Hayden Tee hails from Maungaturoto in Northland but has made a name for himself globally as an acclaimed performer, makeup artist, director and recording artist in theatre, concert and cabaret throughout New Zealand, Australia, Asia, the U.K and U.S.A.

His extensive musical theatre portfolio has seen him play Javert in Les Misérables on Broadway, London’s West End, Australia, Dubai and New Zealand; Marius in Les Misérables on London’s West End and Miss Trunchbull in Matilda on London’s West End and in the International tour.

Hayden has performed throughout Australia as Cable in South Pacific; Professor Bhaer in Little Women, Thomas Andrews in Titanic, and Father Grenville in Dead Man Walking.

On the international stage, Hayden has taken on the roles of Jack in Being Earnest, Rutledge in 1776, Prince/Wolf in Into The Woods, Freddy in My Fair Lady, Arthur in Camelot, Hook/Mr. Darling in Peter Pan, Mason in Take Me Out, Bustopher Jones/Gus/Growltiger in Cats and Stride/Jekyll/Hyde Alternate in Jekyll and Hyde.

Hayden has released three studio albums, ‘Hayden Tee’, ‘Generation whY’ and ‘Face to face” which are all available on all digital platforms.

Hayden is the chair person of the Te Manu Tioriori Trust dedicated to the development of original Musical Theatre in Aotearoa. He is also a member of the equity diversity committees in Australia and New Zealand.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au

Kurt Sneddon is an in demand photographer. He photographs actors, dancers, models and performers in the streets of New York City. 

Originally from Sydney, where he founded Blueprint Studios and became one of Australia's most-trusted photographers for the entertainment industry for 15 years, he now proudly calls himself a New Yorker!

His own experience as an actor is inherent to his work, with an innate understanding of what actors need, he knows how to make performers look like the best version of themselves.

Kurt also manages a community for photographers called The Humble Togs Club. It's an online space for photographers (who are emotionally mature excellent humans) to support each other, no matter what the experience level. 

If you enjoy practising the art of photography, check out the online community at www.humbletogsclub.com

STAGES caught up with Kurt in a happening foyer in a New York hotel, riffing on the art of photography and the trajectory that has lead him to a career behind the camera in the Big Apple.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au

A multi-award winner, Alinta Chidzey most recently originated the role of Satine in Moulin Rouge! The Musical for Australia's national tour, with her work receiving outstanding reviews. 

She has played Velma Kelly in Chicago for the Gordon Frost Organisation, and Anita in West Side Story, which saw her nominated for several awards, including a Helpmann, Green Room and Sydney Theatre Award. In 2011 she won the Australian Dance Award for Most Outstanding Performance.

Alinta is an acclaimed jazz vocalist, songwriter and recording artist. She released her debut album with Hook Turn Orchestra, titled Jazz and the Silver Screen, a collection of beautifully rearranged cinematic soundtracks. She also released her original music with Alinta and the Jazz Emperors, titled I Got You. Both albums are available through her website and iTunes.

With her burgeoning profile, Alinta is is frequently asked to perform at special events and concerts across the country both as a soloist and with her bands. These include iconic events such as Melbourne Fashion Week, the Australian Open, State of Origin and the NRL grand Final, to name a few.

Alinta performed alongside Hugh Jackman in his Broadway to Oz tour and played Petra for the Victorian Opera season of A Little Night Music. She became a fixture on The Production Company stage, playing Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar, Magnolia in Show Boat, Kathy Selden in Singin' In the Rain, Svetlana in Chess, Niki Harris in Curtains and Sibella Hallward in the unforgettable A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder. For Chess, Alinta was honoured with a Green Room Award for Best Female Artist in a Supporting Role.

Screen credits include Wentworth, Winners & Losers, U.S. telemovie The Frontier, The Dr Blake Mysteries and Neighbours. Other stage credits include the Australasian Tour of Mamma Mia!; Mickey in Leader of the Pack, for which she received yet another Green Room Award (Best Featured Ensemble in a Musical); Dusty: The Original Pop Diva; Demeter in Cats; Mary Poppins for Free Rain Theatre; the Netherlands season of Dirty Dancing; a tour of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alice in the play Closer.

