STAGES with Peter Eyers

Hayden Tonazzi is an award-winning director and creative producer who in 2025 was appointed the Artistic Director & CEO of the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP).  A graduate of the 2019 NIDA MFA Directing Program, for over eight years’ they have worked across new writing in theatre and musical theatre, most notably  Saplings  by Hannah Belanszky for the 2024 Sydney Festival (Winner of...

Dr Jacqui Hall Cuny is a passionate pedagogue, musical theatre performer, stage and vocal director, and researcher with over 40 years of professional experience. In 2022, she completed her PhD in Musical Theatre at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. Her doctoral studies examined the elements that create musical theatre performance synergy, or the &#...

John Lonie is a screenwriter, playwright, script editor and book author. John co-wrote the feature film  Kokoda , directed by Alister Grierson. John wrote the television program  Frankie's House,  three episodes of the AFI Award winning mini-series  The Paper Man  and he script doctored the AFI award winning mini-series  True Believers .   Other screenwriting credits include  A Country Practic...

Paula Arundell has worked extensively across screen and theatre both nationally and internationally. Her theatre credits include  The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man  (Malthouse Theatre);  The Servant of Two Masters ,  Hippolytus ,  Antony and Cleopatra ,  Henry V ,  The Tempest ,  Much Ado About Nothing  (Bell Shakespeare);  The Master & Margarita ,  Sami In Paradise ,  Atlantis...

Richard Martin joined Global Creatures as Technical Director in February 2012 and was appointed Head of Technical Production in March 2024. Richard’s technical theatre career commenced in 1979 where he spent 11 years with Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House. Richard subsequently joined Cameron Mackintosh as Technical Manager touring throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia and South Africa ov...

Tony Award®-winning writer and lyricist Lynn Ahrens is a native New Yorker. She began her musical career fresh out of college when she became one of the principal songwriters and singers for the renowned American television series, “Schoolhouse Rock.” Since then, she has written extensively for theatre, film and television, winning theatre’s triple crown – the 1998 Tony Award®, Drama Desk and Oute...

Sam Strong is an award-winning theatre director and one of Australia’s leading cultural figures, known for combining artistic ambition with transformative leadership. He has served as Artistic Director of Queensland Theatre and Griffin Theatre Company, Associate Artistic Director of Melbourne Theatre Company, Chair of Circa, and Executive Director of Creative Industries at Creative Victoria. In 20...

Gavan Swift is a multi award-winning Lighting Designer. He graduated from Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).  His musical lighting designs include  Mamma Mia!, Heathers the Musical, Mack & Mabel, The Mikado, The Pirates Of Penzance, Hot Shoe Shuffle, Little Shop of Horrors, Sweet Charity, Fiddler on the Roof, Jolson, Buddy, Oh What A Night, Footloose, Hair, Xanadu, Chess, C...

Morry Morgan is co‑founder and teacher at the Hard Knock Knocks Comedy School, a Melbourne‑based training ground that has helped more than 900 students — keynote speakers, first‑time comedians and bucket‑list performers — take the stage with confidence.  A comedic entrepreneur and media commentator, Morry created the Gigme app, produced the comedy‑drama series Is This Thing On?, and ran The Rubber...

A graduate of the Drama Studio Sydney, Anthony Skuse is a director, dramaturge and teacher.  Anthony’s directing credits include: Bradford Elmore’s  Gravity  (Qtopia); James Elazzi’s  Saints of Damour  (Qtopia); Ibsen’s  Hedda Gabler  (KXT, Secret House); Gary Owen’s  Cherry Orchard: after Chekhov,  (Old Fitz, Secret House); Ibsen’s  Doll’s  House (The Actors Company, ACA); Simon Longman’s  Gundog...

Deborah Jones is one of Australia’s most respected arts journalists, with a career spanning more than 25 years as a writer, critic and editor at The Australian. She served as Arts Editor for a decade and also edited the paper’s influential  Review  section, later becoming Executive Editor for five years. Joining the Sydney bureau in 1987 as a sub-editor, Deborah rose through the ranks to become a...

Gaye MacFarlane is an acclaimed Australian mezzo-soprano whose career has spanned more than four decades across opera, musical theatre, concert performance, television and radio. A born performer, she began singing professionally as a teenager on Australian television before completing a Diploma in Operatic Arts at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Her early operatic career saw principal roles w...

