Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci review: Superbly rendered penny dreadful opera
Shining performances and some interesting artistic choices make this a splendid double bill from Opera Australia. ★★★★½
Stage
Can music be anti-semitic?
The first time playwright Victor Gordon listened to the music of Richard Wagner he was surprised he didn't loathe every note. The German composer was a "mean little man", he says. A rabid anti-Semite, a fickle, nasty, horrible foe who stole people's wives, abused friends and fled from creditors in the night.
Melita Rowston's art world mystery throws light on the lives of women artists
An Australian academic's research into an affair between two leading lights of the Impressionist movement leads her to examine her own career as an artist in this new play by Melita Rowston.
Theatre
How to see new plays and influence playwrights
First Seen presents new theatre works in development and lets audiences give feedback.
Tim Minchin, Cate Blanchett lead Tony Awards nominations
Plus, stage and film legend James Earl Jones is to receive a lifetime achievement Tony Award
'Genius' playwright and speechwriter Michael Gurr dies aged 55
Award-winning playwright and former Labor speechwriter's passing prompts widespread tributes.
Dance
Full moon eclipsed by eight dancers
Cheng Tsung-lung's dancers illustrate the company's skills as athletes.
Cheng Tsung-lung: from slipper street seller to dancing genius
Now one of Asia's leading choreographers, Cheng Tsung-lung got his start selling shoes on the mean streets of Taipei.
Celebrating the variety of dance in Australia and Canberra
There's plenty of dance on offer both to watch and to try as Australian Dance Week unfolds.
Musicals
Spirit-lifting show full of glamour, glitter
This musical show never quite allows the balancing and the flying and the hula-hooping to overpower the young man's journey of discovery.
Diving into a disco wonderland
Audiences can enjoy a mix of disco, circus and cabaret in Velvet, now on at The Playhouse.
Cabaret was almost a disaster, until Chelsea Gibb swooped in
Technical issues on show's opening night in Melbourne force dramatic response.
Opera
Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci review: Superbly rendered penny dreadful opera
Shining performances and some interesting artistic choices make this a splendid double bill from Opera Australia. ★★★★½
Tiny theatre draws big names
The tiny 115-seat Hayes Theatre is getting a big reputation for staging musicals with top talent. Coming soon to the theatre: opera diva Emma Matthews, and musical theatre stars David Campbell and Toby Francis.
Our man in Havana: Cuban twist to John Bell's Carmen revival
Theatre veteran John Bell is enjoying the challenge of directing Opera Australia's Cuban-inspired production of Carmen.
Comedy
Minhaj's harshest burns at the White House journos' dinner
US President Donald Trump wasn't there to roast in person at the White House correspondents' dinner, but that didn't stop the evening's entertainer, Hasan Minhaj.
Performers try critics' skin on for size
What could be more provocative than prancing around naked on stage? Talking back to critics.
Frank Woodley's festival show is a 'cavalcade of humiliations'
Soon to turn 50, Frank Woodley rightly considers himself a seasoned veteran of Australian comedy. But the anxiety never goes away.