Actors playing Celine Dion, Jack and Rose on stage
Photograph: Supplied | Titanique
Photograph: Supplied | Titanique

The best shows to see in Sydney this month

The Emerald City's stages pack no shortage theatrical magic, from big musical spectaculars to uncut indie gems

Alannah Sue
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The colder months are starting to settle in, but Sydney’s huge year of theatre is hot to trot.

While Vivid Sydney lights up the city, you have a limited time to catch Bangarra Dance Theatre's irridescent new spectacle, Illume, which is lighting up the Sydney Opera House from within until June 14.

Love it or hate it, one of the world's most popular musicals is prowling back onto the Sydney stage this June, with a special 40th anniversary production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats kicking off at Sydney's Theatre Royal from June 17. Speaking of West End hits, you're in for some dramatic laughter when The Play That Goes Wrong kicks off a brand new tour at the Sydney Opera House from June 19.

If you're up for some camp comedy or cabaret, Sydney's new Pride Fest is also bringing bucketloads of fun queer shows to Oxford Street this month (check out our top picks).

Meanwhile, Bell Shakespeare presents a new take on one of the Bard's most exhilarating works, Coriolanusfrom June 20; and we're also keen to see some local indie theatre legends teaming up for the world premiere of Sistren, a comedy about sisterhood starring IRL besties Iolanthe (Seven methods of killing Kylie Jenner) and Janet Anderson (Overflow) from June 26. 

And if it’s musical madness you’re after, you don't want to miss the chance to laugh your head off at Titanique. After several extensions, this camp cult-hit parody has officially called a closing date in June (and it definitely won't be shipping off to any other cities!).

That’s all just for starters! Read on for our critics' reviews and more top theatrical picks below.

The best musicals, plays and more to see in Sydney this month

  • Musicals
  • Sydney
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
In musical theatre circles, Cats is the show that everyone loves to hate, dismissing it as “weird” and “uncool”. So let me begin this review by stating that I love Cats. I listened to the cast recording over and over as a child, I met my best friend on a Cats mailing list (remember those?) when I was sixteen, and there's probably still some old Cats fanfiction floating around out there that I wrote in my teens. This much maligned show doesn't deserve the hate it gets.  When Cats was first performed in the early 1980s, it was hailed as groundbreaking, bridging the gap between concept musicals and mega musicals in a way no show had done before. It won both Olivier and Tony awards for best musical, and ran for decades on the West End and Broadway. These days, it’s viewed more as a “guilty pleasure” – the show you secretly enjoy but are supposed to pretend you don’t, lest you be seen as uncultured. But why? Concept musicals based around a theme rather than a traditional narrative have existed since the 1950s, with notable examples including Cabaret, Hair and Company. Dance-heavy musicals are also not a unique concept. Cats isn't even the only show to combine these two elements. But while shows like A Chorus Line and Pippin are hailed as iconic, Cats – which is essentially A Chorus Line with tails – is not shown the same love.  Cats may not be too heavy on the plot, but it’s a show for people who love the little details Much of the criticism surrounding Cats comes from wanting...
  • Drama
  • Sydney
  • price 3 of 4
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
I have reviewed many shows at the Sydney Opera House, and never – never – before have I been so utterly flabbergasted at the lack of scrutiny and professionalism upheld by a creative team in the running of a production.  For starters, the immense buzz in the the Drama Theatre’s foyer was squashed before the audience had even entered the stalls, as a sign informed us that Hollywood star Tom Cruise would in fact not be appearing at this performance of The Murder at Haversham Manor. This was swiftly followed by the show’s operator, Trevor (Edmund (Eds) Eramiha), wandering up and down the aisles, followed in tow by the stage manager Annie (Olivia Charalambous) as they asked us, the audience, if we had seen a lost dog, Winston, who it appeared was to be a character in the show. Completely unprofessional! After this was resolved, the director of the The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society greeted us all, ensuring that this production would not follow the mishaps in their previous works, and that they finally have funding and a script that suits their society. It would not be another low budget production (such as their summer season of James, where is your Peach?) and that they do have a full cast, as to avoid a repeat of the debacle of their most recent musical, Cat. The cracks that began to appear even before the curtain lifted on The Murder at Haversham Manor only continued to widen as the show played on, the whole evening building up into a fiasco of disastrous heights – and,...
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