AUSTRALIA THEATRE NEWSROOM - Page 73

Following on from the highly successful 2019 season, which was nominated for a total of 28 Green Room Awards, the 2020 Darebin Arts Speakeasy season features a program of premieres and performances bigger than ever before.

Wiradjuri dance artist Joel Bray is set to sweeten the Midsumma Festival stage with Daddy, showing in the Arts Centre Melbourne's State Rehearsal Room from  4 - 8 February.

After the sensational success of its first iteration, LET'S TAKE OVER, is back for another year! LET'S TAKE OVER gives 10 talented young people, aged between 16 and 25, the opportunity and the skills to take over the entire Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre building for a one night only arts festival

Asia boasts the boldest, fastest growing, standup comedy scene in the world right now, and the sassiest artists amongst it are a new wave of gay and lesbian performers, queering the mic from Mumbai to Manila.

Abbotsford Convent, Thomas Henning and TerryandTheCuz will present HuRU-hARa a?" a multi-disciplinary, immersive installation of genre-bending arts experiences a?" as part of Asia TOPA 2020.

Award-winning comedian Selina Jenkins has created a tale of mammary proportions in the performance of BOOBS which will feature in Arts Centre Melbourne's Midsumma Festival series at the Fairfax Studio from January 29 to February 1, 2020.

Gusset Grippers is a show which aims to change the world, one fanny at a time.

The Wizard of Oz Arena Spectacular will embark on a tour of Australian, kicking off at the Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday 25th January 2020 for two shows only.

Renowned playwright Daniel Keene returns to fortyfivedownstairs with the Australian premiere of The Curtain.

Asia TOPA is particularly excited to be presenting a mammoth program of contemporary music offerings in the 2020 festival.

In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (A Trivial Comedy for Serious People)a?"Jack and Algy fabricate delicious double lives to escape the straitjacket of social norms and to find the lovers they desire.

Antipodes Theatre Company has announced its second year of programming in Melbourne, which features an Australian musical premiere as well as a Tony Award-winning play.

The Australian Ballet's 2020 contemporary triple bill Volt features two highly acclaimed, lightning-fast works by a giant of the contemporary ballet world, Wayne McGregor, and one brand-new work by the company's resident choreographer, the Helpmann Award-winning Alice Topp.

You'll see life through rose coloured glasses in 2020 at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) with Exposing Edith in the Cremorne Theatre on Saturday 21 March.

Melbourne's opera community is banding together to raise funds for the Red Cross Bushfire Disaster Relief Fund, with 50 of the country's leading singers performing in concert at the Athenaeum Theatre on 7 February.

Australian music legend Paul Mac has teamed up with playwright Lachlan Philpott and director Kate Champion to deliver an inspiring tale of strength and community in The Rise and Fall of Saint George at Arts Centre Melbourne's Hamer Hall for Midsumma Festival this 23 a?" 24 January.

Arts House will showcase two inspiring and exhilarating Australian premieres as part of the 2020 Asia TOPA program.

Look out Melbourne a?' 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL is coming to Melbourne.

After a successful first week of shows, Playhouse Pantomimes is proudly presenting their original musical adaptation of 'Beauty and the Beast' at the Doncaster Playhouse for another two weeks!

by Josh Stent

Join the Bard in the Burbs of Inner West Melbourne, as Sevenfold Theatre Company presents Shakespeare's classic like you've never seen it before - in a backyard in Kingsville under the setting summer sun.

In another Asia TOPA Australian exclusive, the deeply moving family saga of exile and longing, SAIGON, is coming to Arts Centre Melbourne's Playhouse from 12 a?" 15 March.

Playhouse Pantomimes is taking full advantage of the summer, bringing the classic tale of 'Robin Hood' to the beautiful grounds of Montsalvat.

Due to popular demand, Home, I'm Darling by Laura Wade has been extended until Saturday 29 February, with eight new performances added to the season.