How to have the ultimate arts escape in Sydney

Hey Sydney, the Mormons are back. The mischievous musical theatre sensation The Book of Mormon is returning to the Land Down Under, with a brand new production set to premiere at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre from July 2025. This somewhat unconventional musical comedy cleaned up at the Tony Awards after it debuted on Broadway in 2011, going on to break box office records and garner near-unanimous critical acclaim when it opened on London’s West End. When tickets for the show’s Australian debut in Melbourne were released in 2015 – nearly a year in advance of opening night – the Princess Theatre recorded its highest pre-sale period of any production in its 159-year history, also going on to win the Helpmann Award for Best Musical. For the uninitiated, The Book of Mormon follows two inept Mormon missionaries from Salt Lake City on their journey to save mortal souls in a corner of Uganda ruled by a one-eyed warlord. It’s the brainchild of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone – hence, you can expect a lot of explicit language – along with Avenue Q and Frozen co-creator Robert Lopez.  So what’s the secret of the show’s success? As Time Out London’s Theatre and Dance Editor Andrzej Lukowski wrote, Mormon was always going to be a hit, but what made it into the Mormania phenomenon is the fact that non-South Park fans love it too. The songs are excellent. Filthy, witty and outrageous, but also sumptuous and note-perfect, they nod to the golden age of the American musical.  Photog

What would you do if you were struggling to afford to pay your rent, gas, and electricity bills, only to discover that you’ve been priced out of paying for basic groceries too? When the quick-witted Antonia (the prolific actor Mandy McElhinney – who, yes, is also “Rhonda” from those insurance ads) and her fellow weary housewives discover that prices at the local supermarket have doubled overnight, their shopping run erupts into a revolt. The women begin to loot – or, as Antonia would describe it, “liberate” – food off the shelves. When the excitement is over, Antonia finds herself back home with a random assortment of fruits and vegetables, dog food (she doesn’t own a dog), canary pellets (she doesn’t own a canary) and rabbit heads. She enlists the help of her neighbour Margherita (Emma Harvie) to hide the stolen goods from her moralist husband Giovanni (Glenn Hazeldine), a staunch unionist who’s a stickler for rules and due process. The supermarket riot sets a ripple effect of absurdity in motion, ranging from a briny phantom pregnancy with added  “womb olives”, to an unconscious cop with a flatulence problem – and that’s just the highlights.  ...simultaneously leaves you wheezing from laughter and slightly deaf from the roars of others No Pay? No Way! is two hours and twenty minutes of comedic gold. Marieke Hardy’s laugh-out-loud political satire initially premiered with Sydney Theatre Company in February 2020, before it was plagued by lockdowns. But with the way that the

This is it, we have found the yassification of Shakespeare. Fuelled by a playlist of certified pop hits, this jukebox romp billed as “the greatest love story ever remixed” poses a simple but provocative question: What if, instead of joining Romeo in eternal slumber, Juliet decided to live? A contagiously joyous musical spectacular, & Juliet has finally landed at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre after being met with critical acclaim on Broadway and the West End, not to mention the rapturously received Australian debut in Melbourne.  Filled with sing-a-long-able chart-topping bangers made famous by the likes of Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry and more from the songbook of Grammy-winning Swedish songwriter/producer Max Martin, the Aussie cast is overflowing with talent in this feel-good, flashy production. & Juliet is Shakespeare remixed for the girls, the gays and the theys... [but does it] really cut it as the feminist reclamation that we are promised? Will you be entertained? Absolutely. Does & Juliet set a new standard for jukebox musicals? Yes. Will you see one of the most diverse and charismatic casts of triple-threats ever assembled on an Australian stage? Heck yeah. Does the story deliver on the feminist retribution we are promised? Not quite. “What if Juliet didn’t kill herself?” Anne Hathaway (played by the enthralling Amy Lehpamer) posits to her husband, William Shakespeare (the ever-charming Rob Mills). “She’s only ever had one boyfriend, and frankly, the endi

Ray is a farmer. Ray is dying. Ray is falling in love. Ray has had a tough year. Ray mourns his wife. Ray meets his wife. Ray doesn’t want to live in a nursing home. Ray’s kids don’t understand him. Ray doesn’t understand why the world won’t let him live his life. Ray, played with impressive physicality and nuance by veteran actor Colin Friels, is the central figure of Into the Shimmering World – a new work commissioned by Sydney Theatre Company that makes the intimate epic, seesawing back and forth in time but remaining locked in space. The main arena of conflict is the family farm that Ray and his wife, nurse Floss (fellow veteran Kerry Armstrong) have run their entire adult lives. It’s a hard existence, but a rewarding one, contending with droughts, floods, fluctuating markets, and unruly neighbours (one dubbed “The Crook” remains an unseen presence, but a constant source of grievance).  Written by 2020 Patrick White Playwrights Fellow Angus Cerini and directed by STC’s Director of New Work and Artistic Development Paige Rattray, Into the Shimmering World is a study of Australian masculinity – as were the previous works in Cerini’s Australian gothic trilogy, The Bleeding Tree and Wonnangatta. In many ways this play is a study of stoicism, its strengths and its limitations. The laconic Ray meets every challenge with a resigned determination that borders on fatalism, an attitude that has served him well for decades. But the sons his work put through university don’t want to

