Stages With Peter Eyers

STAGES returns Sunday March 2nd! The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Haul out the holly it’s the time we adore, it’s STAGES season finale for 2024. Throughout Season Seven we featured 81 Episodes showcasing an exciting array of stellar guests covering the gamut from on stage and back stage, to behind the scenes and front-of-house. All captivating conversations with celebrated creatives about craft and career. In the 2024 finale episode we welcome back various STAGES regulars to acknowledge the conclusion of the seventh season of the podcast. A perfect addition to your Christmas Eve as you ready for the festivities this week and an exciting new year ahead. This season finale episode features Mitchell Butel, Rhonda Burchmore, Trevor Ashley, Lauren Schmutter (music by Ron Creager & Tina Messina), Geraldine Turner and STAGES festive co-host, Kate Fitzpatrick. All more ready than ever to embrace exciting new adventures. And thank you dear listeners for joining us in another year of the STAGES podcast. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and the best of times in 2025. The STAGES

Emma Matthews is currently head of Classical Voice and Opera Studies at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. She is Patron of the Wesfarmers Young Artist Program at West Australian Opera and is a highly acclaimed and awarded soprano.  She has performed with all the state opera companies and the major Australian symphony orchestras; and at the Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Huntington Festivals, with conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Marko Letonja, Sir Charles Mackerras and Simone Young. Emma has sung the title roles in Partenope, Lucia di Lammermoor, Lakmé, The Cunning Little Vixen and Lulu. Other roles have included Leila (The Pearlfishers), Amina (La Sonnambula), Philomele (The Love of the Nightingale) by Richard Mills, Ilia (Idomeneo), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Marie (La Fille du Regiment), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Zdenka (Arabella), the four heroines (The Tales of Hoffmann), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Almirena (Rinaldo), Sophie (Der

Pamela Rabe is one of Australia’s most highly regarded and awarded actors, recognised for her immense body of work on stage and screen. Canadian born, she is a graduate from the Playhouse Acting School, in Vancouver, and for the past several decades she has worked constantly in theatre across the country and around the world.  Her work has encompassed State theatre companies and commercial theatre with dynamic performances in productions of new work and established classics that extend to God Of Carnage, Blithe Spirit, Dinner, The Misanthrope, The Marriage of Figaro, The Taming of the Shrew, A Moon for the Misbegotten, The Heidi Chronicles, The Cherry Orchard, Little Murders, As You Like It, Tristram Shandy, A Servant of Two Masters, Heartbreak House, Too Young For Ghosts, Visions, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Medea, Top Girls, 84 Charring Cross Road, The Winter’s Tale, The War of the Roses, The Serpent’s Teeth, Gallipoli, Season at Sarsparilla, The Lost Echo, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Beauty Queen o

Guy Noble is an Australian musical composer, conductor, pianist and broadcaster. He studied piano in the early 1980s at the Sydney Conservatorium. On a scholarship from the Australia Council he travelled to London where he worked for four years, including a stint as presenter on BBC Radio 3.  In 1984, he was pianist in the Sydney Youth Orchestra and from 1984 to 1986 in the Australian Youth Orchestra. Noble was the inaugural recipient of the Brian Stacey Memorial Trust Award for emerging Australian conductors in 1998; the trust, in collaboration with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, financed the composition and recording of Noble's Flute Concerto, written for Jane Rutter. In 2022 he was appointed as the conductor and host of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Guy Noble regularly conducts the Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, West Australian, Tasmanian and Queensland Symphony orchestras and has worked with the Canberra Symphony, the Auckland Philharmonia and the Malaysian Philharmonic orchestras. He has bee

It’s the time of year where folk are jetting off on holidays - a key destination for many theatre fans is to head to the West End of London or the bright lights of Broadway - theatre precincts which guarantee excitement and awe. Two gentlemen who make their own annual pilgrimage to the Great White Way or the West End -  are ‘Man in Chair’ Simon Parris, and Publicist Ian Phipps. The two theatre aficionados join the STAGES podcast regularly to offer a round-up of the shows they’d seen on recent trips to the theatre meccas.  They offer abundant tips regarding what to see and how to secure tickets … so, they’re back again - this time to appraise their recent trips to New York and the Broadway season looming - a delicious appraisal of what is on, what has been, and what we can expect to see in coming months. We also look at the abundance of musical offerings locally in 2025. Simon Parris is a theatre reviewer based in Melbourne. His review blog ‘Man in Chair’ regularly reviews musicals, plays, opera and the arts.

