Green light for $176 million Parramatta lyric theatre redevelopment

A new 1350-seat lyric theatre, big enough to stage Broadway-style musicals, will be built on the banks of the Parramatta River, part of a $160 million pre-election spending spree bolstering western Sydney’s performing arts scene.

The Perrottet government has pitched in $40 million from its $5 billion WestInvest fund, plugging a funding shortfall that had delayed the $176 million Riverside Theatres redevelopment several years.

Craig McMaster inside the Riverside Theatres, which is getting a new $176 million lease of life. Credit: Wolter Peeters

Campbelltown Arts Centre has also received $80 million to build a new 350-seat theatre, galleries and workshop spaces and $40 million will be invested in a new Blacktown Arts and Cultural Centre – with its 3000 square metres of theatres, galleries, and public exhibition space – out of monies set aside from the proceeds of the sale of the WestConnex tollway system.

But the government is believed to have made no decision to acquire the privately owned Roxy Theatre to return the Spanish mission-style former cinema palace in Parramatta’s George Street to its former glory.

Owner David Kingston told The Sun-Herald he remained a committed owner and was awaiting excavation of the next-door Metro train station to finish before progressing his plans for the former picture palace.

The think tank, Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue group, welcomed funding for the Riverside Theatres, lying across the river from the Powerhouse Museum, as a small step to addressing the cultural infrastructure needs of western Sydney.

It has urged the government return the heritage-listed Roxy Theatre to public hands and prohibit all gambling uses there, limiting its future as a mega pub or nightclub and preserving it for community use.

With a population of 2.1 million, western Sydney has only two other main stages with major theatre capacity: the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre at Penrith and the Sydney Coliseum at Rooty Hill.

The existing 760-seat Riverside Playhouse Theatre will be upgraded but the rest of the theatre complex, built for the 1988 Bicentenary, will be demolished to make way for the new 1350-seat proscenium arch theatre, a new 430-seat “black box” drama theatre, 75 to 90 seat digital and development studio and screening space, and two rehearsal spaces. The main theatre can house larger audiences than the Theatre Royal in the Sydney CBD.

Architect’s block image showing the scale of the new Riverside Theatres.

Total seating capacity will more than double from 1067 to more than 2600 seats, enabling Parramatta to host major touring live music and theatre productions. Demand was already so great from community and commercial events that Riverside was fully booked for the rest of the year, its director Craig McMaster said.

“I’ve got no doubt with the way Parramatta is growing at such scale that there is demand out here to sustain multi-week, long-running shows. I can see Parramatta as an incredible arts and culture destination with Riverside Theatres the jewel in the crown.”

Drawing on the WestInvest war chest ahead of next month’s election, Treasurer Matt Kean this week made a series of major funding announcements in south-west and western Sydney, areas that bore the brunt of COVID lockdowns.

Parramatta Lord Mayor and Labor’s candidate for the bellwether seat of Parramatta, Donna Davis, said the injection of WestInvest money was welcome, but an admission of government neglect after its 12 years in office.

Arts Minister Ben Franklin said the WestInvest funding was a measure of government’s commitment to the region and would ensure the community and local artists accessed some of the best arts and culture offerings in their own backyard.

No decision has been made to acquire the heritage-listed Roxy Theatre.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Theatre producer Rodney Rigby said Parramatta’s new lyric theatre would become a vital part of the nation’s cultural infrastructure. “I can see myself producing plays and smaller musicals here in Sydney and with national tours, I can see them working around and doing smaller seasons at Parramatta. I can also see smaller shows going into Newcastle, Parramatta and those other major urban and regional areas because they provide first-class entertainment opportunities.”

But he said Parramatta’s “excellent proposition” would not solve Sydney’s theatre capacity problem, with the CBD short of an 800-seat theatre.

Redevelopment plans for the Riverside Theatres date to the government’s $140 million purchase from Parramatta City Council of the parcel of riverfront land on which the Parramatta Powerhouse is being built. Of this, $100 million was dedicated to expanding the Riverside Theatres as part of a ribbon of cultural facilities anchored by the new museum.

Negotiations broke down between council and Create NSW, the government’s arts agency, in 2020 when the two parties could not agree on running costs and operating models. Council decided to go it alone and approved a business case late last year. A design competition will be commissioned this year, with construction expected to start mid to late 2024 and finish late 2026.

A cultural guide to going out and loving your city. Sign up to our Culture Fix newsletter here.