The 2011 Rob Guest Endowment is taking place this evening at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne. Zack Anthony Curran goes back stage at the theatre

The winners of the Rob Guest Endowment double pass giveaway have been announced! 

Legendary Australian theatre actress Diane Clineto has died, reports say.

AussieTheatre.com is giving away two double passes to the 3rd annual Rob Guest Endowment Concert at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne. Hosted by Bert Newton, it will again see Australia's finest musical theatre performers take to the stage. 

Have you ever wanted to run away to the circus?

 
Following an acclaimed production at the Belfast Festival with the prestigious Ransom Theatre Company, Transparency is headed to Sydney's west for a season at the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta.

AussieTheatre.com is giving away two double passes to see Dr. Zhivago in Brisbane, and the competition ends tomorrow (Tuesday 26 July). 

Since 1997, the Australian Dance Awards have been recognising and honouring professional Australian dance artists who have made an outstanding contribution to the industry.

Written by Drew Lane

JYM is Australia’s only Jewish musical theatre company, and it is based in Melbourne, VIC. Established in 2002, JYM has developed a reputation for presenting excellent musical theatre productions, gaining high praise for their 2010 production of The Witches Of Eastwick.

Describing themselves as an 'inclusive Jewish musical theatre company', JYM are a not for profit organisation, who rely on the support and goodwill of local business, and corporations like Hal Leonard Australia to mount productions. The company gives the Jewish community opportunities to perform in shows which, in any other theatrical society or professional production, would schedule perofmances on the Sabbath.

AussieTheatre.com's Drew Lane had the opportunity to chat with Jem Splitter (director of their current show) about the company and their latest production.

JYM is the only Jewish musical theatre company in Australia - how do you think that sets you apart from other theatre companies?

Artistically, we're no different from other company -- we set out to make engaging, entertaining, interesting theatre, and every year we aim for a higher standard than the year before. We don't set out from the beginning to make Jewish Theatre. We don't do Fiddler every year or start each rehearsal with a phlegmy Hebrew prayer.

What makes JYM a "Jewish musical theatre company" is our roots in the Jewish community, and the fact that we try to provide opportunities to perform and artistically contribute to people who otherwise would be unable. For instance, three members of this year's cast could probably not perform with any other company, as they observe the sabbath, and therefore couldn't rehearse on Saturdays or perform Friday nights. So we don't rehearse or perform on those times, or Jewish holidays, to give observant Jews the chance to get involved with theatre. What I said about our roots in the Jewish community really refers to the fact that a majority of our sponsors and demographic comes from that community, primarily because they want to support an organisation like ours that specifically aims to provide opportunities to its constituents. It's tempting to make a reference to Sir Robin's argument about Jews and Broadway, but I'll refrain for reasons of taste. (see: Monty Python's Spamalot)

With the faith aspect of your company in mind, how do you choose your shows?

This one's really more of a question for our producer, Shlom Eshel. But my understanding is that not much of a faith aspect comes into it. But Shlom knows the community and her target demographic pretty well… Cabaret in 2009 sold out completely, or very nearly. Shows are chosen to fit the company’s needs, whatever they are at the time. In fact, part of the reason we’re doing Spelling Bee is that Shlom recently had a baby – mazal tov! – and had less time to spend on a show, so we picked one with a smaller cast and we’re having fewer shows than usual.

Shlom said, “I don’t think about being a Jewish company when making a show choice. It comes down to whether I like the show, whether I think people will want to audition, how many female roles there are, will people want to see it, is it depressing, who else is doing it and how good is the script.”

Do you alter the shows at all (to fit in with the beliefs of the company)?

"No, in a nutshell. Ha. Firstly, as a diverse group of people, Jews (both observant and not) and non-Jews, I don't think it's quite apt to say that we, as a company, have "beliefs"

Emily Taylor shows absolute fearlessness as she breaks down the barrier of the fourth wall. Her show Hello You – A Kamikaze Cabaret, playing at the Melbourne Cabaret Festival, quite literally grabs the audience by the hand and guides them through childhood memories, heartbreak and awkward recollections.

One would think that the music of Paul Kelly is not the most glaring inspiration for a musical or cabaret. However, playing at the Melbourne Cabaret Festival, The Last Train: An Urban Tale Featuring the Songs of Paul Kelly, takes selected Paul Kelly works and casts them in a contemporary cabaret-style musical with great success.

If you've ever sat in an unlit cement car park at midnight with only over-brewed black coffee and unripe lemons to eat, your night was still lighter and less-bitter than the voice of writer Vedrana Klepica. And there's no one in town who would bring us such a playwright, apart from than MKA.

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The magnificent and obsessive Meow Meow was performing at the Apollo Theatre in London a month ago. Last night she purred, hissed and shed sequins at The Burlesque Hour LOVES Melbourne. How lucky are we in this city?

One evening spent with Anne Edmonds and you’re ready to call on her as a dear friend.

Whether it’s cheekiness, naughtiness or relentless satire, irreverence is a definite trait of cabaret.

Strange Bedfellows - The New Musical, will make its way to Melbourne in just a few months and I caught up with some of the cast and creative team recently for a chat about the show, it's development and the underlying theme – the profoundly Australian paradigm; mateship.