Book Now To See Super Talented Third Year WAAPA Graduates Perform COMPANY and ROMEO AND JULIET

COMPANY – Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by George Furth Based on the original play by George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart. Originally produced and directed on Broadway by Harold Prince. Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick Musical Direction by Craig Dalton. Directed by Sonya Suares. Choreography by Bernie Bernard. Performed by 3rd Year Music Theatre Students. 6-11 June | Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA

More than 50 years after its groundbreaking Broadway debut, Company remains one of the most insightful and sophisticated musicals ever written. First premiering in 1970 and sweeping the TonyAwards, Stephen Sondheim’s deep dive into what it means to connect and commit in the modern world continues to resonate with contemporary audiences, as seen in its acclaimed 2022 Broadway revival.

Presented by the next generation of performers, this production features 3rd Year WAAPA Music Theatre students in a vibrant and dynamic staging under the direction of Sonya Suares with choreography by Bernie Bernard, and musical direction by Craig Dalton.

Company unfolds through a series of witty, fast-paced vignettes following Bobby, a single New Yorker on the cusp of his 35th birthday. Surrounded by a circle of five married couples, who have gathered to throw him a surprise party, Bobby navigates the complexities of love, commitment, and connection in a world that insists on ‘coupling up’.

Featuring some of Sondheim’s most iconic songs, including ‘The Ladies Who Lunch’ and ‘Being Alive’, this witty, funny, and deeply moving musical offers a timeless reflection on relationships – celebrating the joys, fears, and contradictions of being alive and in love. Sondheim’s score is one of the most admired in musical theatre history – a series of sharply observed character studies, comic set-pieces, and devastating emotional songs that collectively define what it means to be searching for love amidst the chaos of a sprawling metropolis like New York.

Company will be directed by Sonya Suares (The Lucky Country) who is the founder and first Artistic Director of Australia’s critically acclaimed Sondheim repertory company, Watch This.

Performance Details

Dates: Sat 6, Mon 8, Tues 9, Wed 10 & Thur 11 June @7:30pm; Matinee: Sat 6 June @2:00pm

Tickets: $60 Full | $55 Concession | $53 Friends

Location: Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA

Bookings: Right here, or Ph: (08) 6212 9292

WAAPA PRESENTS ROMEO AND JULIET FOR A NEW GENERATION

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Directed by Tom Healey. Performed by WAAPA 3rd Year Acting Students. 12 – 17 June | Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA

It’s just over 400 years since Shakespeare sat down to pen Romeo & Juliet. His enduring power, then as now, lies in his ability to read and interpret the complex world of the human heart.

Set against a divided and conservative world, this reimagining of Romeo and Juliet poses urgent questions about the values we pass on to the next generation. Juliet and Romeo are taught to hate each other for no reason other than loyalty to an ancient grudge – so old that its origins are forgotten. Their hearts, souls and bodies are instinctively drawn to each other. The retaliation of the world in which they are raised is brutal.

Director Tom Healey promises a bold departure from tradition:

“This production of Romeo & Juliet contains no tights, sword fights or codpieces. It is for a 21st-century audience – sophisticated in taste, contemporary in approach, and fearless in intensity.”

He adds:

“Romeo & Juliet is a tragedy because, in a world dominated by reactionary conservatives, where bullies run the streets and love is contingent on family loyalty, no spontaneous, free and intuitive love can survive.”

Romeo & Juliet begins as a romantic comedy and ends – in the course of just four days, and driven by urgency, chance, and fatal miscalculation – as the defining love tragedy of the Western canon. It remains one of theatre’s most enduring stories, not simply because of its heartbreaking ending, but because of the question it leaves behind: How do we build a world where love is stronger than hate?

Performance Details

Dates: Fri 12, Sat 13, Mon 15,Tues 16 & Wed 17 June @7:30pm

Matinee: Wed 17June @11:00am

Tickets: $55 Full | $50 Concession | $48 Friends

Location: Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA

Bookings: Right here or Ph: (08) 6212 9292

~ If you’d like to COMMENT on this or any of our stories, don’t hesitate to email our Editor.

~ WHILE YOU’RE HERE –