Zindzi Okenyo is a dynamic African Australian actor, director and singer.  After graduating from NIDA in 2006, Zindzi was a member of Cate Blanchett’s Residents Company at Sydney Theatre Company for three years. In 2012 Zindzi toured Europe and the USA with  A History of Everything  and began as a much-loved presenter on ABC’s iconic children’s program  Play School .  Her kids project  Zindzi &amp...

From Brighton Beach in Melbourne to a garret overlooking Notre Dame in Paris, Amanda Pelman’s life has unfolded at the intersection of music, theatre and bold reinvention. She began as a radio journalist while studying at RMIT, before heading to London in 1981 to work with Dire Straits. Recruited home by Michael Gudinski to Mushroom Records, Amanda spent eleven years as publicist, label manager an...

A graduate of National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1980, Garry Scale has built a rich and varied career across theatre, cabaret, film and television. Born and educated in Geelong, Victoria, he first trained as a teacher before moving to Sydney to pursue acting — a foundation that would later bring his journey full circle. Garry became a beloved figure on Sydney’s cabaret scene through his long as...

Ho Ho Ho! STAGES has completed yet another season. Season 8! And 600+ episodes. You know what that means … it’s time to haul out the holly and pull those bon-bons. As is tradition, we conclude season 8 with our annual Christmas episode. The perfect companion as you wrap your presents, put up the tree, peel a prawn and pour another glass of pineapple punch! Once again I am joined by ‘Mary Christmas...

Two of our favourite STAGES guests, and couples, return to the podcast, together, to examine their dual lives as actors. Grant Piro and Marina Prior guarantee performance brilliance in any entertainment in which they grace the stage. They reflect on some of the highlights of 2025 and what Christmas brings to them both, as a couple, individually and as a family. Few artists embody the breadth and b...

Wilton Morley is an accomplished theatrical producer whose career helped shape the landscape of Australian commercial theatre throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Born into one of Britain’s most distinguished theatrical families—the son of celebrated actor Robert Morley and grandson of stage and screen legend Dame Gladys Cooper— he carried forward a remarkable artistic lineage while forging a distinct...

A dynamic force in Australian and international entertainment, Drew Anthony began a multifaceted career onstage before expanding into producing, directing, choreography, casting, and writing across theatre, television, concerts, events, festivals, and large-scale ceremonies. Since relocating to Perth, Drew has served as Artistic Director of  Kaleidoscope,  the city’s light and illumination festiva...

Delia Hannah has given us a vast range of powerhouse performances in musical theatre productions globally. Born and residing in new Zealand, for the most part Delia’s career has been based in Sydney, commencing with a two year engagement in the premier season of LES MISERABLES (Cameron MacIntosh), only to return to play the ill-fated Fantine in the 10th Anniversary Production which had extended se...

Steve Ross has been a fixture of the cabaret community in Manhattan for over forty years. He was born “forty-five minutes from Broadway” in New Rochelle, NY, and was raised in Washington, DC with an opera-loving father and a mother who played on the piano the songs of Gershwin, Porter and Irving Berlin. His first major job in New York was as a successful singer/pianist at the now famous piano bar...

Toni Lamond has taken her final bow. A legend of Australian Entertainment, she made her mark across many platforms; television, film, theatre, cabaret, recording, concert, author and of course, musical theatre. She takes with her the personas she assumed across a vast career – leaving us with memories of Reno Sweeney, Nancy, Mrs Pearce, Fraulein Schneider, Dolly Gallagher Levi, Mama Rose, Pirate R...

STAGES is joined by show pilgrims Simon Parris and Ian Phipps for a West End round-up of the musicals, plays and events they experienced on recent visits to London theatre. Simon Parris is a Melbourne reviewer, and his appraisals of theatre locally, nationally and abroad can be found at  simonparrismaninchair.com . Ian Phipps is one of Australia’s leading publicists who ensures that we are informe...

Today on STAGES, we’re rolling out the red carpet for a truly dazzling double act — Michael Dalton and his fabulous alter ego, Dolly Diamond.  Michael’s story begins in the West End at just ten years old, playing the title role in  Oliver!  — and from there, he’s conquered television screens, international tours, and cabaret stages. After immigrating to Australia in the 1980s, Michael appeared on...

Susan-ann Walker is one of Australia’s favourite character Performers known for her work in Musicals, Plays, Opera, Cabaret and TV for over 35 years. Professional Music Theatre credits include 3 LITTLE PIGS (“Mother pig” AG productions 2025), THE WEDDING SINGER (“Rosie” David Venn productions 2021-2022), SWEENEY TODD (“Mrs Lovett” cover, LifeLike productions 2018), FUNNY GIRL (“Mrs Strakosh” The P...