STAGES with Peter Eyers

Victoria Falconer is a cross-genre theatre-maker, musical director, performer, multi-instrumentalist, writer, composer and mentor whose work spans cabaret, musical theatre, live music and performance. Born in Australia and of Filipino and British heritage, she is currently in her fourth year as co-Artistic Director of Hayes Theatre Co. on Gadigal land. In 2024, she was recognised with the Asian-Australian Leadership Award for Arts & Culture.Her recent music direction credits include the new Australian production of Hedwig & The Angry Inch, In the Heights at the Sydney Opera House, Ride the Cyclone for Hayes Theatre Co., My Brilliant Career and a queer reimagining of Oklahoma! for Black Swan State Theatre. In 2025, she was Music Supervisor for Bright Star, Music Associate Director on The Shiralee for Sydney Theatre Company, and performed as Susan/Adelaide Adams in Calamity Jane at the Sydney Opera House. Earlier credits include Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Lizzie, Godspell, Leap, Insane Animals, Courtney Act’s Under The Covers and Sasquatch The Opera.As a creator and cabaret performer, Victoria has developed original work across theatre, music, circus and live performance. Her commissions include Smashed: The Nightcap, presented at Sydney Festival and Auckland Arts Festival, and The Sight for Dark Mofo. She is also developing a reworking of The Beggars Opera, created with fellow Hayes co-Artistic Director Richard Carroll and playwright Jordan Shea, and scheduled for 2027.In 2022, Victoria received the Frank Ford Commission from Adelaide Cabaret Festival to develop And Then You Go: The Vali Myers Project. Co-composed with Jarrad Payne and the ensemble, the multi-genre work combined theatre, cabaret, circus and dance to explore the extraordinary life and legacy of Australian cult arts figure Vali Myers.Her international career has taken her to stages including Soho Theatre and the Barbican in London, Club Cumming in New York, Glastonbury, Edinburgh Fringe, Sydney Mardi Gras and London Pride. As a multi-instrumentalist, she has performed on theremin, violin, accordion and musical saw, appearing at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, National Theatre and Abbey Road Studios.Advocacy and mentorship are central to Victoria’s practice. She is a founding executive member of The People of Cabaret, an initiative amplifying Indigenous, Bla(c)k and people of colour working across cabaret, circus, burlesque and related disciplines. She leads its national Mentorship Programme and has also mentored artists through Midsumma’s Pathways program for LGBTQIA+ artists with disability.A two-time Best Cabaret winner at Adelaide Fringe and recipient of two Green Room Awards, Victoria Falconer continues to occupy a distinctive space in Australian performance: an artist equally at home behind the musical direction desk, centre stage, in a recording studio or championing the next generation of diverse performers.The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

Reviewer and devoted theatre enthusiast Simon Parris — better known to many as Man in Chair — and uber publicist and theatre aficionado Ian Phipps return to the podcast to give us an insight into the shows currently playing in global theatres.They’ve each recently undertaken their annual theatrical pilgrimages to London and New York, where they’ve been filling their days — and presumably their notebooks, phones and heads — with the sights, sounds and sensations of what’s currently playing on some of the world’s great stages.And there’s plenty to talk about: the productions that dazzled, surprised and perhaps disappointed; the performers and creative teams making waves; the shows generating conversation; and the trends and theatrical ideas that are travelling across the globe.But this isn’t simply a travelogue of Broadway and the West End. Simon and Ian are also turning their attention homeward — looking at what these international theatre seasons might tell us about the future, and what Australian audiences can anticipate when our stages come alive in 2027.So, prepare for opinions, observations, discoveries and, no doubt, a healthy dose of theatrical gossip and enthusiasm.It’s wonderful to have them both back on STAGES…….  Man in Chair Simon Parris and publicist extraordinaire Ian Phipps!The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

STAGES welcomes back the enormously talented Eddie Perfect — composer, lyricist, performer, actor and one of Australia’s most distinctive theatrical voices. Eddie is the Tony-nominated creator of Beetlejuice The Musical, and in 2025 he also donned the iconic stripy suit himself, starring as the mischievous, macabre and thoroughly irresistible Beetlejuice in the Melbourne season at the Regent Theatre.Now that extraordinary Australian production is being preserved for posterity — and for your headphones — with the release of Beetlejuice The Musical Live at the Regent Theatre Melbourne, arriving this Halloween, October 31st.The album captures the energy of the live production, with Eddie joined by a stellar Australian cast including Karis Oka, Rob Johnson, Erin Claire, Elise McCann, Tom Wren, Angelique Cassimatis, Rebecca Ordiz, Noni McCallum and Adam Lyon.But this recording represents something even bigger. It marks the launch of Excited Animal Records, a new label founded by Eddie with a very clear mission: to record, release and champion Australian music theatre and the extraordinary artists who create it.The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

