Hayes Theatre

Theatre Review: Sondheim’s Assassins is locked and loaded in good hands (Hayes Theatre, Sydney until 22nd October)

Sondheim, as always, has to make things difficult. If it’s not in his chords then it’s the subject matter of his musicals. However Assassins, one of the more rarely performed of the Sondheim repertoire, finds itself locked and loaded in good hands with Dean Bryant at this latest production at the Hayes. Superb casting all…

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Only Heaven Knows at the Hayes is quite simply a real beaut of a musical

I was a week late to the game on seeing this one, as I was overseas during opening week, and try as I might I couldn’t help watching as the glowing reviews went up one by one. I mean really, with the likes of Hayden Tee and Matthew Backer I knew Hayes was on another winner,…

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Talking things Only Heaven Knows with Hayden Tee

Only Heaven Knows is a beloved musical set in the 1940s and 1950s, telling the story of one young man’s discovery of love and life in Sydney. Playing the dual role of Lea/Lana is Hayden Tee. This will mark Hayden’s return to Australia after his multi award-winning performance of Javert in Les Misérables, which he reprised on Broadway and will soon be…

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Talking things Only Heaven Knows with Matt Backer

Only Heaven Knows is a beloved musical set in the 1940s and 1950s, telling the story of one young man’s discovery of love and life in Sydney.  Having just finished his critically acclaimed Puck in STC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Sydney Opera House, Matthew Backer will now make his Hayes Theatre Co. debut as Alan in Only Heaven Knows….

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Theatre Review: Big Fish at the Hayes Theatre is whimsical delight, all kinds of magic, and an absolute must-see

Not too often can you honestly say that a smaller independent production of a musical is undeniably better than a full-scale Broadway production, but Big Fish at the Hayes Theatre has surely got to be one of those times. The signature intimate theatre and the sincerity of the performances gives this musical the biggest of…

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Theatre Review: Virginia Gay’s Calamity Jane is knee-slappingly funny (at the Hayes Theatre until 9 April)

A new take on a theatrical classic makes this Calamity Jane a must-see. And the classic I’m referring to is not the musical – it’s the oft ridiculed theatrical style of ‘Broadway dinner theatre’. Everything bar the meal is here: interactions with the audience, contemporary references (insert Trump joke here), entrances and exits through the…

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Director Richard Carroll talks Calamity Jane and telling tall tales

Legendary frontierswoman; notorious daredevil; profane storyteller; unwomanly radical – CALAMITY JANE is one of the most immediately recognizable figures of the old American West. And now, after a sell-out performance in August last year as part of Neglected Musicals, The Hayes Theatre is bringing the Wild West back in a  “stripped-back, rough-and-ready reimagining” of the classic musical….

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Theatre Review: Mack & Mabel at the Hayes Theatre is a boisterous and lively take on the Broadway flop

Mack and Mabel is a musical that I hadn’t yet gotten around to listening or paying much attention to. When the Hayes announced that they were producing it however, I decided to take a nosy into what it was all about. From what I could garner the musical was a bit of a well-known, somewhat…

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Review: Side Show is filled with some freakishly good voices – Hayes Theatre Co, Sydney (Performances until 16th October)

You can always rely on Hayes Theatre Co to bring the shows that you’ve always wanted to see but know in your heart that they’ll be a tough bring. Side Show is precisely one of these shows- with its big number “Who Will Love Me As I Am” and its notable conjoined twin role, it’s a rarely-performed…

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Daniel Belle talks about his role in Hayes Theatre’s Side Show and his experience as a finalist in the inaugural Rob Guest Endowment Awards

Fresh from covering the role of Jean Valjean in the recent national production of Les Misérables and previous international tours as a member of The Ten Tenors, Daniel Belle is now taking on the role of ex-vaudeville talent scout and agent Terry Connor in Hayes Theatre’s Side Show. We caught up to chat about this premiere production and his experience as a finalist…

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Side Show’s newly-conjoined twins Kerrie Anne Greenland & Laura Bunting talk twinning and stage sharing

Side Show is a stunning story of sisterhood based on the remarkable real-life story of Daisy and Violet Hilton- identical ‘Siamese twins’ who were joined at the hip. The sisters grew up touring America in a travelling ‘freak show’. But when their spectacular talent and charm was discovered, they became a national sensation and the highest-paid stars of…

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5 Songs to Listen For in the Sydney Production of Songs For A New World

After a very popular season in Melbourne, Songs For A New World has finally made its way to Sydney and we were ready! Well, sort of. Songs For A New World is one of those “musicals” that you kind of need to see in person, and its difficult to get a sense of really anything…

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Review: Heathers: The Musical – Arts Centre Melbourne (Performances until May 22nd)

What a time to be alive and witness the magnitude of talent we have here in Australia. If you have yet to experience the incredible gifts of our young Aussie guys and girls, then Heathers: The Musical is the best way to ease you in. Amidst a sea of scrunchies, yes that’s right scrunchies, the Arts…

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Arts Review: The Detective’s Handbook – Hayes Theatre Co (Performances until 7th May)

Who knew the old trope of the hard-boiled detective paired with eager up-and-coming youth set to solve crime and make safe the streets could be so smoothly re-imagined as a musical? An utterly hilarious musical at that! Ian Ferrington, writer of “The Detective’s Handbook” sure did. For hilarious it is. The audience could hardly save…

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Rob Johnson on the hardboiled genre & tap sequences of The Detective’s Handbook (Hayes Theatre from April 21)

Set in the Chicago 1950s The Detective’s Handbook follows Frank Thompson and his young partner Jimmy Hartmann as they investigate the murder of two policemen. Rob Johnson plays Hartmann, a new recruit determined to do it “by the book” who clashes hilariously with the world-weary Thompson. We caught up with Rob during rehearsals to find…

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Arts Review: Little Shop of Horrors – Hayes Theatre (Australian Tour)

Little Shop of Horrors, the musical where a giant man-eating plant takes center stage (or majority of the stage really). Oh, and it sings. Very sassily. If that doesn’t sell it for you then maybe you need to revisit your theatre needs. This is a quirky dark comedy is brought to you by the very…

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Review: The Fantasticks – Hayes Theatre, Sydney (Performances to 31st January)

The Fantasticks has become the longest running production of any kind in the history of American theatre, no small feat, and yet I hadn’t heard of it. So noticing we were getting a production here in the wonderful Hayes Theatre I went to listen on Spotify. I wound up a good deal confused- what is…

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