STAGES with Peter Eyers

Paul White studied classical piano at The University of Adelaide with Dr Graham Williams, graduating B.Mus with Honours (Performance) followed by Dip. Jazz Performance. Conducting study began in New York with Broadway legend Gordon Harrell, then continued in Melbourne with the distinguished Romanian conductor, Robert Rosen. This juxtaposition of classical and commercially oriented study enabled Paul to build his career in a variety...

Vidya Makan grew up in Brisbane spending most of her time on the football (soccer) field with dreams of one day becoming a Matilda. However, at the age of 14 after playing flower girl number 3 in her high-school production of My Fair Lady, Vidya decided to take on a much more realistic and stable path and made the wise decision to lead a life in showbiz.

Having learnt to read music at the age of three (before she was able to read En...

Penny McNamee is currently starring as Rachel in the smash hit - MJ the Musical at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne.

Most recently Penny stared in Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple alongside Lucy Durack, Todd McKenney and Shane Jacobson for both the Sydney and Melbourne seasons to rave reviews.

She is a Green Room Award Winner for her role as Nessarose in the original Australian production of WICKED and has played leading roles in mains...

Steven Kramer is a multi-faceted artist working as a music director, pianist, writer, composer, orchestrator, producer and cabaret performer.

He has been the Associate Musical Director for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and previously served as the Assistant Musical Director for Chicago (GFO). A long-standing collaborator with the esteemed Hayes Theatre Co since its founding in 2014, his credits include Little Shop Of Horrors, Calami...

Tricia Paoluccio is a multifaceted actor, distinctive visual artist, and dynamic creator whose talents flourished in remarkable ways during the pandemic. Two of her lifelong passions—performance and visual art—took center stage, leading to transformative projects.

She co-wrote and stars in Here You Come Again, a heartfelt two-person musical comedy in which she portrays her lifelong idol, Dolly Parton. With Dolly’s personal endorseme...

A graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Tara Morice has worked extensively in theatre, film and television for over 30 years.

Her first film out of NIDA was Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom, for which she was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award, an Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award and a Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress. 

She has also appeared in Peter Rabbit 2:...

Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, Alexis Fishman is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). She was nominated for a Helpmann Award for her performance as 'Young Dusty' in Dusty, her first show after graduating. Alexis then went on to star in some of Australia’s biggest musicals including Shout! and the award winning Sydney premiere of Kiss of The Spiderwoman. Other Australian credits inc...

Noni Hazlehurst recently returned to the stage with MOTHER  at the Arts Centre in Melbourne. Her autobiography Dropping the Mask was released in October 2024.

Noni played the role of Miss Cartwright in the feature film Ladies in Black for which she received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 2018 ACCTA Awards.

Noni completed filming on A Place to Call Home, the final series screening in 2018.

She has completed a second se...

Francis Greenslade began performing with the Adelaide University Footlights. He has been an actor and a teacher for over 30 years. He is best known for performing a host of characters on ‘Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell’ and Brian Gross on ‘Winners andLosers’. Other screen credits include The Leftovers, Irreverent, Blue Heelers, Dr Blake, SeaChange and Full Frontal.

He has worked with most theatre companies across Australia. His stage ...

From beloved TV dramas to blockbuster musicals, Ian Stenlake has carved out a dynamic career across stage and screen. Most recently, he conjured magic (and menace), mesmerising audiences as the enigmatic Saruman in The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale. Prior to that, Ian toured nationally in Elvis: A Musical Revolution, portraying the legendary Colonel Tom Parker, a performance that earned him the Glugs Theatre Award for Best Acto...

Robert W. Schneider is one of the foremost educators and lecturers in the world of theatre having given countless presentations at Yale, Fordham, The Institute of the American Musicals, and at various engagements throughout the United States and the UK. 

He is currently on the faculty of both Penn State University and the Professional Conservatory of Musical Theatre at New York Film Academy. Robert is a graduate of Penn State Univer...

Australian/American soprano Rachelle Durkin began her career in Australia, winning three of that country’s major vocal competitions: The Herald Sun Aria, The Marianne Mathy Scholarship and The Metropolitan Opera Award. Immediately following her successes, she flew to New York City where she was a recipient of the prestigious Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and was accepted into the Lindemann Young Artist Development P...

Marg Horwell is a multi-award-winning Theatre, Opera and Film Designer, Installation Artist and Photographer.

Marg’s recent select credits include; The Confessions (Alexander Zeldin Company/The National Theatre), The Picture of Dorian Gray (Sydney Theatre Company/ Michael Cassell Group), The Strange Case of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde (Sydney Theatre Company), The Dead City (Deutche Oper Am Rhein), The Happy End (Victorian Opera), The Ma...

Charles Busch has forged a unique place in the world of entertainment as playwright, actor, director, novelist, cabaret performer and drag icon. He is the author and star of over twenty-five plays including The Divine Sister, The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset, The Tribute Artist, The Confession of Lily Dare and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom; one of the longest running plays in the history of Off-Broadway. His play The Tale of t...

Charles Busch has forged a unique place in the world of entertainment as playwright, actor, director, novelist, cabaret performer and drag icon. He is the author and star of over twenty-five plays including The Divine Sister, The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset, The Tribute Artist, The Confession of Lily Dare and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom; one of the longest running plays in the history of Off-Broadway. His play The Tale of t...

Seann Miley Moore graduated from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2013. They quickly established themself in the world of musical theatre in productions of Rent, Sweet Charity and the King & I.

"Seann Miley Moore stole the show," Cameron Mackintosh said of their pioneering performance as The EnginQueer in Opera Australia’s Miss Saigon. Awarded Best Actor at both the Sydney Theatre Awards and Naarm’s Green Room Award...

Wendy Harmer is one of Australia’s most versatile entertainers – broadcaster, author, journalist and stage performer.

As a stand-up comedian she performed her one-woman shows at the Melbourne, Edinburgh, Montreal and Glasgow Mayfest Comedy Festivals, in London’s West End and the Sydney Theatre Company.  Wendy enjoyed huge popularity leading Sydney radio station 2Day FM’s top-rating Breakfast Show for 11 years. She was the co-host of...

James Smillie has captivated audiences over several decades. Commencing his career at the age of 10, as an in-demand boy soprano singing with symphony orchestras and on radio, he continues to charm with his velvet voice on countless commercials, documentary narrations, and audiobooks.

Smillie was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His parents emigrated to Australia in the early 1950s when Smillie was still a child. He has worked in both Bri...

It’s TONY time once again and an opportunity to look at the ceremony and shows up for awards in our annual Tony episode.

STAGES is joined by publicist Ian Phipps and reviewer Simon Parris, to dissect the nominations and offer some predictions for the awards which will be presented on June 8th in New York City at radio City Musica Hall, hosted by Cynthia Erivo.

The three of us have all recently been in New York and enjoyed the delight...