Observer

OBSERVER: Opera Up Late

Saturday, November 8, 2025

Opera, often seen as a conservative elitist art form, was given a hilarious bawdy extreme makeover when Opera Australia’s show Opera Up Late had its Melbourne debut at the Regent Theatre.Originally created for the World Pride event held in Sydney in 2023, the show was a cabaret-style evening of songs and entertainment made up of…

Observer

OBSERVER: MPAC 2026

Monash University Performing Arts Centres has unveiled its 2026 program delivering performing arts experiences across music, dance, and cultural programming.The diverse season features contemporary and classical performances, iconic tributes, immersive festivals, and community-focused events.Audiences can look forward to fresh versions of MPAC favourites including Family Fiesta, Big Jazz Day Out, and Live at the Counts,…

Observer

OBSERVER: As You Like It

Following the sold-out success of Othello at fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne Shakespeare Company presents a reimagining of Shakes-peare’s comedy, As You Like It.This will be a new musical adaptation with pop hits, slapstick shenanigans and ‘more decadence than a Versailles tea party.When Rosalind gets kicked out of her uncle’s court, she escapes to the Forest of Arden…

Observer

OBSERVER: The Choral

The opening selection of this year’s British Film Festival is The Choral written by Alan Bennett and directed by Nicholas Hytner. Set in 1916 as the impact of World War I starts to erode English communities, a local Yorkshire choral society appoints maestro Dr Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes), who has reluctantly returned from Germany, to conduct…

Observer

OBSERVER: A Christmas Carol

The Marriner Group presents the return of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre from November 27 for a five-week season.On a winter Christmas Eve, the cold-hearted miser, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by four ghosts.Transported to worlds past, present and future, he witnesses what a lifetime of greed and fear could lead to…

Observer

OBSERVER: Carmen

Fancy a show that oozes with passion, romance and danger?Then Opera Australia’s upcoming production of Bizet’s classic Carmen is for you.Starring Australian soprano Danielle de Niese in a triumphant return to her home city from her usual performance venues which include the famous Met in New York.De Niese will be playing the feisty title role…

Observer

OBSERVER: Hair, love-rock musical

Friday, November 7, 2025

Opening with the iconic Aquarius, Hair, the “tribal love-rock musical,” encourages its audience to turn on, tune in, and drop out alongside its hippies as they fight the system.The 1960s counterculture aimed to create a new society, and Hair’s loose plot and over 30 songs reflect issues like sexual identity, racism, drug taking and the…

Observer

OBSERVER: Tribute to MLOC

Eighty years ago, post-World War II in the Melbourne beach-side suburb of Mordialloc, two different community performing arts groups were formed – a dramatic group, the City of Mordialloc Citizens League Theatre Group, (now the Mordialloc Theatre Company) and the Mordialloc Philharmonic Society, which became the Mordialloc Light Opera Company and then MLOC Productions.Founders of…