Category: Musical Theatre
Review: A Beautiful Noise The Neil Diamond Musical
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★★★★★ If you only make it to one show this year, choose A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical. Staged in Melbourne’s majestic Princess Theatre, this production demonstrates just how powerful a finely crafted jukebox musical can be. Conceived with Neil Diamond’s own guidance, the show carries a remarkable sense…
Review: Fiddler On The Roof Celebrates Resilience, Faith & Love
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★★★★☆ It’s back – again! Fiddler on the Roof, one of the great musicals of the 1960s, returns to Sydney on stage at the Theatre Royal. Created by Jerry Bock (music) Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) and Joseph Stein (book) based on stories by Sholem Aleichem, Fiddler is rarely out of production, though many (like…
Review: The Book of Mormon Blesses Brisbane Once More
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★★★★½ The arrival of The Book of Mormon brings one of musical theatre’s biggest comedy hits back to Brisbane. The first major touring musical to grace the city’s sparkling new Glasshouse Theatre, it remains as provocative as it is popular more than a decade after its Broadway debut. Anyone who…
Review: Anastasia Finds Its Way To Adelaide In Glorious Style
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★★★★★ In a musical about deposed and murdered royalty, Australian theatre supplies two living queens. Rhonda Burchmore and Nancye Hayes finally enter the same story in the second act, and Anastasia rises with them. Like the best fairy tales, their gifts have ignored the passing years. Anastasia the Musical grew…
Review: & Juliet Brings Shakespeare To The Pop Era
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What do you get when you mix pop hits, ’80s and ’90s fashion, and an insanely talented cast? The Queensland Academy of Excellence in Musical Theatre’s production of & Juliet, of course. If you’ve been following along on my reviewing journey, you’ll know that I love a good jukebox musical, and &…
Review: Heathers Brings Big Fun To The Gold Coast
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★★★★★ Anyone who’s seen Heathers: The Musical knows it’s unlike almost any other night at the theatre. Audiences cheer as though they’re at a rock concert, queues for merchandise and the post-show meet-and-greets stretch into the night, and fans, affectionately known as Corn Nuts, arrive in costume to celebrate a…
Review: SIX Serves A Royal Flush Of Pop Perfection
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★★★★★ It’s simply one of a kind, no category! SIX the Musical has blasted into Melbourne with an outstanding cast of queens rocking the roof off the Comedy Theatre. In a display of entertainment like no other, audiences will feel a surge of power, inspiration, sisterhood and beauty in this…
Review: Jesus Christ Superstar Rises To The Challenge
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★★★★☆ A guitarist stands in silhouette against a blood-red backdrop. Mark Lanigan-O’Keefe attacks Andrew Lloyd Webber’s opening riff, his shadow thrown across the stage as though Jimmy Page has wandered into Golgotha. The image captures the challenge facing Therry Theatre. Jesus Christ Superstar belongs to musical theatre, but it was…
Review: Grey Gardens Is An Eerie, Elegant Tale Of Love & Entrapment
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Interest in the Kennedy family is perennial. Every few years, another television series, film or book promises to reveal the “true” story behind America’s most scrutinised dynasty. This year, it was Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette that renewed the fascination. But on such well-tilled ground, it…
Review: Off Broadway Is A Vibrant Celebration Of Musical Theatre
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It’s the world’s greatest musical numbers celebrated in an exciting spectacle of entertainment! With a brilliant cast of stars lighting up the stage, Off Broadway brings glitz and glamour, sparkles and sequins, inspiring electric energy and a flurry of feathers. Featuring favourite moments from musical theatre, Off Broadway is presented by…
Review: NAPA Ensemble Strikes Gold With Jagged Little Pill
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Jukebox musicals are a divisive genre. People seem to either love them or hate them. I enjoy them as productions, but their soundtracks have never been on repeat in my playlist. Jagged Little Pill, however, has changed all that for me. Inspired by Alanis Morissette’s iconic 1995 album of the…
Review: Don Giovanni Sees Opera Australia At Its Most Inventive
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★★★★½ A red petrol pump stands at stage left. It looks like scenery, a piece of period detail. Then you remember Chekhov: do not place a gun on stage unless somebody is going to use it. Opera Australia’s touring Don Giovanni does use the pump. By the end, it has…
Review: Pretty Woman Musical Makes Glamorous Finish In Melbourne
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★★★★☆ Following a smash-hit national run covering five major Australian cities, Pretty Woman: The Musical struts into Melbourne’s iconic Regent Theatre for a glamorous finish. This glossy Jones Theatrical Group production retains much of the beloved 1990 rom-com’s storyline, with the sheen of a big-budget crowd-pleaser and generous sprinkles of nostalgia throughout. If…
Review: Afterglow Leaves Audiences On A High
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★★★★☆ The traditions of barbershop include well fitted pinstripe vests, little bow ties, camaraderie, four strong male voices that unite in harmony to create something beautiful. Hey, that sounds kinda camp… Purple Tape Productions in association with Belvoir St Theatre presents the unique production Afterglow as part of Griffin Theatre…
Review: The Addams Family Is A Creepy, Kooky Triumph
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★★★★★ Wonderfully eccentric, The Addams Family, as first created by cartoonist Charles Addams, has been the inspiration for countless pieces of media since their introduction in 1938. In 2010, the first stage adaptation in the form of The Addams Family musical hit the Broadway stage. Now, Joshua Robson Productions has…
Review: Bring It On Gives Us Something To Cheer About
