Amanda Harris News

The Music of Queen is a rock and symphonic spectacular celebrating the greatest hits of Queen and featuring Australian and International stars, rock band and full symphony orchestra!

The witching hour was brought forward by a margin over the weekend when four of Australia's most wicked and wonderful took the stage backed by the magical Sydney Symphony Orchestra for a most spellbinding concert full of passion, humour and sonic sorcery. OK that's all the magic puns I swear!

77 years ago, 'The Wizard of Oz' changed the game for what it meant to be a witch. Since, we've had Maleficent, Samantha, Witchiepoo, Sabrina Spellman, The Halliwell Sisters, Willow, Thessaly, Hermione Granger, Fiona Good and Melisandre, among many others. What is it about these women that so enthrals us? One can imagine a little insight will be shed this coming July when four of Australia's most renowned witches will take the stage of Sydney Opera House and cast a chorus of the songs we've all come to treasure as the musical anthems of some incredibly powerful women. Fortunate enough to be granted audience with Helen Dallimore, Lucy Durack, Amanda Harrison, and Jemma Rix, Witches with your SSO is sure to transcend their wicked performances for a truly enchanting audience experience.

It was announced today that leading Australian musical theatre performer Ben Lewis will return from London to join Australia's very own Witches of Wicked and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere of Witches in July.

The prospect of a new stage musical about the Righteous Brothers is an enticing idea, and with the premiere of That Lovin' Feelin', James A. Zimmerman's new production about the lives and careers of Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley, we ventured into the Valley to take in a performance. The show is being staged through January 24 at the Lonny Chapman Theatre in North Hollywood. As with all of our 'road trips,' there is a local Ventura County angle, in this case, Brenden MacDonald, a graduate of California Lutheran University's drama program who also attended Moorpark College, where he studied under John Loprieno. MacDonald fares well in his Group Rep Theatre debut but the production suffers from obvious miscasting and an overall unsatisfactory book, which fails to effectively portray the lives and tumultuous partnership of Hatfield and Medley.

Prepare for an evening of magic and mystery as Australia's very own Witches of Wicked join the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere of Witches in July 2016.

Winner of six Tony Awards and 2015 Olivier Award winner for Best Musical Revival, City of Angels is set to thrill and delight Melbourne audiences when it plays at the Playhouse Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne, for four shows only from November 5 to November 8. Tickets on sale from Ticketmaster on Friday August 7.

Amongst the array of wonderful shows that The Production Company has brought to the stage, West Side Story, the adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, is without a doubt a triumph! Celebrating their 50th show, with what is often deemed as the best written musical of all time with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, was definitely a decision well made.

The Program Launch for the second half of 2015 shows that the Independent Music Theatre team comprising Luckiest Productions (David Campbell, Lisa Campbell and Richard Carroll), Neglected Musicals (Michelle Guthrie), and Neil Gooding Productions, the driving force behind Hayes Theatre Company, have no intention of slowing down are staying true to their vision to provide a permanent home for small-scale musical theatre and cabaret.

The Mayo Performing Arts Center presents Les Miserables as its third annual youth production. Four performances will take place May 29-31. Tickets are $20-25.

Over a decade after it first opened on Broadway, hit musical Wicked still continues to make audiences rise to their feet in standing ovation all around the world. Last night, Thursday the 25th of September marked Wicked's return to Sydney after a few years absence and it was as though it never left. The streets surrounding the Capitol Theatre have embraced Wicked just as they did when it first arrived, everything is green. No, everything is positively emerald and the scene was set for a spectacular opening night. Noone was disappointed.

2014 marks the 31st Anniversary of the extraordinary Schools Spectacular. The year's celebration will be held at the Qantas Credit Union Arena (formerly known as the Sydney Entertainment Centre) with four performances being held on Friday 28 & Saturday 29 November.

Star of TV's Winners and Losers and talented cabaret artist Virginia Gay will be this year's compere with a twist at the one-night-only Twisted Broadway charity concert at Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse on Monday 4th August, 2014.

High school students from across Washington State packed Benaroya Hall tonight for The 12th Annual 5th Avenue Awards Honoring High School Musical Theater, a high school version of the Tony Awards, proudly sponsored for the tenth year by Wells Fargo with additional support from Alaska Airlines. The house was packed with 2,000 teenagers, dressed in costume representing their schools' musical theater productions, who cheered for their peers as they performed musical excerpts and accepted awards honoring top student achievements in musical theater. The acclaimed event, directed this year by Mathew Wright, handed out awards in 21 categories ranging from Outstanding Overall Musical Production to Outstanding Lobby Display.

On January 29 & 30, the creators of the international musical sensations LES MISERABLES and MISS SAIGON will present a special concert celebrating their work at the Newport Performing Arts Theatre in Manila to raise funds to offer humanitarian relief and assist the rebuilding efforts after parts of the Philippines were left devastated in the wake of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). The concerts, which will star Lea Salonga, David Harris, and Marie Zamora, will celebrate the works of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, including musical numbers from Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, La Revolution Francaise, Martin Guerre and The Pirate Queen. Supported by the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra and a 100-member choir, conducted by musical director Gerard Salonga, the concert is headlined by some of the world's leading musical theatre performers.

UP CLOSE AND REASONABLY PERSONAL with AMANDA HARRISON is a candid evening of song and conversation with one of Australia's most prolific musical theatre stars. Amanda is most well-known for originating the role of Elphaba in the Australian production of Wicked for the Gordon Frost Organisation - a role that earned her Green Room, Helpmann and Sydney Theatre Award nominations for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. OCTOBER 3rd

THE SOUND OF MUSIC, including Edward Hibbert (Max Detweiler), Anthony Fedorov (Rolf Gruber), Ben Davis (Captain) and Elena Shaddow (Maria), Chelsea Morgan Stock (Liesl), and more, will run at the Paper Mill Playhouse through December 30, 2012. Check out photos from last night's opening below!

Paper Mill Playhouse presents The Sound of Music, directed and choreographed by James Brennan, now playing through December 30. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production below.

Yesterday, November 14th, the cast of Paper Mill Playhouse's The Sound of Music, directed and choreographed by James Brennan, met the press. Cast for the show includes Edward Hibbert (Max Detweiler), Anthony Fedorov (Rolf Gruber), Ben Davis (Captain) and Elena Shaddow (Maria), Chelsea Morgan Stock (Liesl), and more. BroadwayWorld was there for the festivities and you can check out photos below!