Jonathan Biggins is one of Australia’s most versatile and distinctive theatre practitioners, with an accomplished career spanning acting, directing and writing. He is also a sought-after corporate speaker, MC and entertainer, bringing the same intelligence, wit and theatrical flair to every aspect of his work.As an actor, Jonathan is renowned for his versatility and finely observed character work. He has performed with all of Australia’s major state theatre companies, with notable Sydney Theatre Company appearances including Peter Sellers in Ying Tong and Henry Carr in Tom Stoppard’s Travesties. His work with Opera Australia includes the role of Ko-Ko in The Mikado, while his performance career has also extended to musical comedy and touring, including Three Men and a Baby Grand. On screen, his credits include the films Thank God He Met Lizzie and A Few Best Men, among numerous television appearances.Jonathan’s talents as a director are equally impressive. Since 2000, he was a co-director of the Sydney Theatre Company’s much-loved Wharf Revue, helping shape its distinctive blend of satire, music, comedy and political observation across more than two decades. His other directing credits include Opera Australia’s Orpheus in the Underworld, as well as The Republic of Myopia, Noises Off and Talk for the Sydney Theatre Company. He also directed the Australian touring production of the Broadway musical Avenue Q in 2009–10. His work for younger audiences includes directing the award-winning productions Pete the Sheep, Josephine Wants to Dance and Mr Stink.As a writer, Jonathan has demonstrated an equally sharp ear for comedy and an astute understanding of Australian life and politics. His fortnightly column for Good Weekend ran for seven years, while his journalism and commentary have appeared in publications including The Age, Australian Traveller and Wine Selector Magazine.His extensive theatre writing includes collaborations on sixteen editions of The Wharf Revue, among them Pennies from Kevin, Sunday in Iraq with George and Waiting for Garnaut. For Opera Australia, he created a new libretto adaptation of Orpheus in the Underworld, while his musical theatre credits include Living in the 70s and The Republic of Myopia. His first full-length play, Australia Day, premiered in 2012, followed by Talk for the Sydney Theatre Company in 2017 and the acclaimed one-man show The Gospel According to Paul in 2019.Jonathan is also the author of four books: As It Were, The 700 Habits of Highly Ineffective People, The 700 Habits of Highly Ineffective Parents and The Gospel According to Paul.He is presently touring in his acclaimed one-man show, The Gospel According to Paul, and later this month releases a new book tiled Near Death in Venice.Across the stage, page and screen, Jonathan Biggins has built a career defined by versatility, comic precision and an enduring ability to find the humour, humanity and absurdity in contemporary Australian life.The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

Marney McQueen is one of Australia’s most versatile performers, weaving together a formidable talent for musical theatre, comedy, cabaret and character performance. A graduate of NIDA, Marney has built a career distinguished by its energy, comic intelligence and extraordinary vocal ability.McQueen made her professional theatre debut as Marion in the original Australian production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert – The Musical, before going on to play the deliciously devious Velma Von Tussle in Hairspray. She subsequently appeared as Nina in Dream Lover – The Bobby Darin Musical alongside David Campbell, and as Princess Zeena in Moonshadow. Her theatre credits also include Into the Woods, The Dismissal, Scarlett O’Hara at the Crimson Parrot and The Give & Take.Comedy and cabaret have been equally important to McQueen’s career. She created the outrageous Rosa Waxoffski, a Russian beautician whose adventures have taken her to comedy festivals and stages in Australia and internationally. The character began during her NIDA training and developed into a celebrated cabaret creation, demonstrating McQueen’s particular gift for impersonation, character comedy and audience interaction.On screen, her credits include Neighbours, Home and Away, Bogan Pride, The Wedge, The Chinaboy Show, The Mule, Matching Jack and Maya the Bee: The Honey Games. She has also worked extensively as a presenter, MC and cabaret artist.More recently, Marney took centre stage as Céline Dion in the Australian production of Titanique, a role that showcased both her powerhouse vocals and impeccable comic timing.She returns to musical theatre as The Lady of the Lake, in Monty Python’s Spamalot, bringing her abundant gifts to this gloriously comic musical.The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).