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Stella is a new musical about the life of Stella Miles Franklin.

Defiant and daring, this new musical takes on the story of a literary giant

Creating a musical from scratch is a difficult and laborious challenge. Stella refuses to set its sights low, and quite rightly.

  • Cameron Woodhead and Tony Way

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Grace Carroll as Juliet and Joseph Caley as Romeo.

Catastrophe and drama collide in this lavish production

John Cranko’s 1962 Romeo and Juliet is most admired – among those who do admire it – for the ensemble grandeur of its large set-piece scenes.

  • Andrew Fuhrmann, Cameron Woodhead, Tony Way, Sonia Nair and Jessica Nicholas
William Torres Patino performing in the Wheel of Death.

This show is already packed with wow factor. Then comes the Wheel of Death

Of all the Cirque du Soleil I’ve attended over the years, Kooza remains my favourite and the one I’d take kids to see.

  • Cameron Woodhead, Sonia Nair, Elizabeth Flux and Tony Way
Rising artistic director Hannah Fox, centre, with breakdancers Michael Fox and Demi Sorono in the Flinders Street Station ballroom.

Rising festival 2026

This year’s festival has kicked off. Here, our writers take a closer look.

Ketamine Sofa from Belfast choreographer Oona Doherty.

With 26 acts in six spaces, it’s impossible to see it all – but I gave it a red-hot go

Rising’s full-day music festival had something for everyone, even if they didn’t know it beforehand.

  • Karl Quinn
The Shepherds at Rising festival

This is the best dance work I’ve seen at this year’s Rising

The show runs for little more than an hour – with an ensemble of just four dancers – but nonetheless gives the impression of an epic drama.

  • Andrew Fuhrmann, Nick Buckley, Will Cox and Cameron Woodhead
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Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) combines the wit of Jane Austen with contemporary humour and music.

Pringles, karaoke and Wagon Wheels: Pride and Prejudice gets a modern, all-female reboot

Jane Austen’s classic is re-imagined as a musical, including disco hits and ’80s ballads, from the perspectives of the novel’s “forgotten” characters.

  • Sonia Harford
Eddie Perfect at QPAC ahead of the opening of Beetlejuice: The Musical.

‘I couldn’t complain because it was all my fault’: Why Eddie Perfect quit Beetlejuice

Perfect’s hit Broadway musical is about to tour the country without him. But that’s fine – turns out being dead can be hard work.

  • Nick Dent
Michelle Perera (left) and Sarah Fitzgerald star in The Supposed To Be.

Clones, OnlyFans and the real you: The new play leaning into the unexpected

In The Supposed To Be, an executive embodying the conventions of the model migrant channels her fantasy life as a Sri Lankan Tamil actor and OnlyFans star.

  • Vyshnavee Wijekumar
Broadway star Ainsley Melham performing at the 2026 Australian Theatre Festival gala in New York on May 11.

‘This showbusiness thing is hard’: The Aussies hustling to make it on Broadway

New York’s theatre scene is teeming with Australians who have made huge sacrifices to chase a dream of making it in the Big Apple. That’s reason to celebrate.

  • Michael Koziol