PRODUCER
Peter Rix

WRITER / DIRECTOR
Craig Ilott

MUSICAL DIRECTOR
Joe Accaria

CHOREOGRAPHER
Lucas Newland
 
COSTUME DESIGN
James Browne

LIGHTING DESIGNER
Matthew Marshall

CAST
Waangenga Blanco, Marcia Hines, iOTA, Hugo Desmarais, Yammel Rodriguez, Kitty Bang Bang, Chaska Halliday,
Zachary Webster, Sonja Schebeck

“Lucas Newland’s choreography, Joe Accaria’s musical direction and Matt Marshall’s lighting give all of these charismatic performers a chance to shine, and they do.” – The Australian

Enter a lobby brimming with bohemian verve, an immersive theatrical world of French intrigue. Savour the champagne, graze on a French cheese board and meet the cast of characters who call L’Hôtel home – a crème de la crème of performers from the world of cabaret, burlesque and circus. Follow the characters behind closed doors and become voyeurs to L’Hôtel’s secrets.

L’Hôtel made its debut at Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2021, brought to life by a stellar cast including Brendan Maclean, Caroline Nin, Bri Emrich and Lexi Strumolo. The production is slated to tour Australia 2022/2023.

The Paris of your imagining awaits you at L’Hôtel.

Praise for L’Hôtel:

“The music for this show under the direction of Joe Accaria is very successful, deliciously passionate and moving.” 

Arts Hub

“It’s another triumph from director Craig Ilott, co-creator Stuart Couzens and designer Alfred, whose spectacular set should become the first hotel to tour to global customers, rather than the other way round.” 

The Adelaide Advertiser

“ L’Hotel is exquisite, as is every aspect of this perfectly staged production. We are seduced, lured into an experience that we will never forget. L’Hotel is art in motion, a banquet of sensations and emotions, mesmerising and entrancing.”

Canberra Critics Circle

“The songs are beautiful, the aerial work is astonishing and you never quite know where it’s going next.” 

In Daily

“This immersive show will shine forth as the jewel in the crown of the 2021 Cabaret Festival program.” 

The Barefoot Review

“A beautiful and breathtakingly gorgeous piece of art.”  

Glam Adelaide

Conceived By: Craig Ilott & Stuart Couzens

Producer: Ebony Bott

Set, Costume & Lighting Design: Alfred

Music Supervisor: Joe Accaria

Choreographer: Lucas Newland

Cast: Brendan Maclean, Caroline Nin, Bri Emrich, Lexi Strumolo, Beau Sargent, Masha Terentieva, Leah Shelton, Bently Rebelent

Regarded by many as the greatest musical ever created, Gypsy is the ultimate mother-daughter story – the sophisticated, gripping, funny and heartbreaking tale of Madame Rose, and her fight for her daughters’ success, no matter what the cost.

Set all across America in the 1920s, Arthur Laurents’ landmark show sees Rose, Louise and June grapple their act through the dying days of vaudeville, and the birth of a shocking new form of entertainment – burlesque. Rose’s fanatic determination pushes her family’s loyalty to breaking point, but from the most unlikely of places emerges one of the twentieth century’s most illustrious and ingenious entertainers – Gypsy Rose Lee.
The celebrated score by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim is packed with classic songs, including ‘Let Me Entertain You’, ‘Some People’, ‘Everything’s Coming Up Roses’, ‘Together Wherever We Go’, You Gotta Get a Gimmick’, and the iconic ‘Rose’s Turn’.
Three-time Sydney Theatre Award winner Blazey Best (Miracle City, Only Heaven Knows) returns to the Hayes to take on the iconic role of Rose, with Laura Bunting (Rent, Calamity Jane, Assassins) as her daughter Louise.