Roger Hodgman is a freelance theatre and screen director. He was Artistic Director of the Vancouver Playhouse for four years and Melbourne Theatre Company for twelve.  He has worked in drama schools in the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia – including five years as an acting teacher and director at the East 15 School in London, two years as Director of the Playhouse Acting School in Vancouver and four years as Dean of Drama at the Victorian College of the Arts. He has directed over 150 stage productions for numerous companies including MTC, STC, STC of S.A, QTC, Black Swan State Theatre Company, Shaw Festival (Canada), TML Enterprises, Australian Opera, New Zealand Opera and Victorian Opera. He has received Green Room Awards for Best Director in the Theatre, Opera and Music Theatre divisions and a Helpmann for best director (Musical) and numerous nominations. Productions he has directed have won Green Room, Sydney Critics and Helpmann Awards for best production for Theatre, Musical and Opera. Many of his

Melbourne-born, Suzanne Jones embarked on a career in main stage live entertainment after completing degrees in economics and music. She got her start in the entertainment industry as a sound engineer at Arts Centre Melbourne, which soon led to the role of Head of Sound for System Sound, touring large-scale music theatre productions around Australia and Asia. After a hiatus of several years to explore other industries and interests – including a successful stint as a stockbroker – Suzanne’s love of live entertainment ultimately drew her back, joining the team at the Gordon Frost Organisation. During her time with GFO Suzanne produced dozens of Australian tours in various capacities, which provided the blueprint for her own dynamic and rewarding career pathway. A dynamic commercial executive in the world of theatre and live events, Suzanne has drawn on her close connections with some of the world’s foremost creators of live entertainment and a global network of trusted promotional partners to deliver the world

Australian audiences over the past two decades have been thrilled by the periodic performances directed by dynamic UK theatre visionary, Emma Rice. Productions of Tristan & Yseult, The Red Shoes and Brief Encounter have enthralled attendees at Sydney and Melbourne Festivals. She returns to our shores in January 2025 with her company Wise Children and an acclaimed production of Wuthering Heights, playing an exclusive and limited Sydney season prior to a South East Asian tour. Anyone who has ever seen an Emma Rice production knows that we are to be treated by another glorious experience of consummate story-telling.  Emma Rice is the proud Artistic Director of her company, Wise Children, and an internationally respected theatre-maker and director.  For Wise Children, Emma has adapted and directed the productions The Buddha of Suburbia, Blue Beard, The Little Matchgirl and Happier Tales, Wuthering Heights, Bagdad Cafe, Romantics Anonymous, Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers and Angela Carter’s Wise Children. As Arti

Stuart Maunder is Artistic Director of Victorian Opera. Beginning his career in stage management at the then Australian Opera, Maunder has a long history in opera, as a director and arts administrator.  He served in senior management roles at Opera Australia from 1999 to 2008 before being appointed General Director of New Zealand Opera in 2014. He was appointed Artistic Director of State Opera South Australia in 2018. In his time at State Opera, Maunder proved himself a passionate advocate for finding a distinctive Australian voice, championing Australian repertoire, developing the next generation of Australian artists while still pursuing a balanced repertoire designed to reach the widest possible audience. His work as a director is highly revered and has ensured Stuart Maunder has remained a consistent presence on Australian stages for over three decades. A frequent collaborator with Victorian Opera, Maunder has directed several popular productions including four musicals by Stephen Sondheim (Sunday in the

Grant Piro began his career in the early 1980’s soap opera Sons and Daughters and has since appeared in more than 100 productions. His work has been recognised with several Green Room Award nominations and two wins (The Merry Widow and The Producers) as well as AACTA and Helpmann nominations. Best known to young television viewers of the 1990’s as the cult TV host of Couch Potato, just a small sample of Grant’s multiple television credits include; Janus, Correlli, GP, Wildside, Seachange, City Homicide, Blue Healers, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, SeaPatrol, Jack Irish, HalifaxFP, The Librarians, Good Guys Bad Guys, CrashBurn, Newton’s Law, How To Stay Married, Wanted, Ex PM 2, and My Life is Murder. He also featured in the biopics for Olivia Newton John, INXS, Hoges, and Warnie. More recently in ABCTV’s flagship comedy UTOPIA and its flagship drama The Newsreader3. A few of Grant’s feature film appearances include Rolf deHeer’s horror classic Bad Boy Bubby, Darkness Falls, The Outsider, The Condemned, Crime

