The Stage Show

Live on stage at Melbourne's iconic La Mama Theatre, newly rebuilt following a devastating fire, we look at the history of independent Australian theatre and its impact on our culture, and we discuss the path ahead for small theatres in the wake of the pandemic.

Elaine Crombie is a powerhouse of an actor and singer on stage and screen. Her new role sees her performing with Bangarra Dance Theatre in Wudjang: Not the Past — a co-production with the Sydney Theatre Company at the Sydney Festival.

Also, we're joined by Bangarra's artistic director Stephen Page and his recently announced successor Frances Rings and we visit Australian artists from Circa currently navigating a tangled web of border closures and health measures on tour in Europe.

Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill is now a jukebox musical. But how has this achingly personal collection of songs been transformed into a show about an American family coming apart at the seams? We ask the show's Oscar and Tony-winning writer, Diablo Cody.

Also, we meet American playwright Will Arbery. His play Heroes of the Fourth Turning, lauded across the political spectrum, portrays conservative Catholics arguing about religion and politics in a Wyoming backyard — characters familiar to the playwright himself.

When a devastating diagnosis halted Michelle Ryan's dance career, she spent ten years away from the stage, but then some giants of dance brought her back into the spotlight. She's now artistic director of Adelaide's Restless Dance Theatre, which turns 30 this year.

Also, award-winning playwright Kendall Feaver confronts sexual assault on campus in Wherever She Wanders at Griffin and we take a look at the curious history of pantomime with Virginia Gay, whose new play at Belvoir is called The Boomkak Panto.

When the writer of Rent died on the day of the show's first preview, he also left behind a little-known autobiographical musical called Tick, Tick… Boom! Now Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton) and Steven Levenson (Dear Evan Hansen) have brought it to the screen.

Also, voice and text coach at the Sydney Theatre Company, Leith McPherson, shares more of her insights into the power of voice and Circa's visionary artistic director Yaron Lifschitz shares what's on his Top Shelf.

The musical Sunday in the Park with George has been the subject of speculation ever since it opened in 1984. Some say its story reflects the life and struggles of its composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and others celebrate how the unknown writer and director James Lapine steered Sondheim's work towards new vitality. James Lapine has now written a detailed and candid account of the show's fabled journey. It's called Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Made Sunday in the Park with George (Pan Macmillan).

A common thread runs through much of Australian theatre's boldest and most influential new work: director Paige Rattray. From humble beginnings in Tasmania, she now helps our most exciting new playwrights to realise their vision.

Also, Stage Show regular Leith McPherson introduces her new role as Voice and Text Coach at the Sydney Theatre Company and dancer Raghav Handa and musician Maharshi Raval skirt the boundaries of Indian classical dance in Two at the OzAsia Festival.

Dr Lara Stevens' introduces us to Hartmut Veit, whose performances with coal in Victoria's Latrobe Valley spurred timely conversations with residents whose lives and livelihoods were intertwined with climate change.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes is a stalwart of the opera and musical theatre stage, but there was a time when he thought that accountancy was his true calling. So, what brought this powerful singer out of the office and into the spotlight?

Also, playwright Michèle Saint-Yves reflects on her father's dementia and her own acquired brain injury in A Clock for No Time and choreographer Sue Healey compiles eight years of unique encounters with dance on film in On View: Panoramic Suite at Liveworks.

Tasmania's renowned contemporary dance company Tasdance is celebrating 40 years. The company's artistic director Adam Wheeler grew up in Launceston, but there was a time when he could not get off the island quick enough. So, what changed?

Also, we visit the Queenstown shed hosting the new Tasdance work Collision at this year's The Unconformity and with the Melbourne Fringe Festival going digital for a second year, we meet some of the artists finding new ways to make work.