Culture
Opera
Opinion
Racism
Why is this racist, sexist show getting an encore?
Miss Saigon, written by Westerners for a Western audience, is getting another run in Sydney and Melbourne. But this show commodifies the pain of many Vietnamese Australians.
- by Cat-Thao Nguyen
Latest
Opera Australia executive payments increase by half amid turmoil
The company’s latest annual report shows a huge spike in executive payments, and an overall loss for the year.
- by Elizabeth Flux
Exclusive
Arts
Opera Australia finally makes it to Melbourne – with controversial Miss Saigon musical
The company will bring the controversial musical Miss Saigon to Melbourne in October as its only staged production of the year.
- by Elizabeth Flux
The opera singer who hasn’t quite left his heavy metal days behind
“Rock and roll is like T20 cricket and opera is like a full-blown Test match,” says heavy-metal performer-turned-opera singer Shanul Sharma.
- by Barney Zwartz
From Bach to Barnesy: Sydney Opera House kicks off 50th birthday bash
Audiences can attend a host of concerts both inside and outside the building.
- by Helen Pitt
The opera where tickets are only $29 – and you can leave whenever you want
This immersive work of opera invites you into the story and to stay for as long – or as briefly – as you like, lasting either 20 minutes or six hours.
- by Elizabeth Flux
Opera in the Pub: a love story sung over several schooners
Opera over a beer? We’ll drink to that at the newly refurbished Harold Park Hotel.
- by Siobhan Moylan
‘One fine day indeed’: Madama Butterfly stage provides set for real-life wedding
The sun shone on the Madama Butterfly set on Sydney Harbour on Sunday, as the show’s producer married Opera Australia’s head of music in a real-life drama.
- by Helen Pitt
★★★★½
Performing arts
Fireworks and treachery combine for a night of intense drama
This triumphant Madama Butterfly is the most meaningful and compelling of Opera Australia’s harbour productions.
- by Peter McCallum
The 16-hour opera epic set to take over a regional Australian town
‘It’s the biggest thing you can undertake in the performing arts’: Four years in the making, Wagner’s Ring Cycle is about to kick off in Bendigo.
- by Elizabeth Flux
‘Brutal, grubby, shocking’: Can Madama Butterfly fly free from its troubles?
Puccini’s masterwork is loved the world over, yet like so many operas it reeks of misogyny and exploitation.
- by Nick Galvin