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★★★½ Bursting onto the stage at The National Theatre, Theatrical Inc.’s latest production, Bring It On: The Musical, is an explosion of athleticism, infectious energy and enough school spirit to power an entire pep rally. Based on the beloved noughties film franchise, Bring It On tells a new story that honours the…
Review: Middle Raged A Musical Meltdown Is A Love Letter To Women
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★★★★★ We open with a juxtaposition – a stage drawn in shades of pink, a live band that trots out a jazzy tune, an arch that’s ringed by light bulbs like a mirror in an actress’s dressing room. It feels like stepping onto the soundstage of a 1950s television show.…
Review: Next To Normal Finds Hope In The Darkness
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Sydney Musical Theatre delivers a poignant and emotionally compelling production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Next to Normal in a moving opening night performance. This is a story about grief, mental illness, and the lasting effects of trauma as families attempt to hold themselves together through periods of turmoil and…
Review: Gutenberg! The Musical! Brings Infectious Energy To PIP Theatre
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★★★★☆ Prepare to laugh out loud, kick your feet and howl with joy at Second Beat’s newest production, Gutenberg! The Musical! Playing for a limited time at Brisbane’s charming PIP Theatre, Gutenberg! The Musical! is a hilariously outlandish celebration of musical theatre and cheering on the underdogs. The story follows…
Review: You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown Is About Nothing, & Everything
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★★★★★ There is something almost radical about how little happens in You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Before Seinfeld, this was the musical about nothing. Nobody saves the world, nobody gets the girl. Nobody has a glitter-cannon self-realisation. Charlie Brown cannot fly a kite. He cannot kick a football. He…
Review: Mackenzie Brings Pop Energy To The Scottish Play
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★★★★★ Bell Shakespeare’s Mackenzie is an exemplar of not only adaptation, but also theatre. The new play, created by Yve Blake, brings Macbeth to the early 2000s. This sees the titular role reimagined as a Hannah Montana-inspired child star. Logie award-winning actress, Virginia Gay, steps into the director’s seat for this…
Review: Sweet Charity Shimmies With Renewed Buoyancy
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★★★½ As we stand centre stage in the theatre of life, facing its fickle finger of fate – could hope be our boldest, most courageous performance, and love the seductive encore we keep returning to, no matter how turbulent the reviews? Sweet Charity brilliantly shimmies into Melbourne’s Chapel Off Chapel with…
Review: Casey Donovan This Is Me 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★★ Casey Donovan became a household name when she won Australian Idol in 2004 as its youngest-ever champion. Now, twenty-two years later, she arrives for one night only to a packed Festival Theatre for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Despite its title, This Is Me – The Amy Winehouse Special is not about Winehouse. The…
Review: Stella Sheds New Light On A Classic Australian Figure
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★★★½ Tucked away in the expansive Monash Clayton Campus is a portal to late 1800s Australia: Stella, performed in the Alexander Theatre. Stella is a new Australian musical with book, music and lyrics by Monique diMattina, showing us Australia’s future by digging into its past. Directed by Julia Robertson with…
Review: HOUSE OF ROT Grey Gardens 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★½ Anticipated by packed tables within the Space Theatre, another fabulous show, HOUSE OF ROT: Grey Gardens, joins Reuben Kaye’s ‘Delicious Revolution’ for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. A minimally lit stage, swathed in smoke, reveals a piano and five chairs. To each of the sides of the stage, wooden chairs…
Review: Lincoln Elliott Artefact 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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“Steal shit back” is a thesis statement and also the title-song battle cry of Artefact (or, Repatriation: The Musical), Lincoln Elliott’s ambitious emo-rock heist musical about colonial theft, cultural identity, self-determination and the punishing business of making new Australian work. Presented as a work-in-progress showing at Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Artefact…
Review: Hair The Musical Bring Peace & Love To Sydney
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★★★★☆ HAIR is no stranger to controversy. From its 1968 Broadway debut to its Australian premiere in 1969, the revolutionary rock musical attracted both conservative criticism and devoted admiration. Recognised for pushing the boundaries of traditional theatre, HAIR is a vibrant celebration of freedom, peace, and human connection, set against the rise of the anti-war movement during the…
Review: Beetlejuice The Musical Possesses Brisbane With Wicked Delight
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★★★★★ Beetlejuice the Musical has officially possessed QPAC’s Lyric Theatre, and Brisbane seems more than happy to hand over the keys to the afterlife. I love an opening night. There is something about the energy in the room that makes everything feel tenfold. The audience is either dressed to the…
Review: Baylie Carson Is Handsome(ish) 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
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★★★★☆ Baylie Carson greets the audience before the show has even begun. They move through the Space Theatre in a blue cropped, sleeveless vest with red trim and black cargo pants. There is a bowl in hand. Inside are small slips of paper, like fortune cookies, waiting for permission. “You…
Review: MJ The Musical Has Perth On Its Feet
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★★★★★ Over seven million people have attended MJ The Musical since it opened on Broadway in 2022, and for good reason. This is not a tribute show with a token plot baked into it. This is an entrancing musical mirage that explores the complex psyche of a musical revolutionary. Functioning as a…