Embellished with intricate steps, high kicks and traditional costumes, Irish dance is a thrilling spectacle. Prepare yourself for a grand night out, because A Taste of Ireland is returning to Australia – and it’s bigger than ever, with brand new sets, costumes and cast members. This lively concert features a line-up of world champions in Irish dancing – as well as former stars of Lord of the Dance and Riverdance – who will jig their way through intricate choreography to classic tunes you know and love like ‘Danny Boy’ and ‘Tell Me Ma’.  Following a successful start in Melbourne, the Irish dancing show is heading to several locations around New South Wales with one-night only in Sydney, so prepare for craic galore as you toe-tap your way through a night of melodic folk music mashups and live acapella tap battles. Next up in the long list of tour dates is Byron Bay on April 12, before the show heads to other towns including Coffs Harbour, Tamworth, Port Macquarie, Grafton, Taree, Singleton, Gulgong, Wyong, Belrose, Newcastle, Wollongong, Goulburn, Cessnock, Blue Mountains, Queanbeyan, Gosford, Hurstville, Bega, Maitland, Batemans Bay, Chatswood and Albury, where it will play its final show on May 23. Don't miss its Sydney stopover at the State Theatre on May 3. Settle in for a tale of ol' Irish history as this world class show, which comes direct from Off-Broadway, recounts the tumultuous story of Irish history.  Tickets start from $49, and you can find the full list of dates 

Following the commanding Broadway Revival in 2023 starring Ben Platt and a sell-out season in Melbourne, Tony Award-winning musical Parade is coming to dock in the Harbour City. Hitting the Sydney stage in May 2024, Parade is a moving examination of one of the darkest episodes of America's history. With a book by acclaimed playwright Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy) and a rousing, colourful and haunting score by Jason Robert Brown (Songs for a New World, The Last Five Years, Bridges of Madison County), this is the true story of an unsolved murder that divided a nation. Set in early 20th century Atlanta, Georgia, with its legacy of slavery and the Civil War, the story follows Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-raised Jew, who is put on trial for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan. Undercurrents of racism and bigotry, and a mistrial, result in Frank’s condemnation by a conservative community still grappling with the aftermath of the 1906 Atlanta race riots. A sensationalist publisher fans the flames of religious paranoia to demonise and scapegoat Frank – coupled with a janitor’s false testimony, Frank’s fate is sealed. His only defenders are a governor who risks being politically ostracised for following their conscience, and his Southern Jewish wife who finds the strength and love to become his greatest champion. “Bringing this production of Parade to Sydney in 2024 is thrilling for us as a company,” said director Mark Taylor (Next to Normal, Rent). “Now, more than ever before, it feels

Few musical references are as iconic as those from Grease. A simple "rama lama lama" or "a wop ba-ba lu-bop a wop bam boom!" may invoke joyful nostalgia, transporting you back to the first time you witnessed John Travolta's gyrating hips or “our” Olivia Newton-John's sweet Sandy smile. For me, it takes me back to my own high school musical experience. With my Pink Lady jacket and Pink Lady sunglasses, the Grease stage is where I first forged my life-long love affair with musical theatre and the passionate community that came with it. That is what musicals are forged on: passion – and this production of Grease: the Musical at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre has an infectious amount of it. Before the 1978 film adaptation cemented Grease’s place in the global pop culture consciousness, this show set in the working-class youth subculture of 1950s Chicago was first staged in 1971. Like any rebellious teen tale, Grease tapped into the angst of young people of the time; it had a '50s style and a '70s attitude. Everyone wanted to be as cool as Kenickie (played here with delectable zeal by Keanu Gonzalez, who has also appeared in Hamilton and West Side Story), as bold as Rizzo (the eye-catching triple threat Mackenzie Dunn, as seen in Hairspray), or as sweet as the nervous Doody (Tom Davis). There were definitely elements of my high school production that built my confidence, brought me out of my shell, and changed my perspective – but the plot wasn't one of them. The musical numbers were jo

There is an overwhelming number of things to do in Sydney on any given week – let alone theatre. If you want to plan ahead, check out our guide to what's on stage this month. For now, here's our picks of the best shows to see this week.

Sydney’s more adamant theatergoers have been waiting with bated breath to see Australian acting legend Hugo Weaving tread the boards with the great Irish actor Olwen Fouéré (Terminus). A first-time co-production between Sydney Theatre Company and Dublin’s renowned Gate Theatre, you could say that the Australian premiere of the late Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard’s dark comedy, The President, has a lot riding on it. However, considering that Bernhard’s plays are rarely staged, in part due to the known fact that they’re considered a notoriously hard sell, it calls into question: what is the motivation for mounting a new adaptation of The President in 2024? We find ourselves in an unnamed European country at an unspecified but tumultuous time – although the play’s initial production date of 1975, a period of political unrest and bloodshed, offers some context. Following a failed assassination attempt on the titular President (Weaving) that instead slew a faithful Colonel, The First Lady (Fouéré) prepares for a night out. She harangues her maid, Mrs Frölich (Julie Forsyth) over the selection of eveningwear and frets over the state of the country – emboldened anarchists are striking at the establishment – but especially the death of her beloved dog, struck down by a heart attack triggered by the assassin’s gunfire.  ...although The President improves in the back half, it never quite recovers from a punishing first act. Bernhard’s work certainly contains themes that draw paral

Look sharp, triple threats! Sydney is a hotbed for showstoppers, with major musicals passing through our theatres every month, including both homegrown gems and large-scale spectacle from Broadway and the West End. These are all the biggest shows that are either currently playing or coming our way in the next year or so. RECOMMENDED: Check out our tips for scoring cheap tickets and our latest reviews of Sydney shows.

We’ve picked out the things you to do in Sydney at least once, from kayaking under the Coathanger and cocktails with a 360-degree view to our favourite weekly markets.