From May 21-25 Alinta joins the cast of the acclaimed Music Theatre Festival taking place in Launceston Tasmania for its 6th year.

The festival has earned a cherished place for fans of the genre, featuring a host of activities - masterclasses, concerts, staged readings, cabaret, a musical presentation, food … and wine.

Alinta joins STAGES to elaborate on what we can experience and her own stellar turns on the musical theatre stage in an extensive repertoire of roles.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au

London-based Australian producer Garry is the GM in RGM. With over 25 years experience developing, producing and managing ground-breaking productions around the world, he is an impresario of great vision and passion.

RGM Productions is an independent, Olivier Award nominated theatre production company with an objective is to discover, develop and introduce new and compelling productions to new audiences around the world.  Established in 2012 by husband and wife team Garry McQuinn and Rina Gill, the company has an impressive portfolio of productions ranging from drama, music, dance and cabaret to children’s theatre and comedy.

Garry is the lead producer and managing partner of Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical, the Broadway and West End hit show that is now Australia’s most successful theatrical export.  For the past decade Garry has been responsible for driving Priscilla’s international success; to date the show has played to almost 6 million people in 135 cities in 30 countries around the world.

After working as stage manager for Melbourne Theatre Company, Garry headed to London where he worked as stage manager for Noises Off around the world.  He returned to Australia and a life as company manager, production manager and sometimes even director for several big shows.

Garry’s list of credits include The Rocky Horror Show, Steaming, Sweet Bird of Youth, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, The Boy From Oz, Blood Brothers and Showboat, and (while joint Managing Director of Back Row Productions) he toured many international shows including Tap Dogs, Slava’s Snowshow, Mums the Word, Gumboots, Fosse, Shaolin Monks of China, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, Jerry Seinfeld, Cats and Circus OZ.

Like Priscilla and Tap Dogs, Garry’s story is quintessentially Australian.  Before winning a scholarship to NIDA (Australia’s national drama school), he spent his youth playing semi-professional football and surf-lifesaving on Wollongong’s beaches.  After leaving school he worked on the blast furnace floor at the Port Kembla steelworks where he fell in with a gang of immigrant labourers who nurtured his interest in theatre and encouraged him to apply for NIDA.

Garry not only won a scholarship and graduated, but returned some years later to teach – and then head NIDA’s Production Course for over a decade.  He has enjoyed an unbroken relationship with the school for over four decades including two terms as a member of the Board of Directors.  He is currently serving as a member of the NIDA Foundation Trust board.

Garry joined the STAGES podcast from London to reflect on a celebrated career …. making and presenting impactful theatre.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au

Tim Jones has led the Seymour Centre theatre venues in Sydney since 2009. Last month announced that he is stepping down from the role.

Together with a talented and passionate team, he has worked to position Seymour Centre as vital to the creative life of both the City and the University of Sydney. 

To achieve this he has initiated a range of curated artistic programs, focused on the presentation of outstanding contemporary performance and the exploration of big ideas, and driven by the principles of risk-taking, diversity, and inclusion.

His leadership has resulted in collaboration with pre-eminent independent theatre companies to present the best new work from local and international writers and artists; the provision of quality performing arts experiences for primary and secondary students to enhance syllabus learning; and partnerships with major cultural organisations such as the Sydney Festival, Mardi Gras and Sydney World Pride. 

Supporting emerging and independent companies has also been a feature of Tim’s term with SIMA Jazz, Siren Theatre Company, Shaun Parker and Company, Squabbalogic and Sport for Jove all, at various times, in residence at Seymour. 

Tim Jones began his career as an actor, performing for St Martin's Youth Arts and Playbox in Melbourne before moving to Sydney and graduating from NIDA with a BFA in Acting. He performed for theatre companies including Belvoir and Sydney Theatre Company before taking up a full-time role as Artistic Associate at the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP), where he developed his commitment to delivering quality performing arts experiences for young people, a commitment that still informs his ongoing professional arts practice.

