The Rocky Horror Show is a musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to various B movies associated with the science fiction and horror genres from the 1930s to the early 1960s, the musical tells the story of a newly engaged couple getting caught in a storm and coming to the home of a mad transvestite scientist, Dr Frank-N-Furter, unveiling his new creation, Rocky, a sort of Frankenstein-style monster in the form of an artificially made, fully grown, physically perfect muscle man complete "with blond hair and a tan".
Janet Andrewartha is an Australian television and theatre actress. Andrewartha began her career as a music teacher before attending drama school. She graduated in 1979 and began securing television and theatre roles.
Efftee Studios was an early Australian film and theatre production studio, established by F.W. Thring in 1930. It existed until Thring's death in 1935. Initially Efftee Films was based in Melbourne and used optical sound equipment imported from the US.
Marina Prior is an Australian soprano and actress with a career mainly in musical theatre. From 1990 to 1993, she starred as the original Christine Daaé in the Australian premiere of The Phantom of the Opera, opposite Anthony Warlow and later Rob Guest.
Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service, and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering service. Three of the show's tunes, "Long Before I Knew You", "Just in Time", and "The Party's Over", became standards.
Theatre of Australia refers to the history of the live performing arts in Australia: performed, written or produced by Australians.
The Venetian Twins is an Australian two-act musical comedy. It was adapted from a commedia dell'arte play - I due gemelli veneziani by Carlo Goldoni - and the lyrics were written by Nick Enright; the music was composed and arranged by Terence Clarke.
James Millar is an Australian actor, singer and writer. He wrote the musical drama The Hatpin, the song cycle LOVEBiTES and co-wrote the semi-autobiographical musical A Little Touch of Chaos.
Caroline Ann O'Connor is an Anglo-Australian singer, dancer, and actress. For her theatre work she has won three Helpmann Awards: Best Female Actor in a Play for Edith Piaf in Piaf in 2001; in the same category for Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow in 2006; and Best Female Actor in a Musical for Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes in 2015.
Jesus Christ Superstar or Jesus Christ Superstar – Original Australian Cast Recording is an album released in late 1972 on MCA Records. Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera created by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1970. The earliest Australian version was staged from May 1972 to February 1974. This album features Trevor White, Jon English and Michele Fawdon. Together with other cast members, they performed vocals for a studio recording. It was produced by Patrick Flynn, the show's musical director and a conductor for Opera Australia. The album peaked at No. 17 on the Go-Set Albums Chart in June 1973, while it reached No. 13 on the Kent Music Report and remained on its charts for 54 weeks. It appeared in the top 100 on the 1974 End of Year Albums Chart. In May 1973, the album was awarded a gold record for sales of 50,000 albums.
The Hatpin is a musical by James Millar and Peter Rutherford (composer). It was inspired by the true story of Amber Murray who in 1892 gave up her son to the Makin family in Sydney, Australia. Written and developed in 2006–2007, The Hatpin opened at the York Theatre, Seymour Centre in Sydney on 27 February 2008. The musical has received subsequent productions in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The Wizard of Oz is a musical with a book by John Kane, music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E. Y. Harburg. It has additional background music by Herbert Stothart. It is based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and the 1939 film version written by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf.
Christine Whelan Browne is an Australian performer who has worked extensively in musical theatre as an actress, dancer and singer. She has also appeared on television shows and in films. In March 2012, she married fellow performer, Rohan Browne.
John Alan McKellar was an Australian writer, primarily of comedy revues or musical theatre. His most critically acclaimed and popularly attended work was A Cup of Tea, a Bex and a Good Lie Down which premiered at Sydney's Phillip Street Theatre on 18 September 1965 and ran for more than 250 performances. He was the resident writer at that theatre in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s he provided the slogan, "The drink you have when you're not having a drink" to advertise Claytons non-alcoholic beverages. Most of his humour involved social satire where typical self-mockery was developed into an art form. Some of his works provided vernacular phrases used in Australian English including "is Australia really necessary", "A Cup of Tea, a Bex and a Good Lie Down", and "But I wouldn't want to live there".
The Sentimental Bloke is a 1961 Australian musical by Albert Arlen, Nancy Brown and Lloyd Thomson based on Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C.J. Dennis. Set in Melbourne, it is one of the most successful Australian musicals of the 20th century. The musical has also been adapted for television and ballet.
David Reeves is an Australian composer, conductor and organist. He began his professional career as a concert organist in the early 1960s, turning to conducting and composition some ten years later. He is the composer of original modern music that bridges commercial and classical styles. 'An original Australian Musical Trailblazer' - Tommy Tycho OBE AM - Channel 9 - Star-Sound Recording Studios 1992.
Pastrana is an Australian musical by Allan McFadden and Peter Northwood. It is based on the true 19th century story of Julia Pastrana, a Mexican woman who was born with canine-like teeth and a thick mat of hair, but was also a singer. The musical traces her journey from Mexico to touring the United States and Europe under the managership of Charles Lent; a man whom she later married.
Manning Clark's History of Australia – The Musical is an Australian musical by Tim Robertson and Don Watson with John Romeril with music by Martin Armiger and George Dreyfus with David King. Written to coincide with the Australian Bicentenary, the musical interweaves the life of historian Manning Clark from 1915 to 1988 with Australian history from 1788 to 1915, utilising drama, melodrama, music, song, comedy and circus.
John O'May is an American-born Australian actor, best known for his stage performances.
Hugo Chiarella is an Australian writer and actor best known for his work in musical theatre.