The design elements are just as harmonious, with Alicia Clements’ simple, largely prop-based settings relying on Trent Suidgeest’s evocative lighting to define spaces. Even more impressive is musical director Joe Accaria’s rendering Styne’s score (originally for orchestra) with a band of four – and no synthesisers! – Sydney Morning Herald

Musical Director Joe Accaria has done new arrangements. “I’ve known Joe for a long time and when we approached him, he didn’t know the show. He’d done musicals but he’s not in the world of musical theatre, and that’s been really valuable because he didn’t approach it with a sense of weight and expectation from previous versions,” says Carroll. “He listened to the music and read the script and just responded to it, and so that’s been really exciting.” 
Limelight Magazine

Musical director Joe Accaria has given the brassy score a rough-and-ready rearrangement for a band of four, while cast members play instruments now and then. – Daily Telegraph

Director Richard Carroll
Musical Director Joe Accaria
Choreographer Cameron Mitchell
Designer Alicia Clements
Lighting Designer Trent Suidgeest
Starring Blazey Best, Laura Bunting, Anthony Harkin, Mark Hill, Rob Johnson, Matthew Predney, Jessica Vickers, Jane Watt and Sophie Wright
Book by Arthur Laurents, Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Now, 18 years since its conception, Dein Perry’s TAP DOGS is still taking the world by storm. Part theatre, part rock concert, part construction site, TAP DOGS continues to draw audiences with its unique theatrical performance, one that combines the strength and power of workmen with the precision and talent of tap dancing.

Musical Director since 2005 (Broadway Entertainment Group) – 2005 10th Anniversary World Tour, Novello Theatre London West End 2009, Europe, Asia, Australia, South Africa tours 2010-2015.

In 1997-2001, Joe featured in Dein Perry’s Steel City, with music by Tim Finn.  The show toured Australia and culminated in performances at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.  Joe also performed in, and co-composed Eternity, Dein’s contribution to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Director: Sheridan Harbridge
Musical Supervisor: Joe Accaria
Set & Costume Design: Ella Butler

There’s not a spare seat in the Dubbo Dome. Ozzy the Aussie Battler flicks his cape and steps into the ring, and the crowd go troppo.

This is Dubbo Championship Wrestling, the hilarious new Aussie rock musical that will change everything you thought you knew about professional wrestling, regional Australia, and musical theatre itself.

Rose, a young woman from Dub-Vegas with wrestling in her blood, has long ago turned her back on the family business and Dubbo’s stifling small-town ways. When circumstance brings her back to her hometown on the eve of Dubbomania, the biggest wrestling tournament of the year, Rose is drawn into a monumental battle over family and identity, featuring capes, choreography, and some of the most colourful characters you’ll ever meet.
The violence, the joy, the costumes, the thumbtacks. Will there be blood? We bloody hope so.

Dubbo Championship Wrestling, written by rising stars Daniel and James Cullen and directed by smackdown champion Sheridan Harbridge, has been developed through Hayes Creative Development.
 
This production is part of the 2011 postcode offer. Residents of 2011 can obtain half-price tickets 30mins prior to performances Mon – Thurs

The gender bending, glam-rock God iOTA is back in a brand-new, sexy-as-hell, theatrical concert experience. The award-winning star of international smash-hits Smoke & Mirrors, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and The Rocky Horror Show, iOTA brings his signature rock ‘n’ roll, vaudeville style, to this daring new stage production, B-Girl.

Directed by Craig Ilott and jointly written by Ilott and iOTA, Blazey Best stars alongside iOTA as B-Girl, a troubled young woman trapped in a bleak reality. As her situation worsens, she conjures up a vivid glam-rock fantasy where she escapes into the world of her alter ego Clifford North (iOTA), a rising star who represents everything she isn’t – powerful, sexy and in-control.

Created by the team behind the award-winning Smoke & Mirrors, this innovative theatrical experience features a live band onstage and all-original music.

iOTA said: “Smoke & Mirrors was really our first go and the experience has brought us closer together as people. We trust each other, we’re a better team – B-Girl will reflect that.”
Craig Ilott said: “In some ways Hedwig and Smoke & Mirrors were warm-ups to a show like B-Girl and the Playhouse at the Opera House was always our target theatre. We’re so excited for audiences to breathe life into B-Girl. Buckle up!”
Sydney Opera House Director of Programming, Jonathan Bielski, added: “We are thrilled to welcome the extraordinary artist that is iOTA to the Opera House, and look forward to seeing his incomparable rock n roll persona light up the Playhouse stage.”