In 2005 he became the Artistic Director of ATYP, and went on to develop and direct over 14 new theatre works for young performers, including productions by leading Australian writers such as Louis Nowra, Michael Gow, Patricia Cornelius, and Debra Oswald (directing the premiere of her works, Stories in the Dark, in 2007, and Skate, which toured to the Belfast Festival in 2005). International collaborations included two partnerships with Cirque du Soleil and directing the world premiere of Patrick Marber's The Musicians for Sydney Festival.

At the Seymour he has developed and directed a range of premiere theatre productions including Transparency by Suzie Miller; two versions of The Hansard Monologues by Katie Pollock and Paul Daley; 2071, an adaptation of a work about climate change by Duncan Macmillan; Made to Measure by Alana Valentine, developed in partnership with the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney; and, in 2022, the premiere theatrical adaptation of Heather Rose’s Stella Prize-winning novel, The Museum of Modern Love presented as part of Sydney Festival.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au

Matt West is the Director / Choreographer for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. Matt received the L.A. Drama-Logue Award, the L.A. Ovation Award, New York’s Drama Desk Award and London’s Olivier Award, for the much celebrated show, which is in the Top 10 longest running shows in Broadway history - with 5461 performances.

The classic story of Belle and her Beast has become an audience favourite around the globe. Matt recently returned to Beauty and the Beast, 30 years on, to review the show and bring it into a new era - taking full advantage of developments in technology, cultural shifts, choreographic influence and the abundance of magic, readily available from the Disney brand.

Matt West has worked for the Disney Corporation a life-time, first joining the team as a Friend of Peter Pan, and graduating to creating productions for Disney Parks in Tokyo, Paris and California.

On Broadway he has staged or choreographed productions of Lestat with music and lyrics by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, and Mimi le Duck starring Eartha Kitt.

His work as a creative is informed from extensive credits as a performer in theatre and on the Broadway stage including Fiddler on the Roof, Hello Dolly and A Chorus Line. Matt also played the role of Bobby in Sir Richard Attenborough’s film adaptation of A Chorus Line.

International Theatre includes Little Shop of Horrors (Buenos Aires), The Wanderer (Tokyo’s Parko Theatre) The Little Mermaid, Cinderella and Peter Pan for Disney Home Video, The Nutcracker for the Disney Channel. And more than 30 productions of Beauty and the Beast Worldwide. 

Matt Directed and Choreographed Fantasmic for Tokyo Disney Sea. Current Projects Include the Broadway bound Productions of Smackdown and Click.

Matt was recently in Melbourne to visit the brilliant company of Beauty and the Beast, now in it’s final weeks at Her Majesty’s theatre, before it sets of on a national tour.

It truly is a glorious production, and I’m thrilled that STAGES had an opportunity to feature Matt in this episode to reflect on his own celebrated career … and to describe the vast journey of the juggernaut, that is, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au

John O’May has worked in all areas of the entertainment industry encompassing music theatre, cabaret, drama, opera, concerts, comedy, radio, writing and directing.

His music theatre credits include Godspell, The 20’s And All That Jazz, Seven Little Australians (which he also directed), HMS Pinafore, Crazy For You, The Merry Widow, A Little Night Music (for which he won his first Green Room Award for Leading Male Performer), The Phantom Of The Opera (in the roles of both M. Firmin and M. Andre both in Australia and internationally), Mamma Mia! and The Light In The Piazza (produced, directed and starred in this award winning show’s only Australian production).

John played the lead role of Georges in La Cage aux Folles, Captain Bracket in the acclaimed Opera Australia production of South Pacific, Doctor Tambourri in Passion, Cardinal Felici in the international tour of The Last Confession with David Suchet, Herr Schultz in the musical Cabaret and Grandpa Joe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

John has worked extensively with the Melbourne and Sydney Theatre Companies. For The Production Company John has played Major Bouvier/Norman Vincent Peale in Grey Gardens, Elijah Whitney in Anything Goes, General Harrison Howell/Harry Trevor in Kiss Me Kate, and Nicky Arnstein in Funny Girl.His film and TV credits include A Heartbeat Away, City Homicide, The Games, Carson’s Law, Between Wars, Starstruck and the ABC series The Divorce opposite Lisa McCune and Marina Prior. He can currently be seen in the Robbie Williams bio-pic, Better Man.
John played the role of Cinderella’s Father/Mysterious Man in Into the Woods for which he was nominated for a Green Room Award for Best Supporting Artist.

