Gale Edwards News

Get yourself a ticket to GYPSY, and get it right now. Because if you have an interest in musical theatre, or any theatre at all, you owe it to yourself to experience Caroline O'Connor as Mama Rose.

Today Jeanne Pratt AC, Chairman of The Production Company, announces her company's new season.

The nominations for the 2013 Helpmann Awards have been announced simultaneously at events in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart and Perth. This is the first time the Nominations events were held concurrently in 6 cities and a first for Adelaide, Hobart and Perth.

It's that time again! As the temperatures drop here in Melbourne, we find the best ways for Southern Hemisphere theatre lovers to stay warm and entertained. From hit shows to much-loved revivals, through flying visits from a Broadway legend - Melbourne has much to get us through the winter months!

It is curtain up in Melbourne for The Production Company as they celebrate their 15th anniversary by welcoming back one of their best and brightest to headline an American classic.

Today Jeanne Pratt AC, Chairman of The Production Company, announces her company's new season.

The Australasian premiere of Whistle Down the Wind, with Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics by Jim Steinman, Book by Patricia Knop, Gale Edwards and Andrew Lloyd Webber and Orchestrations by David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber, will play PNBHS, tonight, March 14-23, 2013.

What do Geoffrey Rush, Lisa McCune, Bob Downe, Silvie Paladino, Colin Friels Tony Bartuccio, Chunky Move, John Bell, Richard Gill, Neil Armfield, Chambermade, Bangarra, MKA, Simon Stone, Pamela Rabe, Todd McKenney all have in common? They've all received nominations for the 30th Annual Green Room Awards.

Helpmann nominated performer Trevor Ashley, known most recently for his performance as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, channels the superb talents of cabaret's most idiosyncratic superstar, Liza Minnelli, in the charismatic hit drag show Liza (On an E) in the De Parel Spiegeltent from 10 to 16 February, 2013.

The Australasian premiere of Whistle Down the Wind, with Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics by Jim Steinman, Book by Patricia Knop, Gale Edwards and Andrew Lloyd Webber and Orchestrations by David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber, will play PNBHS, March 14-23, 2013.

Dean Bryant directs musical theatre legend Trevor Ashley in the divinely decadent drag cabaret, I'm Every Woman at The Famous Spiegeltent from Tuesday 19 - Saturday 23 February. A diva of multiple personalities, Trevor Ashley will delight audiences with a degustation of drag interpretations of Whitney Houston, Liza Minnelli, Shirley Bassey and many more.

Helpmann nominated performer Trevor Ashley, known most recently for his performance as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, channels the superb talents of cabaret's most idiosyncratic superstar, Liza Minnelli, in the charismatic hit drag show Liza (On an E) in the De Parel Spiegeltent from 10 to 16 February, 2013.

For musical theatre lovers Down Under, 2012 gave us much to sing and dance about. We watched new musicals struggle to find their footing, a 60-year old classic make its triumphant return, and premiered blockbuster hits straight from the West End. In a year where we were spoilt for choice, it took much deliberation for this Broadway baby to narrow it down to a top five for 2012!

Olney Theatre Center has announced Jason King Jones as their new Director of Education. Mr. Jones is a director and educator who recently completed his MFA in Directing and Certificate in Arts Administration at Boston University.

A true star of the Australian and New Zealand stage, Delia Hannah was my first ever leading lady. As she prepares for the opening night of MARY POPPINS in New Zealand, BroadwayWorld presents a glimpse into her brain on musical theatre ...

Gale Edwards' Production of Chess is without a doubt one of the best shows of the year and has to be one of the greatest of the show since its West End opening in 1986.

The Production Company opens its 2012 Season on July 11 with the Mel Brooks comic masterpiece, The Producers. This brand new staging by Andrew Hallsworth and Dean Bryant will star seven of Australia's best comic talents in a company of fifty singers, dancers and musicians.

A few days shy of the holiest week of the year for Christians - aptly named Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter (with Holy Thursday and Good Friday, the most sacred events on the calendar coming between) - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's seminal rock opera JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR was resurrected on Broadway by TOMMY and JERSEY BOYS director Des McAnuff - modeled after the hit Stratford Shakespeare Festival production last year and comprised of many of the same cast members, including all three leads - to hails of praise and hosannas, mostly. While JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR itself will always divide audiences and critics alike - and not merely because of its controversial content and its button-pushing treatment of the hallowed tale it tells - the magnetism and sheer power that Lloyd Webber's propulsive, throbbing rock score imbues gives the show an energy, vitality and life rare to find in even the most earnestly effervescent and energetic of comparable entities - the recently revived and similarly-themed GODSPELL in a revival a few blocks away included. Then, there are Tim Rice's lyrics - oh-so-spot-on in 1970, but still biting and edgy today in McAnuff's hi-tech and elaborately presented new Broadway production. Using the book of John as the jumping off point, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR tells the story of the last seven days in the life of Jesus Christ (Paul Nolan) and his subsequent betrayal by Judas (Josh Young) and sentencing to death at the hands of King Herod and Pontius Pilate (Tom Hewitt). The twelve apostles, Mary Magdalene and her female companions, lepers, Pharisees, priests and others populate the grand story told almost entirely through song - the show is 90% music - and Webber and Rice's score never, ever lets up. While this may not be the most faithful rendering as far as the Bible is concerned, nor the most historically accurate, SUPERSTAR is now available to experience for a whole new generation thanks to this new revival and the timing could not be more ideal. The time is ripe for a revival of SUPERSTAR, and, as Andrew Lloyd Webber himself has recently related, this new production of the show is the best ever as far as he is concerned. High praise indeed - coming from no less than the Lord.

Quintessence Theatre Group continues its second season with Jean Anouilh's 1943 adaptation of Sophocles' ANTIGONE, in a translation by Jeremy Sams, directed by Alexander Burns.

Quintessence Theatre Group continues its second season with Jean Anouilh's 1943 adaptation of Sophocles' ANTIGONE, in a translation by Jeremy Sams, directed by Alexander Burns.