Singer, songwriter and performer iOTA’s career spans five albums, eleven singles, six ARIA Award nominations, and a Helpmann, Green Room and Sydney Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Musical. He burst onto the Australian alternative music scene in 1999 with debut album, The Hip Bone Connection. His theatre debut as the lead in Hedwig and the Angry Inch brought critical and public acclaim, followed by roles in Sydney Dance Company’s Berlin, The Rocky Horror Show, Baz Luhrmann’s, The Great Gatsby, and the upcoming theatrical release, Mad Max: Fury Road. iOTA created Smoke & Mirrors for The Famous Spiegeltent at Sydney Festival in 2010 with director Craig Ilott. A complete sell-out, the theatrical phenomenon won three Helpmann Awards and five Greenroom nominations before touring to Adelaide, Melbourne, Auckland and Edinburgh then returning for a second sell-out Sydney Festival season.

One of Australia’s most versatile performers, Blazey Best recently appeared in Luckiest Production’s critically acclaimed Miracle City at the Hayes Theatre, for which she won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her theatre credits include Nora, Miss Julie and Medea at Belvoir, Much Ado About Nothing, A Comedy of Errors and The War of the Roses for Bell Shakespeare and ‘Yitzac’ in the original Australian production of Hedwig And The Angry Inch alongside iOTA.

Craig Ilott won a Green Room Award for Best Direction of a Musical for Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He went on to direct Love Song for Melbourne Theatre Company, The Pig Iron People for Sydney Theatre Company and The Pillowman for Company B Belvoir, which was nominated for six Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Director and Best Production. Other directing credits include La Clique Royale at Edinburgh Festival, La Bohème for Opera Queensland, Diamonds are for Trevor for Arts Centre Melbourne and The Composer is Dead for Sydney Opera House.

B-Girl was created by Lunar Hare Productions, a company founded by Craig Ilott, iOTA and independent producer Phil Bathols.

Praise for B-Girl:

“… it is, almost without exception, the most stupendously brilliant show you will ever see in your life.”

Sydney Morning Herald

“Director Craig Ilott and iOTA have created something special, that is the pick of the festival so far.”

The Brag

“Director Craig Ilott has created a show that is heart wrenching and explosive… Beg, steal and borrow to get there”

Adelaide Advertiser

“It’s rare in this job to have an experience that is so powerful it moves you to tears. That’s exactly what happened at the Sydney Festival’s Smoke & Mirrors.”

Sunday Telegraph

“A remarkable presence both seductive and repellent, jaunty and regretful, malevolent and desperately sad”

The Guardian (UK)

“The delicious sounds of Joe Accaria, (who was giving us Daft Punk and Mark Ronson vibes) greet you, making you feel like you’re walking into New York’s famous Studio 54” Aspire Magazine

“Mix master Joe Accaria oversees proceedings from the DJ booth, punctuation the soundtrack with inspired bursts of live percussion” Adelaide Advertiser

“Everything happens to the beat provided by Joe Accaria’s drums, and he is impressive” Glam Adelaide

“One of the most exciting, engrossing and intelligent pieces of theatre I’ve seen this year” Daily Review

“Sensationally entertaining, this trip to Boogie Wonderland is a gold plated hit!” The Times UK

ARIA NOMINATION: – Velvet (Original Cast Recording) – Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Album

Director
Craig Ilott

Music Director
Joe Accaria

Soundtrack Producers
Joe Accaria & Nik Pringadi (Repercussions)

Set & Costume Designer
James Browne

Lighting Designer
Matthew Marshall

Choreographer
Lucas Newland
Amy Campbell (Rewired)

Original Cast
Marcia Hines, Brendan Maclean, Craig Reid, Joe Accaria, Chaska Halliday, Rechelle Mansour, Emma Goh, Mirko Köckenberger, Perle Noire, Stephen Williams

Rewired Cast
Marcia Hines, Ryan Gonzalez, Craig Reid, Joe Accaria, Olivia Carniato, Kyla Bartholomeusz, Beau Sargent, Ryan James, Deni & Marie

Disco Delirium – Joe album notes
Sounds like an incurable yet dance provoking ailment. I’ve had it all my life although never manifested like this – until Velvet. When Velvet writer/director Craig Ilott informally showed me the rough sketches of what was to be the idea of a show called Velvet, I wittingly signed up (in my mind) without even being enlisted through the normal channels one usually begins work on such projects i.e. being asked to participate. Naturally, when Craig asked I was thrilled and accepted.