John recently played the role of Roland in Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of Bloom and joins the show once again for its present season at the Sydney Theatre Company.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).
www.stagespodcast.com.au

W.C Fields famously advised “Never work with animals or children”.

His advice would fall on ‘deaf ears’ for the creatives working on a new production of Annie, premiering at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney in March.

One of the creatives contributing to the show, in a very unique way is Luke Hura. Renowned as one of Australia’s leading Animal Trainers, Luke has been working intently with the canine actors playing Annie’s best friend Sandy in the iconic musical.

Dogs are essential co-stars in a host of stage musicals whether that be Mama Rose’s Chowsie in Gypsy, Bill Sykes’ mongrel in Oliver, Paulette’s Rufus and Elle Woods’ Bruiser in Legally Blonde, Dorothy’s Toto in The Wizard of Oz or Eden Brent’s prized Pomeranian pooch in Bullets Over Broadway.

Perhaps best known, as a canine co-star is Sandy in the musical ANNIE, who frequently steals the show.

Luke Hura’s unique career began over 35 years ago and throughout his journey, has worked on some of Australia’s most well-known films, television shows and stage productions.

Luke’s love for animals began at a very early age where he began to connect with them energetically and intuitively, with this ability allowing him to read and recognise their behaviours and thus he began to work with the animals on a more intimate level. This incredible gift steered him in the direction of training all types of animals for performance, including dogs, cats and a variety of birds.

Luke is well respected in the industry and is an obvious choice for any Producer to have as part of their production team. Some of Luke’s career highlights include – Red Dog & Oddball (the highest grossing Australian Dog Films), Paws, Ned Kelly, Rogue, Neighbours, Blue Heelers, Rove Live, The Flying Doctors, Dingo, A Country Practice, Thunderstone, Halifax f.p, Sea Change, The Wizard Of Oz, The Saddle Club, Kath & Kim, Rush and McClouds Daughters.

So how are the canine actors prepared for such starring roles? Sure they may not have much dialogue, but they have to hit their marks and establish a rapport with their co-stars. To answer all, STAGES spoke with Luke Hura, backstage at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre, as Annie (and Sandy) readied for the debut of this new Australian production.

Annie plays the Capitol Theatre in Sydney through to early June before a season at The Princess Theatre in Melbourne from July.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au

Anne-Louise Sarks is an international theatre director. Her work has premiered in Sydney, Melbourne, London, Mexico City, New York, Auckland, Warsaw, Mannheim, Perth, Mumbai, and Basel.

In April 2021, she was appointed as the Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Melbourne Theatre Company and launched her first season as Artistic director in 2023, directing the double bill Escaped Alone/What If, If Only and Bernhardt/Hamlet in 2023.

Prior to her appointment at Melbourne Theatre Company, Anne-Louise directed Stop Girl for Belvoir St Theatre in 2021. In 2019, she directed Avalanche, a new work by Julia Leigh produced by the Barbican London and later presented by the Sydney Theatre Company.

In 2018, she was appointed the Artistic Director of the Lyric Ensemble at the Lyric Hammersmith, directed a new production of her acclaimed Medea for Theatre Basel, directed a new feminist adaptation of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People for Belvoir, Sydney, and her production of Sarah Kane’s Blasted at the Malthouse theatre was nominated for four green room awards including Best Director.

In 2017, Anne-Louise directed Seventeen for The Lyric Hammersmith, Minnie & Liraz for Melbourne Theatre Company, Merchant of Venice for Bell Shakespeare and Testament of Mary for Malthouse Theatre.

Anne-Louise was Resident Director at Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney from 2013-2015. For Belvoir Street Theatre Anne-Louise has directed Stop Girl, Escaped Alone, Jasper Jones, Seventeen and Stories I Want To Tell You In Person; she directed and co-wrote Elektra/Orestes, A Christmas Carol, Nora and Medea.  Sarks was also assistant director on The Wild Duck and dramaturg on Thyestes. In 2015, Anne-Louise directed a new production of hers and co-writer Kate Mulvaney’s modern day imagining of Medea at The Gate Theatre in London.

