The world’s biggest Fringe Festival is back for yet another year and the line up of acts is endless! Kicking off August 3, Edinburgh Festival is offering up a gigantic serving of arts and entertainment, and if you’re lucky enough to be making your way over you’re probably already scrambling to get your ‘Must See,’…
If you love jogging through the Botanical Gardens near Mrs Macquarie’s Chair on a bright Autumn night, be prepared to hear the name Maria echoing through the trees as Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour brings the iconic West Side Story to the outdoor stage. In an effort to top the romance of this season’s La…
It is as magnificent, jaw-dropping, gasp-enticing and lavish a staging as you can imagine, but Opera Australia’s decision to rely on digital technology for its latest production of Aida nearly came unstuck on opening night, due to a tiny, blinking square of blue light. Using soaring, rotating LED panels as the primary set, onto which…
“With an audience full of performers, you’d think they’d know how to take their seats on time!” This observation from my patient (?) plus-one came as the clock ticked past 8.05pm and Sydney’s Capitol Theatre was still only half full. It also perfectly summed up our experience of the 2018 Helpmann Awards. You see, while…
When you stop and think about pronunciation it’s very easy to break into a verse of “You sing potato and I sing potahto.” The academic, linguist, author and broadcaster, David Crystal certainly appreciates this. He has after all released the informative and scholarly guide: Sounds Appealing: The Passionate Story of English Pronunciation. Over the years Crystal…
Even if you don’t love ABBA, I dare you to listen to ‘Dancing Queen’ and not to get out of your chair and dance! Now add colourful boas, a sun kissed set, chiselled men dancing in flippers and an all-star cast- and you will have absolutely have no choice but to jiggly your body. Mamma…
We so often read about history but what about her-story? At school many of us learned about the contributions of John Macarthur to Australia’s agricultural industry. But little has been said about his wife, Elizabeth Macarthur, another integral player in this story. Michelle Scott Tucker rectifies this with her debut, the engaging biography: Elizabeth Macarthur: A Life…
Tackling Verdi’s Rigoletto in the #metoo era could have been a real opportunity for Opera Australia. A story featuring a leader who believes women merely objects for his desire and a disadvantaged subject who cheers on this behaviour until it is directed towards his own daughter – just think of the possible political parallels to…
The bright lights of Broadway will shine on the Sydney Opera House 12-14 July as the Sydney Symphony Orchestra presents the classic Broadway musical Funny Girl in Concert. With the film celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2018, this special concert production directed by Mitchell Butel will feature some of Australia’s favourite leading ladies who each…
The world’s premier theatrical ice skating company, The Imperial Ice Stars, returns to Australia with its award-winning masterpiece Swan Lake On Ice, touring to Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney this July. Sydney audiences can enjoy the classic tale at the Capitol Theatre from 25 – 29 July. Set to Tchaikovsky’s glorious score in the intimate setting…
With winter upon us the urge to stay rugged up inside is VERY tempting- I mean what other options do we have? Well, what if I told you that instead of sitting by the heater bored at home you could be drinking wine in the Royal Botanic Gardens, surrounded by warmth, watching death-defying acrobats? Sounds…
Warm up the long winter nights ahead with these sizzling art events on showcase this month around Australia. From classic show stoppers to cultured exhibitions, here are our five top picks for July! Aida (Sydney) Feel like doing something cultured? Why not head to the Opera for a fancy night out. Aida makes its way…
Kitty Flanagan is an accomplished stand-up and regular on TV shows like Utopia and The Weekly With Charlie Pickering. She is a chronic over-thinker in the best possible way, and this is evident in her first book: Bridge Burning & Other Hobbies. A collection of funny anecdotes and personal stories, readers will find this book as relatable…
Awake from your enchanted slumber and get read for the family fun fairy tale panto adventure, Sleeping Beauty – A Knight Avenger’s Tale. Bursting into Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre for a strictly limited season from 29 June to 8 July and Sydney’s majestic State Theatre from 13 to 22 July 2018. Featuring dazzling costumes, stunning sets,…
The Broadway, West End and international sensation STOMP is back, set to return to Australia with its unstoppable energy. The show will tour to Melbourne, the Gold Coast, Adelaide and Sydney from May to August, running at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre from 31 July to 5 August. Eight performers use an array of ordinarily mundane objects,…