Disco Delirium kicked in around November 2014 when my studio and writing collaborator Nik Pringadi and I witnessed each other’s hazy yet triumphant reaction to several hours of programming disco beats coupled with a residual foot tap and head nod – we were in the disco.

The fascination with disco can be traced back to hearing the Bee Gees’ Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in Sicily as a 7yr old. The lyrics and meaning slightly lost as my grasp of English was somewhat foggy in the face of a heavy dialect. What wasn’t lost and immediately evident was a connection to a beat, a pulse, and a groove with a solid foundation – the “4 on the floor” but with a catchy syncopation that was sweeping the world, even Sicily. The drums sucked me in early as part of the engine room that, combined with the bass, would propel the disco locomotive express to its destination – the club.
James Brown’s 1976 offering “Get Up Offa That Thing” served to introduce the teenage drummer to the “pea soup” – an onomatopoeic effect of opening and closing the hi-hat cymbals off the beat giving vocalisation of the slang music term. Then came Earth Wind and Fire, KC and the Sunshine Band, Barry White, Ohio Players, Donna Summer, The Jacksons, The Salsoul Orchestra and of course Chic.

Chic’s powerhouse rhythm section of Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson brought an unparalleled virtuosity and solid rock muscle to the music not to mention Nile’s rich orchestrations littered with wonderful countermelody and movement. Songs such as “Le Freak”, “Good Times” and “Everybody Dance” catapulted Chic to stardom and they continued to pen classic disco hits for Sister Sledge and Diana Ross. These guys were a rock band playing incredibly complex and syncopated music but also appeared on and produced albums for David Bowie, Duran Duran, INXS and Robert Palmer’s The Power Station to name just a few.

While Disco was seemingly thought of as a reaction to Rock, it’s domineering cousin, back in the 1970s it also gave flight to the notion that rock musicians also played disco and the music continued to influence generations of musicians including the DJs and dance music producers of today such as Daft Punk, Mark Ronson and Dimitri from Paris.

This organised melange of cross-fertilised old and new was the template and also challenge in producing this album born out of making the music primarily for the show. The balance in staying true to the brilliance found in the originals whilst giving the music a sense of period both then and now was ultimately the most satisfying feature of the work. The dissection and discovery of the complexity of this music served to enhance our understanding of the vital components that are central to its core. We trust we’ve served disco justice and you too experience a happy dose of Disco Delirium.

The Drummer Queens have arrived – live, loud & ready to rule! Eight extraordinary women,
one brand new show that will blow your mind!

With stunning staging and world-class percussionists, DRUMMER QUEENS delivers a live musical experience like you’ve never seen before. Audiences will be immersed in the powerfully irresistible rhythms of this remarkable all-female cast, in awe of their skill and inspired by the joy and energy of what promises to be a game-changing theatrical production.

DRUMMER QUEENS held its World Premiere season at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in February, where it astounded audiences and critics alike. The Queens are now peforming this must-see original Australian theatrical experience across the country.

“A live music experience of such vein-throbbing, entertainment-packing stagecraft … DRUMMER QUEENS is a sure-fire crowd-pleaser, and suitable for families too. Loud and large-scale, certainly showy.” – Limelight

“Their craft as drummers was exemplary and sometimes breathtaking” – Sydney Morning Herald

Created and composed by Joe Accaria, co-created and directed by Nigel Turner-Carroll and with choreography by Peta Anderson, the extraordinary Australian cast includes Georgia Anderson, Peta Anderson, Stef Furnari, Niki Johnson, Salina Myat, Lisa Purmodh, Claudia Wherry and Ned Wu, with Sasha Lian Diaz and Astrid Holz as swing performers.

DRUMMER QUEENS delivers a brilliant blend of movement and rhythm, with a huge variety of rhythmic styles that are irresistible and powerfully inspirational. DRUMMER QUEENS is the new must-see original Australian theatrical experience that will leave you breathless.

Get up close and powerful with the DRUMMER QUEENS before they conquer the world. They are LIVE, LOUD and READY TO RULE!