and Irish tenor Killian Donnelly share the role of Jean Valjean.
Beetlejuice
The Regent Theatre, Melbourne, from May
Eddie Perfect, the man originally responsible for the words and music of this musical when it first took on Broadway in 2019, takes centre stage at The Regent and brings his creation to life. The story has touched a new generation in 2024, with the film sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice one of the biggest cinema hits of the year.
Cats
Theatre Royal Sydney, from June
It has been 40 years since Andrew Lloyd Webber first brought his record-breaking and mind-boggling musical Cats to Australia, thus setting in motion the blockbuster musical theatre culture of this country. Book another date for the Jellicle Ball.
Back to the Future: The Musical
Sydney Lyric Theatre, from September
Join Marty McFly in the DeLorean on a journey back to 1955 in this adaptation of Robert Zemeckis’s much-loved film. Designed originally to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the film’s release, this musical has since won a UK Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
FILM
Paddington in Peru
In cinemas from January 1
The franchise returns, with Ben Whishaw voicing the hapless but hope-filled bear. Director Paul King departs (along with Sally Hawkins as Mrs Brown), replaced by first-time feature film director Dougal Wilson – an ad man responsible for those weepy Christmas adverts for UK department store John Lewis, as well as the unforgettably lascivious film clip for Benny Benassi’s Satisfaction.
Nosferatu
In cinemas from January 1
One of film history’s most terrifying figures returns from the dead more than a century after the original. F.W. Murnau’s silent movie Nosferatu scared the socks off cinemagoers in 1922 – and with Robert Eggers directing, this modern production threatens to do the same. Vampire Count Orlok is played by Bill Skarsgard, who leads an ensemble including Emma Corrin, Nicholas Hoult, Willem Dafoe and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Conclave
In cinemas from January 9
This adaptation of Robert Harris’s 2016 novel depicts the days after the death of the Pope as a conclave of cardinals gathers in the Vatican to elect his successor. But there are secrets in the Holy See, and his death is not at all what it seems. Stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow as scheming men of the cloth, plus Isabella Rossellini as a nun.
A Complete Unknown
In cinemas from January 23
This James Mangold-directed biopic captures the inside story of why Bob Dylan plugged in his Stratocaster and went electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Timothée Chalamet transforms into the famous troubadour frustrated by the constraints of folk. Elle Fanning is Suze Rotolo and Monica Barbaro steps in to play Joan Baez.
Babygirl
In cinemas from January 30
Nicole Kidman returns to the big screen for this much-hyped erotic thriller in which she plays a high-flying CEO having an affair with the office intern. The Venice Film Festival audience gave it a seven-minute standing ovation, while Vanity Fair says this film might just “save sex in cinema”.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
In cinemas from February 13
Join Bridge in her AD years – that’s “After Darcy” – as she rejoins the dating scene as a clueless and now widowed 50-year-old. She discovers that she must now contend with a new dating world wherein Tinder has replaced chance encounters with handsome strangers around a turkey curry buffet. Hugh Grant reprises his role as the devilish Daniel Cleaver.
Black Bag
In cinemas from March
Steven Soderbergh reunites with Cate Blanchett in this spy thriller co-starring Michael Fassbender. Plot details are being kept closely guarded but the film will be Soderbergh’s second release for the year, with psychological thriller Presence, starring Lucy Liu and Julia Fox, due for release in January.
Snow White
In cinemas from March
Disney’s suite of live-action recreations have delivered mixed results but the upcoming Snow White has a secret weapon – Greta Gerwig. The writer-director behind last year’s Barbie juggernaut has co-written the film, which stars Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.
Mickey 17
In cinemas from April
South Korean director Bong Joon-ho returns with his first film since Parasite, winner of the Best Picture Oscar in 2019. In this sci-fi black comedy, Robert Pattinson stars as Mickey, who is an “expendable” – an employee who can be regenerated after death, all memories intact. Things go awry when Mickey version 17 is assumed dead and must go head-to-head with a new version of himself.
F1
In cinemas from June
Formula 1 has exploded in worldwide popularity since the Netflix series Drive to Survive cleverly brought the sport’s drama-filled off-track hijinks centre-stage. Now, Apple wants to join the race. Co-produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and driver Lewis Hamilton, the film stars Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem and British actor Damson Idris in a breakthrough role.
Jurassic World Rebirth
In cinemas from July
The dino franchise gets a fresh start thanks to a star-studded cast with Scarlett Johansson at its core. She channels her inner action hero as Zora Bennett – a “covert operations expert” tasked with extracting genetic material from the three largest dinosaurs roaming Earth. The stakes? Only a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.
The Naked Gun
In cinemas from August
For those praying to Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle for a return of Lieutenant Frank Drebin, there is good news… Liam Neeson, the Liam Neeson, the man with a “very particular set of skills” best known for his roles as Michael Collins and Oskar Schindler, will star in a reboot of the classic Leslie Nielsen crime spoofs, alongside Pamela Anderson.
