Simon Burke is one of Australia's most cherished entertainers. 2024 marks his 50th year performing on stage.

He made his professional stage debut at just 12 years old and shortly after won an AFI Award for his performance in Fred Schepisi's film The Devil's Playground.

He's since become renowned as a musical theatre performer, having had major roles in Australia and on London's West End.

Right now, he's playing the Wizard of Oz in a spectacular new production of Wicked.

Suzanne Chaundy is one of Australia's most in-demand directors of opera. Last year, she had the triumph of a lifetime with her direction of opera's most daunting challenge: Wagner's Ring Cycle. Now she's back with another big opera, Lucia di Lammermoor at the Melbourne Opera. So, what does it take to direct an opera?

Also, in Lose to Win, which opens soon at Belvoir Street Theatre, Mandela Mathia recounts his extraordinary journey from displacement in war-torn South Sudan to becoming an Australian and an accomplished actor, and opera singer David Hobson and comedian Colin Lane hit the road for a six-month tour of their show, In Tails.

Choreographer Johan Inger's first narrative work is a radically contemporary take on Carmen, which employs Bizet's famous score but draws on the confronting violence of Mérimée's original novella for its story. The ballet earned the Prix Benois de la Danse and is now being presented by The Australian Ballet.

Also, Victor Hugo's novel about an orphaned boy whose mouth has been cut into a perpetual grin has been adapted into a musical, The Grinning Man, and we mark the 100th anniversary of The Demon Machine, a dance work by Gertrud Bodenwieser who fled the Nazi occupation of Austria and founded the first modern dance company in Australia.

Angus Cerini has been writing plays for 25 years, but his recent experiences as a farmer have inspired his latest play, Into the Shimmering World. The acclaimed writer of The Bleeding Tree and Wonnangatta now introduces us to two aging farmers, played by Kerry Armstrong and Colin Friels, struggling against relentless adversity.

Also, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt is a published collection of poems written by the Samoan-New Zealander Tusiata Avia. 20 years ago, Tusiata was touring the world performing these poems on stage and now that show has been reimagined for an ensemble. Wild Dogs Under My Skirt is now on tour in Australia.

Opera Australia's annual production on Sydney Harbour is a highlight of the performing arts calendar. This year, the floating stage hosts West Side Story and it stars First Nations soprano Nina Korbe. The musical by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim is Nina's professional debut, but not her first time performing in a spectacular outdoor setting.

Also, with the 2024 Melbourne International Comedy Festival underway, we're joined by the comedian Joel Kim Booster. Joel is also the writer and star of the hit romantic comedy Fire Island. Joel is performing in Headliners at the festival and can also be seen in his Netflix special Psychosexual and in the comedy series Loot with Maya Rudolph.

A Case for the Existence of God is by the American playwright Samuel D. Hunter. It is a two-hander that explores the unlikely connections between two men unalike in class, race and sexuality. Samuel is also the creator of the very unsettling hit play The Whale, a film adaption of which earned two Academy Awards.

Two separate productions of A Case for the Existence of God are being presented in April — one by Outhouse Theatre Co at the Seymour Centre in Sydney and the other by Red Stitch in Melbourne.

In her memoir Oh Miriam!, the British-Australian actress, writer and comedian Miriam Margolyes shares hugely entertaining stories from her life with her trademark wit and disarming candour. Now, she's bringing those stories — and more — to the stage.

Also, 37 is a new play from the funny and vernacular Palawa/Pakana playwright, Nathan Maynard. In the era of AFL footballer Adam Goodes' famous war cry, two Aboriginal footy players in a regional club confront the personal cost of either staying quiet or speaking out about racism. We're joined by the show's star, Ngali Shaw, and director, Isaac Drandic.

The acclaimed Irish actor Andrew Scott tackles his most challenging stage role yet in a one-man retelling of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. The production, Vanya, was commissioned and directed by Sam Yates, a young British director who was mentored by the likes of Trevor Nunn, Nicholas Hytner and Phyllida Lloyd. 

Also, opening nights can be stressful under any circumstances, but what do you do when a zombie apocalypse threatens curtain time? We're joined by the team behind Zombie! The Musical. And an updated version of Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play Gaslight is now touring Australia. We meet the director and writers.

At the 2024 Adelaide Festival, we visit theatre foyers, dressing rooms and the city's famous gardens to meet the artists bringing theatregoers to the edge of their seats.

We speak with artistic director Ruth Mackenzie, who is delivering her first full program this year, we meet acclaimed choreographer Elizabeth Streb, whose 'Action Hero' performers in Streb Extreme Action will push their bodies to the limit in Time Machine, we visit the Narungga artists and cultural custodians sharing the creation stories of their country on the Yorke Peninsula in Guuranda, and we learn how acts of creative thievery can become a joyful paean to the performing arts in Grand Theft Theatre.