The visual production is solid and emphasizes the participants’ song and dance moves, which they duly deliver. The intro images quietly playing before things get underway really set the tone. Their low-res look is matched by a drive-in theatre from the fifties content, which is a perfect fit. And really, who doesn’t want to visit the snack bar?

The cast’s physical talents are on full display from the start, and the segments featuring the full cast are infectiously fun. Both their athleticism and vocal prowess are used to full advantage. The costumes are understated and authentic-looking. Having a live band in the pit to belt out the hits adds a lot to the presentation.

Most will be familiar with the story from the film but know that there are more songs and more dance in the theatre presentation than in the celluloid version. This is to the audience’s benefit as the energy level is kept high throughout. This is capped by a rousing finish that will have the entire audience on their feet singing and dancing.

Grease the Musical is currently playing at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane until 1 February 2025 – head to www.greasemusical.com.au to get your tickets now!
Rob Hudson

Patti will be joining singing superstar Marcia Hines as Teen Angel in the hit musical, which is playing for a limited four weeks season in Brisbane with no extension possible.

Final seats for the production that critics are calling “close to perfection” (Broadway World) and a “bucket list production that should not be missed” (Theatre Matters) go on sale this Friday 21 June from 9:00am.

GREASE, Brisbane’s summer musical for 2025, recently delighted audiences at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre and will open in Perth from 30 June 2024 and Adelaide in September before the final Australian season in Brisbane in January.

GREASE features an all-new set, dazzling costumes and all those unforgettable songs from the movie, including Summer Nights, Sandy, Hopelessly Devoted to You, You’re The One That I Want, Greased Lightnin’, and Grease is the Word.

Since the show’s Broadway premiere and the hit movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John – which went on to become the highest grossing movie-musical of all time – the Tony Award nominated GREASE has triumphed across the globe, with its irresistible mix of adolescent angst, vibrant physicality and 1950s pop culture.

Further casting announcements will be made in the coming months.

Grease Musical
From 4 January 2025
Lyric Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane
www.greasemusical.com.au/

Disco fever will hit a day on the green with five shows nationally, plus in conjunction with Frontier Touring, indoor shows in Melbourne and Sydney.

All artists will perform with full bands, including an impressive 15-piece outfit with KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND.

The Australian tour sees the welcome return of original lead singer and ‘cop’, Victor Willis – the first time he’s performed with the VILLAGE PEOPLE in more than 25 years. “The biggest initial break in my career was in Australia in 1976 when I starred as the Tin Man in the Australian version of ‘The Wiz’,” said Victor. “So really, it all started for me there. Therefore, it’s fitting that I kick off my return as the lead singer in Australia because the people there loved me first.”

Joining the celebration at a day on the green will be Australia’s own disco royalty – MARCIA HINES.

Picture this: The king of boogie and the queens of disco sharing the same stage with a cowboy, a construction worker, a Native American, a policeman, a biker and a soldier at an event jam-packed with guaranteed party-starters. Can you dig it! We’re talking:

That’s The Way (I Like It), Give It Up, Boogie Shoes, Get Down Tonight, Shake Your Booty, Can’t Stop The Music, Y.M.C.A, In The Navy, Macho Man, We Are Family, He’s The Greatest Dancer – and that’s just for starters!

Get up and shake your booty with the kings of disco, KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND. Formed in Miami, Florida in 1973 by Harry Wayne Casey (KC), the band ruled the charts in the mid-’70s with four number one hits in a row – Get Down Tonight, That’s The Way (I Like it), (Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty and I’m Your Boogie Man. The string of hits kept coming with Keep It Comin’ Love, Boogie Shoes, and 1980 saw them top the Australian and US charts with Please Don’t Go. In 1983, the band made a welcome return to dancefloors around the world with the chart-topping Give It Up.

With irresistible elements of funk, disco and R&B, KC’s music has resonated with fans for four decades. The Grammy Award-winners have sold more than 100 million records and were honoured with a star on the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2015 KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND released Feeling You! The ’60s, KC’s tribute to the era that shaped him. Celebrating more than 40 years of making booties shake, they’ve been a frequent visitor to our shores over the decades and were last here in 2014.

Also celebrating 40 years in show business, VILLAGE PEOPLE have sold more than 100 million records and ingrained themselves into pop culture history with some of the biggest hits and most memorable characters of all time. Created by French music producer and composer Jacques Morali in 1977, the VILLAGE PEOPLE quickly became one of the most successful acts of the disco era with their flamboyant albums and catchy songs, including the Top 10 smash hits on the Australian charts – Can’t Stop The Music, Y.M.C.A, In The Navy and Macho Man. The guys are also great mates with KC – he wrote and produced their 2013 single Let’s Go Back To The Dance Floor.