Evelyn Krape has over five decades of diverse acting experience in theatre, film and television, beginning as a stalwart at Carlton’s Pram Factory. A Melbourne-based actor and director, Evelyn is currently the Artistic Director of the Kadimah Yiddish Theatre. She joined the Australian Performing Group in 1970 when it moved into the Pram Factory, performing in such classic Australian works as Dimboola and Don's Party. She has performed with Victoria’s major companies, from the Melbourne Theatre Company, Playbox and the Victorian Opera to La Mama and Eleventh Hour. Notable performances include A Floating World, Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, Endgame, A Toast to Melba, Ginger, The Scoundrel That You Need, and recent seasons of Bloom and A Very Jewish Christmas Carol.  Evelyn has toured extensively with a number of one-woman shows including Emma Celabrazione!, Ironing Out The Wrinkles and Female Parts.  Evelyn has played several major roles with Glenn Elston’s ‘Shakespeare in the Gardens’ series, including B

Musical theatre Leading Lady Ashleigh Rubenach was born and raised on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and is a graduate of the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Most recently Ashleigh played Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard for Opera Australia and Nancy in the hit musical Groundhog Day at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne for GWB Productions. Ashleigh starred as Johanna in Sweeney Todd at the Sydney Opera House (Victorian Opera), toured Australia as Milo Davenport in the Broadway-hit musical An American In Paris (GWB/Australian Ballet) and was much-lauded for her performance as Billie Bendix in the classic Gershwin musical Nice Work If You Can Get It (Hayes Theatre Company). One of her most notable accomplishments came with the role of Allison in Cry Baby (Hayes Theatre Company) with her exceptional performance earning her the Best Female Actor award at the Sydney Theatre Awards. Other theatre credits include Muriel’s Wedding (Global Creatures), Anything Goes and My Fair Lady (GFO/Opera Australia), Funn

After 25 years at the Wharf, the Seymour Centre, and many suburban, regional and interstate venues, The Wharf Revue is calling it a day after a final show - The End of the Wharf as we Know it!!! To acknowledge this milestone and celebrate the team who have gifted its with so much joy and laughter, the STAGES podcast revisits conversations with Jonathan Biggins, Amanda Bishop, Drew Forsyth and Philip Scott. After twenty-five years in the harsh and unforgiving spotlight of politics, The Wharf Revue has decided to step away from public life. “It’s an opportunity to spend more time with family,” said a spokesperson. “At the end of the day, this is about the need for renewal. We’ll serve one last term to max out the super and then try to pick up some kind of consultancy work or do a series of “Survivor” - look, it’s too early to say but it has been an honour to serve the Australian people.” Many public figures who’ve appeared in the show regularly over the years are lining up for a place in the final hurrah: Keati

Growing up Bert LaBonté had eyes on an AFL career. A chance meeting with legendary actor Terry Norris gave him the confidence to pursue a life on the stage and he was soon studying the craft at Ballarat University. Several decades later and Bert is an established favourite on screen and stages; dramatic and musical, around Australia. Bert is presently in rehearsal for August: Osage County at Belvoir Theatre in Sydney. He recently captivated audiences as Toulouse-Lautrec in Moulin Rouge! The Musical. A long list of  musical theatre credits include: The Book of Mormon, An Officer and a Gentleman,Chess and Grey Gardens.  His Melbourne Theatre Company credits include: The Truth, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Lungs, Rupert, Birdland, The Mountaintop, Elling and others. For Sydney Theatre Company, he has performed in Fences, A Raisin in the Sun, All My Sons, The Grenade and Spelling Bee, and his Malthouse Theatre credits include: Cloudstreet, I am A Miracle, Time Share.  Screen credits include Colin From Accounts, Erot