You’re walking around a museum after dark, encountering all kinds of weird and wonderful animals, suddenly you swear the Brachiosaurus just winked at you – is your mind playing tricks on you? Or is it the four cocktails you’ve just polished off taking effect? Either way, this is Jurassic Lounge and in here, anything is…
If you like your music and are looking for a book that celebrates LGBTQI legends then 50 Queer Music Icons is the one for you. This is the first book from former Presets manager, Will Larnach-Jones. It was recently launched at APRA’s headquarters in Sydney. The AU’s Natalie Salvo brings you the five things you…
The supernova of international cabaret and festival favourite, Sven Ratzke returns to Australia this week for his new show HOMME FATALE as part of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. The show features Ratzke’s masterful storytelling is eclipsed only by his sensational vocal performances, including works by Rufus Wainwright, Dez Mona, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop. Sosefina Fuamoli…
If you were in the vicinity of Sydney’s ICC on Friday 15th June you may have noticed an abundance of white canvas tote bags marked with red Xs and Os. No, it wasn’t a giant game of noughts and crosses (although that would have been super fun) – the people toting said totes were taking…
In need of an arts fix now that Vivid and Dark Mofo are coming to an end*? The rest of the month still has plenty in store. Iconic art exhbitions, dramatic operas, eye opening musicals and curious burlesque… the rest of June is overflowing with artistic highs. Here are five events around Australia this month…
It takes extraordinary strength of character (both in personality and portrayal) to deliver a flawless performance while one of your leads is being rushed to hospital with a serious injury, but that is what the cast of Assassins did on opening night at the Sydney Opera House this week. A sharply designed, brilliantly performed production,…
Jersey Boys tells the true-life story and the rise to stardom of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons who were one of the most successful bands in pop music history. The band sold over 175 million records and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for their worldwide hits including Can’t Take…
Above Ground features Cat’s Cradle, a new work from Australia’s celebrated physical theatre company Legs On The Wall. Cat’s Cradle explores the depths of what is private and what is public, expertly utilising a commanding apparatus that looms over the space like a curtain of tentacles. The second work, Soft Prosthetics and Metal Gods, sees…
Home Fire, the British Pakistani author’s seventh novel, is a contemporary re-imagining of Sophocles’ Ancient Greek tragedy, Antigone. Freed of the responsibility of caring for her younger siblings, Isma Pasha heads to America to study. But she can’t help but be drawn back into the lives of the twins; headstrong Anneeka alone in London, and…
A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising isn’t your everyday horror novel. Presented as an oral history, it’s a chilling mix of witness statements, legal documents, and interviews, and it should come as no surprise that the film rights have already been snapped up by Fox and 21 Laps, the team behind Stranger Things. AU…
The Priscilla bus is coming. And everybody’s jumping. Sydney to Alice Springs. An intercity disco. Okay, enough Vengaboys! But dear reader, you may not know that the great, big silver bus that is Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert has rolled into old Sydney town to party and celebrate her 10th on-stage birthday. The AU Review’s…
Ever wondered what it’s like to be the most talked about person in Australia? How to go about becoming a social media sensation? Or what women who work in scientific professions really feel about gender balance? These are just some of the things pondered by some of Australia’s leading minds, all of whom are appearing…
The Priscilla Queen Of The Desert film is on the verge of celebrating its silver anniversary and the stage show has also been entertaining audience for ten years. The iconic silver bus recently returned to old Sydney town with star Tony Sheldon, who has been entertaining audiences as Bernadette in various productions of the live…
Round and round the Brisbane Ferris Wheel goes, why tourists pay $30 to ride it nobody knows. At least, that’s what occurred to me while watching the visual piece in the background set the backdrop for TAM and Metro Arts latest production – Wheel of Fortune. Loosely based on the Austrian play La Ronde, which…
Sydney’s State Theatre will be transported by the atmosphere and excitement of Parisian-themed revue Cabaret De Paris when a parade of exquisitely bejewelled international entertainers reveal all (nearly all) with 2 shows only on Saturday the 30th of June. Cabaret De Paris is a stage spectacular celebrating old-fashioned showgirl glamour mixed with the skill of…
