Get us in your inbox

Search
Wicked Sydney production 2023
Photograph: Supplied/Jeff Busby

The best theatre and musicals to see in Sydney this month

October packs no shortage of big shows, indie gems and camp cabaret extravaganzas

Alannah Le Cross
Edited by
Alannah Le Cross
Advertising

From the razzle dazzle of big budget musicals to indie theatre gems, there's pretty much always a mind-boggling amount to pick from on Sydney's stages.

Not sure where to start? Well if you've been needing a prompt to get yourself down to Sydney's most famous house, this is it: the Sydney Opera House is celebrating its 50th birthday this month. There's a rolling festival of shows, concerts and experiences happening under the white sails and across the forecourt. We're particularly excited for Taylor Mac and Matt Ray's Bark of Millions (Oct 20) an epic world-premiere celebration of queerness that combines an electrifying collision of performance, live music, and drag spectacle.

Check out our other top selections for the month below.

It's showtime! Beetlejuice the Musical is finally coming to Australia 

Pop, six, squish: Chicago is coming back with a star-studded cast

Fancy some art? Check out the best exhibitions in Sydney this month

Musicals

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Musicals
  • Darling Harbour

Gather your broomsticks and click your heels together three times – one of the most successful musicals in the world is about has crash landed in Sydney with the sheer force of a house falling on a woman wearing a pointy hat. A new Australian cast defies expectations by infusing their own unique interpretations into fan favourite characters in this 20th anniversary production.

 

Advertising
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Musicals
  • Darlington

The epic story of Australia’s most dramatic political event gets the theatrical treatment it deserves in this “extremely serious musical comedy”. The Dismissal explores the sacking of prime minister Gough Whitlam by then governor general Sir John Kerr on November 11, 1975 – as told through the eyes of iconic larrikin Norman Gunston, played to uncanny perfection by the irrepressible Matthew Whittet.

 

  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Musicals
  • Sydney

Cameron Mackintosh’s award-winning new production of Boublil and Schönberg’s Miss Saigon is at the Sydney Opera House in partnership with Opera Australia, with an exciting Aussie cast to boot. Miss Saigon tells the story of a young Vietnamese woman named Kim, who is orphaned by war and forced to work in a bar. There she meets and falls in love with an American G.I. named Chris, but they're torn apart by the fall of Saigon.

 

Advertising
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Musicals
  • Surry Hills

Lady Day recreates one of Billie Holiday’s final performances in the form of a jukebox musical (or a play with songs, if you think you don’t like musicals). Zahra Newman impersonates Holiday with an uncannily accurate vocal performance. Her rendition of ‘Strange Fruit’ is glorious. It’s filled with a deep rage and vocal precision worthy of Holiday’s legacy, and worth more than the ticket price alone.

  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Musicals
  • Sydney

River deep, mountain high – this is  a comeback story like no other. Grammy Award-winning musical artist Tina Turner is a woman who dared to defy the bounds of her age, gender and race to become the global Queen of Rock'n’Roll. As the adult Tina, Ruva Ngwenya is revelatory, fully embodying the real deal’s strength, charisma, power, and talent. 

Mainstage and indie dramas

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Drama
  • Sydney

Visitors are meant to leave. Right? This collab from STC and Moogahlin Performing Arts is a first contact story with a difference, taking us back to a sweltering day in 1788 when a group of Elders from various clans gather on a scarp overlooking what will one day be known as Sydney Harbour. A number of huge ships have arrived, and a decision must be made: will these strangers be welcomed, or repulsed?

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Drama
  • Millers Point

Oscar Wilde’s immortal comedy of manners is back in a brilliantly camp new production from Sydney Theatre Company. The wonderful Helen Thomson (Death of a Salesman, Baz Lurhmann’s Elvis) is back in her signature role of Lady Bracknell, the acid-tongued society doyenne whose scathing observations punctuate this story of double lives, mistaken identities, and propriety.

 

Advertising
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Drama
  • Woolloomooloo

Fifteen years after collaborating on a scintillating cult production of The Rocky Horror Show, internationally acclaimed powerhouse director Gale Edwards is reuniting with legendary performers Paul Capsis and iOTA for an unhinged and searing reimagining of absurdist masterpiece The Chairs. This is your chance to witness two Australian trailblazers like you’ve never seen them before.

 

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Comedy
  • Darlinghurst

Nakkiah Lui’s sparkly, smart-arsed spoof of the so-bad-it’s-good 1995 cinematic masterpiece Showgirls is finally here. When fair-skinned dance enthusiast Sarah Jane Jones (Stephanie Somerville) gets a whiff of evidence about her Indigenous ancestry, she high-tails it to the glitziest casino in Brisvegas. Her mission? To land a role in the First Nations burlesque spectacular: ‘Blaque Showgirls’ – by any means necessary.

 

Advertising
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Drama
  • Dawes Point

American playwright Aleshea Harris describes her breakout hit as drawing from “the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, hip-hop and Afropunk”. One New York critic remarked: “Step aside, Quentin Tarantino and Martin McDonagh.” In a collab with Melbourne Theatre Company, STC brings us this darkly funny tale that leaves a slew of casualties in its wake.

 

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Drama
  • Parramatta

We lay our scene in Sydney. It’s December 16, 2014 – the day after the infamous Lindt Café siege. As birds swirl overhead and flowers proliferate at their feet, five people search for answers. This powerful new play is the first production to be staged by bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company at their new home, KXT on Broadway (before it heads to Riverside). Penned by local playwright Katie Pollock (Rough Trade), Human Activity is the sequel to the smash hit Jatinga.

Advertising
  • Theatre
  • Sydney

Theatre enthusiasts are in for a treat with Heather Fairbairn's fresh retelling of the Bard's timeless romantic comedy for Bell Shakespeare. The new theatre production will arrive at Sydney Opera House as part of Bell Shakespeare’s grand Australian tour, bringing with it a stellar ensemble and six new songs by ARIA-winning musician Sarah Blasko

 

Paid content
  • Theatre
  • Drama
  • Parramatta

National Theatre of Parramatta is revving up the fun this October for the stage premiere of Felicity Castagna’s multi-award-winning novel, Girls in Boys’ Cars. This sophisticated stage adaptation directed and adapted by Priscilla Jackman invites passengers on an accidental Thelma and Louise-esque road trip with a whirlwind of trouble ahead. 

 

Cabaret, comedy, circus and magic

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Theatre
  • Redfern

Think Jay Gatsby hosted the best roaring '20s parties? Not anymore. It’s time to crack open some Champagne, because this scintillating smash-hit show is back for a third encore run! Blanc de Blanc Encore has been wowing audiences since it opened in January in the totally refurbished cabaret venue the Grand Electric. Clearly, Sydney can't get enough of this much-loved cabaret, circus and burlesque show.

 

  • Things to do
  • The Rocks

Do you like magic? Do you like amazing views of the city? Do you like the idea of a tiny museum hidden inside a pylon of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge? Well put on your walking shoes, because this intimate show 200 steps above the Harbour is something you won’t want to miss out on. 

 

Recommended
    You may also like
    You may also like
    Advertising