When beloved classic films turn into cultural touchstones, they become potential box office gold. The Wizard of Oz is no exception, and at the opening night of the latest stage adaptation, Sydney’s Capitol Theatre is full of Dorothys – some in full costume, others wearing red shoes or clutching plush Totos, and all bubbling with excitement.

In the aftermath of some future disaster, a group of strangers reach for a shared language. The result is comic, melancholy and deeply unsettling In the first line of Joan Didion’s 1979 essay The White Album, she coined a phrase now oft-quoted and crocheted, pinned to jackets and inscribed on every possible thing as a badge of honour for those working in the arts: “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” It’s a beautiful notion. It’s also incomplete. The first line of the second paragraph

Theatre Royal, Hobart Peaches’ reinterpretation of Jesus Christ Superstar retains the rock-opera roots of the original while infusing it with new meaning and her trademark humour In Heaven on Their Minds, the first number of Jesus Christ Superstar, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s smash-hit rock opera about the last days before the crucifixion, Judas tells us, If you strip away the myth from the man / you will see / where we all soon will be. This line seems to demand an excavation of not ju

Cassie Tongue on Adena Jacobs’ The Howling Girls at the Sydney Chamber Opera.

When Christa Wolf wrote her novel Der geteilte Himmel (Divided Heaven) in 1963 she was navigating a new German reality.

My friend and I met in Wollongong on a Friday night to see Hannah Gadsby’s show, Nanette.

Ruth Park's all-Australian epic has been reimagined as a two-part theatrical marathon by Kate Mulvany.

From the trashy mind of John Waters comes this boldly subversive musical, based on his 1990 movie.

Playing a real-life person on stage is tricky.

Can a queer, female-led story set in Australia's Tivoli circuit be the next Great Australian Musical?

When Australian playwright Kendall Feaver started researching her first full-length play, she stumbled across a genre of literature she had never heard of, which she describes as "self help for parents — how to actively work out if your child has a mental illness".

Lights flash like laser beams. AC/DC’s Highway to Hell booms so loudly that the chairs in the theatre seems to move in time to the music. Onstage, a female Boba Fett performs a strip routine with actual flames. A female Luke Skywalker enters, bends over seductively and twerks along to a Nicki Minaj song as she scrubs her Landspeeder.

Barbara and the Camp Dogs is possibly the most incendiary rock show in Sydney right now and it’s showing at Belvoir theatre.

The annual awards for live performance in Australia, the Helpmanns, have moved to Melbourne. It’s like the Tonys leaving New York – it’s fine, really, but also we’re not going to miss out on all the fun. The winners will be announced today – you can find all of this year’s nominees here, and of course we'll bring you the full list later tonight. The awards cover dance, opera, ballet, music festivals, comedy, classical concerts, as well as theatre, musicals and cabaret. We’re not convinced a na

The Helpmanns are fraught for a number of reasons.

In 2016, Australia’s political landscape was fraught.

I love the theatre. I’ve loved it for a very long time and I’ve been writing about it for several years as a critic.

Dance Academy was the show with biggest heart on Australian TV – and if you missed it, you missed out. This local drama about young dancers and dreamers is celebrating the release of a send-off film in cinemas this week, making it the perfect time to revisit one of Australia’s most earnest slices of entertainment.

Who would have thought that one of the most politically relevant shows under the rise of Trump would be a cinematic screening of a Broadway musical arranged by Disney Theatricals?

Living in Sydney can be a fraught exercise in 2016. Lockout laws have quietened Kings Cross and surrounds; housing prices keep residents out of a sense of ownership of their own communities; and the marriage equality plebiscite hangs over the city’s LGBTQI community like dark cloud. Where do we go now? Have we lost something essential that connected us to Sydney – nightlife, homes, community spaces? Art & About is the City of Sydney’s ongoing program to engage Sydneysiders in public art via