Mother Mary
Release date to be confirmed
Details of this “epic pop melodrama” in which a pop star (played by Anne Hathaway) has a tumultuous relationship with a fashion designer (Michaela Coel) remain scant, but the vision of its writer-director David Lowery is backed by the colossal weight of the A24 production company. Music will be contributed by Charli XCX, as well as Jack Antonoff.
Frankenstein
Release date to be confirmed
Guillermo del Toro takes on the dual challenge of recreating Mary Shelley’s 1818 masterpiece for a modern audience while turning a genuine Hollywood hunk (Australia’s Jacob Elordi) into the eponymous monster. Oscar Isaac plays Dr Frankenstein and Christoph Waltz joins as Dr Pretorius in what is expected to be a faithful adaptation of the novel, via Netflix.
Him
In cinemas from September
Jordan Peele’s production house bills this as “a sports film through a spaghetti western lens”. Marlon Wayans plays a washed-up quarterback charged with training a rising football star. Expect incisive social commentary on the trappings of power, competition, and fame. Also stars Julia Fox.
STREAMING
The White Lotus
The acclaimed juggernaut returns, this time sending its guests to a high-end Thai resort. If the successful recipe holds true, staff and hotel visitors will mingle in yet another biting social satire. Season 1 star Natasha Rothwell retuns as the hard-done-by spa manager Belinda.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight
After the success of House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones universe gets another spin-off. Based on a short story by the author George RR Martin, the six-part series will follow Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg as they journey through Westeros in the time of the Targaryens.
The Pitt
HBO Max brings beloved ER favourite Noah Wyle back into the world of hospital drama. Wyle stars as a doctor in a Pittsburgh emergency room (hence ‘The Pitt’) in charge of a new team of interns. In a 24-style quirk, the show navigates their 15-hour shift across 15 episodes.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Real-life Australian conwoman Belle Gibson, her social media stardom, her phony cure-alls, fictional illnesses and eventual downfall are the subject of this Netflix series due next year. Emmy-nominated US actor Kaitlyn Dever (Unbelievable, Dopesick) plays Gibson.
Black Rabbit
This Netflix limited series stars Jude Law as the owner of a hot New York City club who gives his troubled brother, played by Jason Bateman, a chance at a new start. Directing reins will be shared between Bateman, Laura Linney (an Ozark reunion) and Australian Justin Kurzel.
It: Welcome to Derry
Stephen King diehards will welcome this It origin story which is at the centre of HBO’s 2025 slate. Bill Skarsgard returns for what is a must-watch event in the horror world, as the series takes viewers back to the 1960s, previewing the chaos to come.
Stranger Things
This is the fifth and final season of this stylish retro Netflix hit which made a star of Millie Bobby Brown, revived Winona Ryder’s career, and had us all fearing the place known as the Upside Down. Creators always imagined it as a five-series epic, so expect questions to be answered once and for all.
The Studio
Series creator Seth Rogen will also star in this Apple TV comedy centred on a film studio executive trying to balance the books and create sure-fire cinema hits. Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone star Catherine O’Hara co-stars alongside Kathryn Hahn, and a rotation of celebrities will play themselves.
Optics
ABC-TV has given hilarious twentysomething comedians Jenna Owen and Vic Zerbst their own show with Optics, a program which skewers the world of crisis public relations. Writers Owen and Zerbst also co-star as two women who unexpetedly inherit the directorship of the firm as it lurches from scandal to scandal.
ART
Dark Tourism at MONA
Hobart, from February 15
Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art confronts the dilemma of travelling to destinations associated with suffering and death in its latest exhibition. French artist and stage director Théo Mercier responds to this quandary with a wasteland-esque sandpit awash with debris.
Julie Mehretu: A Transcore of the Radical Imaginatory
Sydney, until April 27
Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art adds the critically acclaimed Ethiopian-born, New York-based artist to its Sydney International Art Series. Blurring artistic boundaries, Mehretu’s practice is deeply rooted in her own experience of escaping civil war as well as themes of globalisation and migration.
Yayoi Kusama
Melbourne, until April 21
The NGV unveils its blockbuster exhibition: one of the largest Kusama retrospectives ever presented in the world. Spanning the elusive artist’s eight-decade oeuvre, over 180 pieces will be shown including the gallery’s recent $10 million acquisition, Dancing Pumpkin.
Pompeii
Canberra, until May 4
If 2024 was the season of ancient Egypt, 2025 might just be the year of the Roman Empire. The National Museum of Australia will bring the story of Pompeii and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius to life with an exclusive exhibition featuring immersive digital projections and newly discovered artefacts to be seen for the first time outside of Europe.
