Hadestown - Australian premiere
Photograph: OA/Lisa Tomasetti
Photograph: OA/Lisa Tomasetti

Our latest Sydney theatre reviews

Time Out's critics offer their opinions on the city's newest musicals, plays and every other kind of show

Alannah Le Cross
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There is a lot happening on Sydney's stages each and every month. But how do you even know where to start? Thankfully, our critics are out road-testing musicals, plays, operas, dance, cabaret and more all year round. Here are their recommendations.

Want more culture? Check out the best art exhibitions in Sydney.

5 stars: top notch, unmissable

  • Musicals
  • Redfern
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Ah, the Titanic. An unsinkable cultural icon, the “Ship of Dreams” has appeared in almost as many movies and stage productions as the songs of Canada’s queen of the power ballad, Céline Dion. It’s even got a two-and-a-half-hour (surprisingly serious) movie musical adaptation based on Maury Yeston’s Titanic: the Musical. Although, none can hold a candle to the cultural impact of James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster – you know, the one with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. So, with nostalgia being such hot property right now, it was only a matter of time before we got the camp-as-hell musical fantasia made-for-and-by-the-gays that is Titanique. Created by Marla Mindelle (who originated the role of Céline Dion – well, as imagined in this show), Constantine Rousouli (who originated the role of Jack) and director Tye Blue (whose countless industry credits include working on the casting team of RuPaul’s Drag Race), Titanique is revisionist history at its best. Loaded with Céline Dion’s greatest bangers, it casts Queen Dion herself (played so wonderfully by cabaret legend Marney McQueen here in Aus) as the narrator of the tragic tale, who continuously places herself at the center of the action – quite literally – much to Jack and Rose’s repeated dismay. It brings the campness of the film to the front, with Stephen Anderson (Mary Poppins) playing Rose’s awful mother Ruth (complete with a bird’s nest headpiece), and Abu Kebe (Choirboy) playing a brilliant, tear-jerking drag parody...