Medea won five 2013 Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Direction, Best Mainstage Production and Best New Australian Work. It was also awarded an AWGIE for Best Stage Play and in 2013 was nominated for four prestigious Helpmann Awards including Best Direction, Best New Australian Work and Best Play.

In 2011, Anne-Louise held the positions of Associate Artist for Belvoir, Director in Residence at the Malthouse Theatre Company in Melbourne and from 2010-2013 Anne-Louise was Artistic Director of the acclaimed independent theatre company, The Hayloft Project.

Anne-Louise has recently opened a visceral new production of David Williamson’s The Removalists at the Sumner Theatre, for the Melbourne Theatre Company. 

The classic of the Australian theatre canon, which was born in the New Wave movement of Australian theatre in 1971, shows no signs of its 54 year longevity as a celebrated staple on our stages.

Anne-Louise joined STAGES to discuss her production of The Removalists, and the role she is relishing as one of our cherished arts leaders and theatre-makers.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au

Easily lauded as one of Australia’s greatest entertainers, Debra Byrne commenced her career as a child star making her television debut on Brian and the Juniors, a children's variety and talent quest, in 1969. 

In April 1971 she became an original cast member on Young Talent Time. Byrne proved to be a popular cast member: going on to win the Logie Award for Best Teenage Personality and the TV Week Queen of Pop Award. 

Before leaving the Young Talent Time regular cast, Byrne released her first solo single in 1974, He’s a Rebel. Her debut album, She’s a Rebel was released in the same year. 

Byrne's follow-up single was a second Crystals cover, Da Doo Ron Ron, in 1975. In that year she won both the Logie Award for Best Teenage Personality and the TV Week Queen of Pop Award for a second time. Byrne travelled to London to record at Abbey Road Studios with Cliff Richard producing. While in London, she made public and TV appearances, including on The Cliff Richard Show.

Returning to Australia she made guest appearances on every major Tonight Show and was a regular performer on the ABC series, The Saturday Show. In 1979 she merged singing with acting for the first time on the ABC’s TV Follies series, eventually co-starring alongside John Farnham in their own series, Farnham and Byrne. 

In 1985 she starred as Kathy McLeod, opposite Matt Dillon in the feature film, Rebel. She was nominated for an AFI Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role for the performance. Byrne sang lead vocals on nine of ten tracks on the soundtrack album. 

On the stage Byrne is responsible for some of the most dynamic interpretations of characters that have become iconic in the music theatre cannon. Her Grisabella in Cats (1985), her Fantine in Les Misérables (1987) and her Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1996) have been heralded as master classes of the form. Vivid and visceral renditions that were delivered with enormous heart, powerhouse vocals and poignant fragility.

Further triumphs on the musical theatre stage include Jerry’s Girls, Metro Street, Minefields and Miniskirts, Follies, Hot Shoe Shuffle, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Little Me and La Cage Aux Folles.

Her cabaret work includes writing, directing, choreographing and starring in Girls, Girls, Girls, a celebration of female vocalists including Cilla Black and Dusty Springfield, and Caught in the Act Again, which included both showtunes and some original material. She has also toured with Visa Bull in their Carole King tribute show Tapestry.

In late 2006 her autobiography, Not Quite Ripe: A Memoir, was published on Pan Macmillan. 

In 2010 she played the role of the Bird Woman in the original Australian production of the stage musical, Mary Poppins at Melbourne's Her Majesty's Theatre. She reprised the role in its Sydney run at the Capitol Theatre. And in 2019 she played the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Extensive television work has included Fat Tony & Co. portraying Judy Moran, Upper Middle Bogan, Cop Shop, Home and Away, Tricky Business and The Secret Life of Us.

A consummate artist, Debra returns to the stage in June in a new cabaret show, Feels Like Home.

Debra Byrne’s newest stage outing - Feels Like Home premieres on Friday June 27th at the Odessa Lounge, Leavers Hotel in Creswick, Victoria

You can also catch Feels Like Home on Sat 28th June at The George Lane in St Kilda

With a third show at The Shed Theatre @ The Pig and Whistle, in Main Ridge - on Sunday June 29th 

Bookings and further  information can be found at www.trybooking.com

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au