The VILLAGE PEOPLE have always shared a special bond with their Australian fans. The Can’t Stop The Music movie – starring the VILLAGE PEOPLE, Valerie Perrine, Bruce Jenner and Steve Guttenberg – found its biggest audience in Australia, and is now shown every New Year’s Eve on Channel Nine. In 2004, the band performed at the NRL Grand Final and even made a film here in 1998 called Village People Go North Down Under, sharing music and culture with Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.

In 1979 SISTER SLEDGE teamed with Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards and released their iconic album We Are Family. The album’s first single, He’s The Greatest Dancer, shook up dancefloors around the world, while the follow-up title track skyrocketed the group into disco royalty. Other hits include Lost In Music, Thinking Of You and 1985 saw them back at the top of the charts with Frankie. As one of the original “girl groups”, Grammy Award-nominees SISTER SLEDGE have collected a string of Gold and Platinum records and sold more than 15 million records worldwide. Known for their electrifying live shows, they have performed on some of the most prestigious stages in the world. As the Chicago Tribune said, “Sister Sledge has the stuff legends are made of.”

MARCIA HINES came to Australia in 1970 from Boston to star in the stage musical Hair. She was just 16 and had no idea where Australia was – she thought she was going to Austria. But Marcia quickly became one of our most-loved stars, crowned Queen of Pop in 1976, 1977 and 1978, and having hits in three decades, with 11 Top 40 entries, including You, From The Inside, I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself and Music Is My Life. She was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007 and received the Order of Australia (AM) in 2009. Marcia shows no signs of slowing down, recently starring in the smash hit musical Velvet.

If you wanna feel the funk and get down with da boogie, this is the show for you! Feathers, sequins and cowboy hats optional. As the Village People say: You can’t stop the music!

Day on the Green December Disco Fever Tour staring KC & The Sunshine Band, Village People, Sister Sledge, Marcia Hines
Thur Dec 7 Kings Park & Botanic Garden, Perth, WA
Sat Dec 9 Leconfield Wines, McLaren Vale, SA
Sun Dec 10 Rochford Wines, Yarra Valley VIC
Sat Dec 16 Bimbadgen, Hunter Valley, NSW
Sun Dec 17 Sirromet Wines, Mt Cotton, QLD
www.adayonthegreen.com.au

Velvet continues to defy expectations with an electrifying trip to a world of glamour and abandon. The raucous and seductive fusion of disco, dance, burlesque and circus, shocks, surprises and scintillates at every turn. It’s a party, it’s dangerous, it’s a showcase fuelled by an exhilarating disco soundtrack that never lets up from the opening moments.

Director Craig Ilott has created a hedonistic pitch-perfect world, pitting acrobatics against disco divas, channelling the original Studio 54 nightclub. Singer/songwriter Brendan Maclean leads the cast alongside an international ensemble of circus, cabaret and music talent, including Hula Boy extraordinaire Craig Reid, muscle man Stephen Williams, acrobatic wunderkind Mirko Köckenberger, aerialist Emma Goh, sassy sirens Chaska Halliday and Rechelle Mansour, mix master Joe Accaria and the legendary diva Marcia Hines.

Starring a live DJ with feature musicians.

What the critics are saying:
★★★★★ InDaily Adelaide
★★★★★ Rip It Up
★★★★★ Glam Adelaide

“This trip to Boogie Wonderland is a gold-plated hit.” The London Times, UK

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

“Expect pure, unadulterated fabulousness, liberally sprinkled with sequins and wrapped up in a thumping disco soundtrack.” City Arts Hub, Aus

“If you’ve a penchant for disco, sequins, or a damn good show, look no further. Just leave your inhibitions at the door.” Rip It Up.com

“A winning mix of nostalgia, dance music and circus twizz.” Sydney Morning Herald

Velvet at QPAC
20 April – 1 May 2016
Cremorne Theatre, QPAC
www.qpac.com.au

Velvet completely redefines cabaret as a disco inferno that shocks, surprises and scintillates at every turn. This is an electrifying trip to a world of glamour and abandon, all in the company of vocal, dance and acrobatic stars. It’s sharp, sexy, raucous, and just a little sadomasochistic.

Featuring the legendary diva Marcia Hines, singer/songwriter Brendan Maclean, mixmaster with rhythmic brilliance Joey Accaria, hoola-boy extraordinaire Craig Reid, New Orleans burlesque queen Perle Noire, along with the sizzling aerial acrobatics of Stephen Williams and directed by Craig Ilott (Smoke & Mirrors).

Velvet is a fantastic sensory overload – funky, fresh, fun and sexy.

Do you love the nightlife?

“..a disco inferno shocks, surprises and scintillates at every turn.” *****(The Adelaide Advertiser)

“A great cast of performers generate an exhilarating atmosphere which pays homage to the disco age; it’s glamorous and it’s racy, the singers walk the line of innocence and hedonism and the acrobatics are something to be seen.” (The AU Review)

Velvet
16 – 26 September 2015
Brisbane Powerhouse – Powerhouse Theatre
www.brisbanefestival.com.au