4 stars: excellent and recommended

  • Musicals
  • Millers Point
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Call it “One Flew Over the Old Bird’s Nest”, if you like. Following its hugely successful debut with Melbourne Theatre Company in 2023, veteran comedian and Working Dog mainstay Tom Gleisner’s (The Castle, ABC television's Utopia) catchy new musical comedy set in a nursing home (and seasoned with a dash of tears, as expected) is now Sydney Theatre Company’s latest and very welcome offering. Directed by Dean Bryant (Dear Evan Hansen) with music by Katie Weston, Bloom is an across-the-board crowd-pleaser, the kind of popular four-quadrant gem that’s almost impossible to dislike. It even has a few pointed comments to make about the fraught state of aged care in Australia, but these never overwhelm the palpable sense of fun. What more could you want? We get two fish out of water (or Randle McMurphys, if you will) for the price of one here, both arriving at the understaffed, underfunded (and, as it eventuates, underestimated) Pine Grove Aged Care facility on the same day. One is new resident (or possibly inmate?) Rose (played by Evelyn Krape, reprising her role from the Melbourne run) – a feisty-to-the-point-of-prickly old dame, age has not wearied Rose, but it did lead to an accidental fire that made her an unwilling candidate for permanent care. The other is stoner/slacker/music student Finn (Sloan Sudiro), who was drawn here by the promise of a free room and board in exchange for some light duties. The duties turn out to be anything but light, as the frazzled staff –...
  • Drama
  • Woolloomooloo
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
To the common eye, the scene laid out in the Old Fitz Theatre (designed by Soham Apte) may appear lavish: a long oak table prepared for a feast; walls of wooden panelling and patterned green wallpaper; gilded portraits of dead aristocrats; an icy chandelier glittering above it all. But to the Oxford boys of the Riot Club, this private dining room of a regional gastro pub is a humiliating exile. Not only that – staffed by a father and daughter who aren’t educated in the natural, money-greased rules of subordination to their ‘betters’ – it’s an existential threat. The ten members of this exclusive club were banished here, on the outskirts of London, to host their next dinner (a quarterly custom) after one of them breached the strict pact of absolute secrecy. Once open and proud, their bizarre rituals of excess must now keep to the shadows. Gone are the days of legendary mayhem and glorious carnage without consequence; when their promised inheritance of seats of national power was iron-clad. (Or are they?)  As entertaining as it is savage... A dark comedy turned social horror over two acts penned by UK playwright Laura Wade in 2014, Posh is a study into how the “good old boys” have survived society’s staggered lunges towards equality over the last century. Inspired by real-life events, we see two generations conspiring to uphold the obscene traditions of class entitlement, patriarchal privilege, and their cashed-up “right” to do whatever they want. Director Margaret Thanos...
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  • Musicals
  • Haymarket
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Just over a decade since it was last seen in Australia, Annie is back – bursting onto the Capitol Theatre stage filled with optimism, joy, and hope. Director Karen Mortimer revives this quintessential piece of musical theatre with a sentimental production that preserves the charm and flair found in Thomas Meehan’s book. For those living under a rock (mainly me), this Tony Award-winning musical follows the story of 11-year-old Annie, who is growing up in an orphanage in 1930s New York, under the cruel eye of Miss Hannigan. In the midst of the Great Depression, pessimism is all around, but chipper young Annie has the antidote: hope. Encouraging others to believe that “the sun will come out tomorrow”, Annie’s enduringly positive spirit seems to finally pay off, when billionaire Oliver Warbucks chooses to take her in for two weeks over Christmas. Four spirited young performers share the titular role in this production, alongside an alternating cast of child actors. On opening night, Dakota Chanel’s Annie is a ray of sunshine, fully embodying the doe-eyed optimism of the character, balancing warmth and comedy with the more tender and emotional segments. The whole ensemble of “orphans” share an incredible chemistry, which is strongly on display in their performance of ‘It’s The Hard Knock Life’. The stakes are high when it comes to such a well-known and well-loved song, but this ensemble more than meets the challenge with a passionate and committed performance.  Annie is the...
  • Musicals
  • Parramatta
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
What I would give to have been a fly on the wall when Mel Brooks was pitching his next satirical hit to Broadway producers. The thought of him describing his idea for a flashy, razzle dazzle number featuring a flamboyantly prancing Führer complete with Germanic paraphernalia and Swastikas would be enough to make anyone’s jaw drop. But in true Brooks fashion, his Tony Award-Winning musical The Producers boasts such a high calibre satirical penmanship, that against all odds, everything goes right! Based on Brooks’ own 1967 comedy film, The Producers opened on Broadway in 2001 with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the starring roles and ran for over 2,500 performances. Sydney’s newest production lands at the small but mighty Hayes Theatre, care of Joshua Robson Productions. Such is the fervour for Brooks’ hit show – with audiences anticipating much-loved numbers such as ‘I Wanna Be a Producer’, ‘Keep it Gay’ and ‘Springtime for Hitler’ – that the season completely sold out before it had even opened, and a transfer to Parramatta’s Riverside Theatres was added on to meet demand.  Anton Berezin (The Phantom of the Opera, Evita) and Des Flanagan (Moulin Rouge! The Musical), who are doing their best Lane and Broderick impressions here, lead the cast as the down-and-out Max Bialystoch and the chaotically shy Leo Bloom. The piece sort of pitter-patters through the first few numbers, before the larger-than-life supporting characters swoop in to give it the electric shock...

3 stars: recommended, with reservations

  • Musicals
  • Darling Harbour
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
If you’re of a certain age, you have history (HIStory, perhaps?) with Michael Jackson. I remember getting ‘Thriller’ on cassette as a kid. ‘Dangerous’ was one of the first CDs I ever owned. I remember seeing the extended music video for ‘Thriller’ on VHS, which came packaged with a behind-the-scenes documentary. One woman, cornered for a quick vox pop at one of the filming locations, asserted that she loved Jackson because he was “down to earth”, which is darkly hilarious in hindsight.  Down to earth? The press called him “wacko Jacko” – we all did. He slept in a hyperbaric chamber. He owned the Elephant Man’s skeleton. His skin kept getting paler, his nose thinner. What a weird guy! Was any of it true? Hard to say. Even today, when a careless tweet is like a drop of blood in a shark tank to fans and journos alike, the media furor around Michael Jackson stands as one of the most frenetic in living memory, eclipsing the likes of Beatlemania. Jackson wasn’t bigger than God, he was God to a lot of people – the King of Pop, the first Black artist to smash through the MTV colour barrier, an artist, an icon, a living legend. Then came the allegations of child sexual abuse, which first began in August 1993, and continue to this day. For those who were still on the fence, the documentary Leaving Neverland, released in 2019, saw many more fans abandon Jackson, who died in 2009 at the age of 50. And so, it makes sense that MJ the Musical would set Jackson’s relationship with the...
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