Henry Roy – Impossible Island
Perth, until May 18
Photographer Henry Roy is known for his images of life in his homeland Haiti, as well as his travels in Ibiza, Paris, Marrakesh and the Ivory Coast. Now he reflects on 40 years of capturing memories in his first survey exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Radical Textiles
Adelaide, until March 30
The Art Gallery of South Australia presents the work of over 100 artists, designers and disruptors – including fashion legend Vivienne Westwood and artist Grayson Perry – in its love letter to textiles as a social force for change and political upheaval throughout history.
Ethel Carrick | Anne Dangar
Canberra, until April 27
This double feature comes courtesy of the National Gallery of Australia’s Know My Name project which celebrates women artists whose works have shaped the cultural landscape even though their names are not yet recognised. Australian trailblazers Carrick and Dangar are finally getting the recognition their legacies should have created.
Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art
Brisbane, until April 27
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art host their flagship exhibition series this summer. Featuring 70 artists, collectives and projects from across the Asia-Pacific, including Saudia Arabia, Timor-Leste and Uzbekistan for the first time, the Triennial brings some of the best contemporary art to Brisbane.
Carol Jerrems: Portraits
Canberra, until March 2
Jerrems was one of Australia’s most influential photographers, documenting the course of social change led by women and First Nations activists in the 1970s. Though her death at age 30 was untimely, the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition sheds light on her prolific career, including photos of author Anne Summers and tennis great Evonne Goolagong Cawley.
London International Animation Festival
Sydney, January 17 - 19
A showcase of the best children's animation films and shorts from artists around the globe will be screened at The Playhouse Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Films will include examples of stop-motion animation and claymation, as well as 2D, 3D, and CGI works. This carefully curated program of animated excellence is perfect for audiences aged 2 to 14, and a terrific school holiday entertainment option.
Cezanne to Giacometti: Highlights from Museum Berggruen/Neue Nationalgalerie
Canberra, May 31 to September 21
More than 80 works by Paul Cézanne, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti and Henri Matisse will be exhibited in Australia for the first time. The exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia speaks to the relationship and impression European artists left upon their Australian counterparts of the same era.
BEST OF THE FESTIVALS
Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera, Sydney Festival
Sydney, January 8 to 25
Sydney Festival returns to the harbour city with rock opera Siegfried & Roy as its exclusive headliner. Have a rollicking time watching this (semi) true tale of the demise of Las Vegas’ favourite magic duo. Also top of the Festival bill is Stephanie Lake Company ballet The Chronicles and new star of soul, Jalen Ngonda.
Tamworth Country Music Festival
Tamworth, January 17 to 26
It’s the largest country music festival in the Southern Hemisphere, with legendary artists Troy Cassar-Daley, Michael Waugh and Kasey Chambers up for the top gongs at the Golden Guitar Awards.
Parkes Elvis Festival
Parkes, January 8 to 12
Elvis fever has truly made a comeback with Sofia Coppola and Baz Luhrmann’s recent cinematic adaptations of his life. But this festival in regional NSW dedicated to the undisputed King of Rock is celebrating his music and moves for its 32nd year.
Party in the Paddock
Tasmania, February 6 to 9
The curtain may have been brought down on Mona Foma, which put Tassie’s cultural scene on the world map, but the Party in the Paddock is ready and raring for another year. The Kooks headline, alongside Empire of the Sun, newly anointed ARIA award-winner Angie McMahon, and US internet sensation Oliver Tree.
Laneway Festival
Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth, February 8 to 15
Securing pop music it-girl Charli XCX for exclusive appearances has been a coup for this summer festival mainstay. Aussie pub-rock band Skeggs, as well as UK act Beabadoobee, and US singer Clairo also headline.
Mahabharata, Perth Festival
Perth, February 8 to 16
A visually stunning spectacle based on the ancient Sanskrit poem of the same name makes its way to the Perth Festival. Choose your own adventure by watching Part I and II separately or as a complete event with a traditional Indian feast and storytelling session. On the musical front, the festival’s line-up is headlined by legendary UK songstress PJ Harvey and the Irish post-punk sensations Fontaines D.C.
August: Osage County, Perth Festival
Perth, February 27 to March 17
Before being turned into a star-studded film with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts at its helm, August: Osage County was a Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play on Broadway. Presented by Black Swan State Theatre Company and Belvoir St Theatre, this contemporary classic lands on the West Coast for the Perth Festival.
Krapp’s Last Tape, Adelaide Festival
Adelaide, February 27 to March 8
Direct from Dublin, one of absurdist master Samuel Beckett’s great plays makes its Australian premiere at the Adelaide Festival. Irish actor Stephen Rea ingeniously recorded himself three decades earlier in case he got the opportunity to play Krapp, a elderly man who listens back to a tape he made in his youth.
