Cirrus@Austlit

'Not just another absurdist, electro-swing musical comedy about a thoroughbred racehorse, Phar Lap is a rags-to-riches story with a big heart. If you’re thinking elaborate life-size puppetry and dazzling special effects, you couldn’t be more wrong (we don’t have the budget). Suspend your disbelief as an actor swaps his horseshoes for tap shoes to play one of Australia’s most beloved icons.

'When an awkward, gangly horse from New Zealand meets a hapless, down-on-his-luck, trainer, they embark on a classic underdog story to win the Melbourne Cup, and Australians’ hearts and minds. The road isn’t easy – there are gambling scandals, double-crosses, an attempted shooting, and a career-threatening addiction to sugar. It’s high stakes, high drama, and highly historically accurate.

'Phar Lap boasts an irresistible electro-swing score, with inspirations from Duke Ellington to Daft Punk. Brassy, lively and retro – these songs will take you from the race course to the rave hall.

'Pop the champagne, harness up, and get ready for a wild ride.'

Source: Hayes Theatre Co.

'Never underestimate an 80-year-old. They’ve got a lot less to lose.

'Shirley has been playing Mrs. Claus at David Jones for forty years. Ever since she landed the role from a cattle call in 1983 out at a warehouse in Mascot, she’s taken pride and joy in taping down the white wig, patting on the rouge, and blowing the dust off her sparkling one-liners to delight children and parents as Santa’s finest off-sider. But this year, she turns up to work in early November, and is unceremoniously given her notice. Mrs Claus, say The Management, is “lacking in relevance”.

'A devastated Shirley decides to pick herself up and do battle on the fourth floor of David Jones – battling Millennial elves, screaming children and men-in-suits who feel she’s simply not up to it anymore. It’s a fight for survival, and Shirley resolves to arm herself with the relevant data and the appropriate KPIs to front the board and make it known she’s not going anywhere.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'There’s not a spare seat in the Dubbo Dome. Ozzy the Aussie Battler flicks his cape and steps into the ring, and the crowd go troppo.

'This is Dubbo Championship Wrestling, the hilarious new Aussie rock musical that will change everything you thought you knew about professional wrestling, regional Australia, and musical theatre itself.

'Rose, a young woman from Dub-Vegas with wrestling in her blood, has long ago turned her back on the family business and Dubbo’s stifling small-town ways. When circumstance brings her back to her hometown on the eve of Dubbomania, the biggest wrestling tournament of the year, Rose is drawn into a monumental battle over family and identity, featuring capes, choreography, and some of the most colourful characters you’ll ever meet.

'The violence, the joy, the costumes, the thumbtacks. Will there be blood? We bloody hope so.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Immigration sucks.

'When Almitra was 19 she made a deal with her Ma. She needed to leave Pakistan to have a better future. The two things stopping her? Her unique passport… and bloody Canada.

'With original music and lyrics written and performed by Almitra Mavalvala, Musical Direction by Tim Cunniffe, with Direction and Dramaturgy by Bernadette Fam, Blacklisted is a searing and cheeky new cabaret about immigration, racial profiling, and the journey home.

'Backed by an intimate live band including sitar player Sarita McHarg, join Almitra on a musical voyage from the rooftops of Karachi to the soft sands of Coogee during a true-life hour of compelling storytelling.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The Life Of Us follows the long distance romance of Charlie and Ellie. Forced apart by circumstance, they maintain their relationship through technology, but how much connection can a person truly feel through a screen? As we watch their lives unfold and their relationships crumble, we begin to understand what we want isn’t always what we need.

'The Life Of Us is a modern-day musical that looks at how we love and what it means to be connected.

'Mentored by the legendary Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell) The Life Of Us is Australia’s new, groundbreaking musical, with an extraordinary ability to express universal feelings of love and heartbreak into a deeply affecting and intimate musical.'

Source: Hayes Theatre Co.

'From the 1920s until the 1930s, two vice queens, Kate Leigh and Tilly Devine, ruled the Darlinghurst underworld. Their rivalry was infamous, leading to a litany of violent crimes enacted by their razor gangs as each struggled to gain dominance in a world of sly grog, narcotics and prostitution.

'In 2019, Kate Leigh’s former sly grog shop is about to reopen as a trendy coffee spot. The shop is being gutted for renovation, but there are still ghosts in the walls who aren’t done settling old scores.'

Source: Hayes Theatre Co.