Emma Powell’s first performance was at the age of three when she appeared on US television with Ronald McDonald. As a grown-up, she toured Australia in The Pirates of Penzance with Jon English and Simon Gallaher.  She then joined Les Miserables which toured to Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Cape Town. She went on to perform in Mamma Mia as ensemble in the original production then took over the role of ‘Rosie’ for the Australasian tour. She played ‘Hattie’ in Kiss Me Kate and ‘Fruma Sarah” in Fiddler on the Roof.   Emma took a break from mainstage musicals to create her own work; A self-devised comedy – Busting Out! which ran for five years touring Australia, New Zealand, the UK (including the Edinburgh Festival). Emma also created another female driven stage comedy – Dumped! The Musical We’ve All Been Through. An original Australian musical comedy Dumped! had three seasons in Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne. The last decade has seen a return to major musicals for Emma, touring Australia in Kinky Boots as ‘T

STAGES welcomes back passionate theatre historian Stuart Greene in an episode which details the life of some of the Sydney’s iconic  theatre venues. It’s difficult to contemplate that the Sydney CBD once was home to approximately 28 theatres and movie houses - sacred temples in which audiences experienced an escape of the imagination through entertainments as diverse as vaudeville, musical theatre, burlesque, opera, cinema, circus, silver screen and legitimate plays.  Disappointingly, many of these cherished venues have been demolished, making way for urban development and consequently losing much of a vibrant arts heritage. Sydney saw its first theatre in 1796. Only a handful stand today, all housing commercial fare. These theatres include The Capitol Theatre in Haymarket, The Theatre Royal on King street, The Enmore Theatre in Enmore, The State Theatre on Market street and our newest addition, The Lyric Theatre at Star City. Optimistic news arrives occasionally, with the recent acquisition and (hopefully) s

Arax Mansourian is one of the superstars of the Armenian Opera and classical music. She started her career in her native Armenia and continued in Australia with Opera Australia. Her beautiful voice and unique timbre, as well as her iconic beauty and regal stage presence, are unforgettable. Arax was born in Beirut, Lebanon in a family of survivors of the Armenian genocide. Her family moved to Armenia when Arax was still an infant. Growing up in Armenia, music was a very important part of her life and she knew early on that she wanted to sing.  Arax studied at the Romanos Meliqyan College of Music and later graduated from the Yerevan State Komitas Conservatory, where she was the only performer of modern classical atonal music by young composers. During her studies she participated in festivals throughout Russia and The Soviet Union. After graduation, she started to sing at the Yerevan State Opera and became one of its biggest stars. Her repertoire encompasses more than 30 roles which include Verdi's- Aida, Leon

Wendy-Lee Purdy’s performing career has been varied and exciting. After completing a Bachelor of Music Education degree at the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney, Australia in piano and voice, she then studied acting at the Australian Academy of Dramatic Arts. She is presently based in London. Wendy's launch into professional theatre commenced with Chess at the Theatre Royal in Sydney, directed by Jim Sharman. She next performed with the Australian Opera encompassing 19 productions including Der Rosenkavalier, Adriana Lecouvreur, Le Nozze Di Figaro, Mer De Glace, Fiddler On The Roof, L’Italiana In Algeri, Peter Grimes, Romeo and Juliet, Maria Stuarda, Fidelio, Verdi’s Requiem Mass, Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg and Turandot. Further theatre credits include: Sister Mary Theresa and Understudy Mary Lazarus in Sister Act (UK Tour), Mama Morton - Chicago (Japan & International); Mother Abbess/Frau Schmidt - The Sound of Music (UK Tour & Gordon Craig); Fiddler on the Roof (Savoy Theatre, London – Fruma Sar

Bruce Spence is a cherished elder and pioneer of Australian theatre and cinema. He remains a vital presence on these platforms and was recently seen in the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Angus Cerini’s Into the Shimmering World. The year also saw Bruce acknowledged as the recipient of the 2024 Equity Lifetime Achievement award. Bruce began his acting career in Melbourne in the late 1960s as an inaugural member of the revolutionary Australian Performing Group while studying painting and printmaking at the National Gallery Art School.  The APG developed an Australian voice for the stage, allowing audiences to see their culture presented in vivid stories for the theatre. The group inhabited iconic venues such as The Pram Factory and La Mama, with Bruce contributing to seminal works such as David Williamson’s The Removalists and The Coming of Stork, Jack Hibberd’s Dimboola and Barry Oakley’s The Feet of Daniel Mannix. His first MainStage production was The Alchemist, with the South Australian Theatre Comp