CATS IS BACK!

Finally Cats, the best-known and best loved musical the world has ever known, returns to Melbourne for 3 weeks only from 6 March, 2010.

Cats is quite simply a phenomenon. With a magnificent musical score composed by the legendary Andrew Lloyd Webber, including the poignant hit song 'Memory', an imaginative set, inspired choreography and stunning costumes, Cats is a brilliant song and dance spectacular not to be missed.

Cats first opened in London in May 1981 to rave reviews and went on to win a record-breaking number of awards worldwide including two Olivier Awards for 'Musical of the Year' and Outstanding Achievement of the Year in Musicals', and seven Tony Awards. It holds the record of the longest running musical in the West End history having played for 21 years.

In addition Cats played 18 years on Broadway and has been presented in over twenty-six countries, in about three hundred cities, in ten languages.

"A triumphant piece of musical theatre.." - Sunday Times UK

FAME, the high energy dance musical returns to Melbourne for a strictly limited season at the Regent Theatre from 16 April 2010.

Produced by John Frost and directed and choreographed by So You Think You Can Dance’s Kelley Abbey, FAME is the enduring story of the kids from New York’s school of the Performing Arts who inspired a generation.

A gritty urban drama awash with passion, FAME takes the audience to the pinnacle of desire and revives memories of youth, love, energy and risk.

Introducing a new wave of young Australian talent FAME will have the blood running hot in your veins and the lyrics hot on your lips.

PACKAGES NOW AVAILABLE at www.marrinertheatres.com.au/fame_main.jsp

Presented by: BB Promotion GmbH, Ambassador Theatre Group, Tulchin/Bartner Productions, Lunchbox Theatrical Productions and David Atkins Enterprises.

SOLD OUT in London, Paris, Tokyo and Beijing, the international smash hit West Side Story arrives in Melbourne in August 2010 for a STRICTLY LIMITED SEASON at the Regent Theatre.

With groundbreaking choreography by the legendary Jerome Robbins, book by Arthur Laurents, an unforgettable score by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story changed the face of musical theatre for ever.

Based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and packed with unforgettable songs including Maria, Tonight, Somewhere, America and I Feel Pretty, West Side Story has been described as "a masterpiece of musical theatre" (The Daily Mail) and "a musical landmark" (The Guardian).

The movie version went on to win an incredible 10 Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and further cemented the reputation of this undoubted masterpiece.

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Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2010

Host of The Gruen Transfer.

Wil’s 2009 show Wilosophy played to packed houses in Australia, NZ, Montreal, London, Edinburgh and LA and became a best-selling DVD.

“surprisingly heartfelt, regularly courageous and consistently funny…brilliant” - The Age

“superbly crass, irreverent, smart, manic soulful and consistently hilarious” - The Sun-Herald

“the best stand-up I have ever seen” - Broadway Baby (UK)

Wilful Misconduct is Wil’s brand-new show.

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2010

Good Evening – The sketches of Peter Cook & Dudley Moore starring Shaun Micallef & Stephen Curry. Directed by Tom Healey.

Two of Australia's finest and funniest have joined forces for a very special comedy festival event.

Shaun Micallef and Stephen Curry are breathing new life into the inspired sketches of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Cook and Moore took their unique mix of musical and sketch comedy off campus and onto the main stages of the West End and Broadway - even making time to come to Australia for a five month tour including a sell out run at the Palais in St Kilda in 1971.

Irreverent, wickedly satirical and completely hilarious - the genius of Cook and Moore inspired Monty Python and the generations that followed them. To mark his unique place in comedy history Peter Cook was invited to launch the inaugural Melbourne Comedy Festival in 1987 and as an even greater honour, the bar at the Town Hall was named after him - comedy has no greater honour to bestow.

Cook, Moore, Curry, Micallef - it is a combination born in comedy heaven - don't miss this unique comedy festival event.

“a great tribute…very funny”

The Australian

“It is a mark of the brilliance of Peter Cook & Dudley Moore’s writing that despite the passing of four decades, their sketches remain both hilarious and relevant” - Daily Telegraph

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2010

"I don't want to talk about it." - Josh Thomas

Josh is a regular on Talkin' Bout Your Generation and The 7pm Project. He is a semi-regular on Good News Week and appeared on Celebrity Masterchef but his meringue didn't work.

"one of the hottest comedians around" - Daily Telegraph

“seriously funny” The Age

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2010

Directed by: Alan Brough
Music by: Jordie Lane

Scotty’s Comedy Festival smash-hit show is back for TWO NIGHTS ONLY. Don’t miss out on this hilarious, honest and ultimately touching look at how one family handles all that life throws at them.

Eczema! Poverty! Affairs! Alzheimer’s! Number 26 has something for everyone.

“Scott can help us see the funny side of any adversity” - Sunday Herald Sun

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2010

He’s the Gen X team captain on Talkin’ ‘bout Your Generation and the host of The 7pm Project, but Charlie Pickering is also a world-class stand-up comedian. If this is news to you, now’s your chance to see him live. If you were already across it, he’s back with a mix of favourite tales and new stories.

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2010

Directed by: Alan Brough
Music by: Jordie Lane

Scotty’s Comedy Festival smash-hit show is back for TWO NIGHTS ONLY. Don’t miss out on this hilarious, honest and ultimately touching look at how one family handles all that life throws at them.

Eczema! Poverty! Affairs! Alzheimer’s! Number 26 has something for everyone.

“Scott can help us see the funny side of any adversity” - Sunday Herald Sun

Bjorn Again – the world's leading ABBA show, the only one endorsed by ABBA, are celebrating their 21st Birthday with two special live concerts on Saturday 1 May 2010 at 2pm and 8pm.

Starring: Ian McKellen as Estragon and Roger Rees as Vladamir with Matthew Kelly as Pozzo

Directed by: Sean Mathias

Presented by Kay and McLean Productions Pty Ltd, Arnold M Crook, Paul Elliott, Nigel Everett and Duncan C Weldon in association with HVK Productions and Michael Coppel.

Two old friends meet to converse, joke and argue with themselves as they wait through one day and then another for the mysterious Godot... the combination of music hall, poetry and tension redefined what is possible in theatre, so that today Waiting for Godot is accepted as one of the most significant plays of the 20th century.

When Samuel Beckett's play exploded on to the stage 50 years ago, it shocked as many people as it delighted. There had never been a play like it; indeed it was said that: "(Beckett) has achieved a theoretical impossibility-a play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps audiences glued to their seats."

Following record breaking season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket Waiting for Godot comes to The Comedy Theatre for 13 performances only.

"McKellen's Estragon is wonderfully entertaining. I could have watched him forever." - Independent on Sunday

"The theatrical event of the year" - Daily Express

CALENDAR GIRLS is based on the very successful film of the same name starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, which in turn was based on an uplifting and inspiring true story that is quirky, poignant and hilarious.

A group of extraordinary middle-aged women, members of a very ordinary Yorkshire Women's Institute, spark a global phenomenon by persuading one another to pose for a charity calendar with a difference! As interest snowballs, the Calendar Girls find themselves revealing more than they'd ever planned!

With a number of special guest stars still to be announced, CALENDAR GIRLS is thrilled to have secured Lorraine Bayly, Rhonda Burchmore, Cornelia Frances and Amanda Muggleton to play four of these magnificent women.

Presented by: The Frontier Touring Company

Birthed from a collision of some of the greatest musicians in the genre, The Dead Weather includes Alison Mosshart of The Kills on lead vocals, Jack White, originally of The White Stripes on drums, White's Raconteur bandmate Jack Lawrence on bass and former Raconteur Dean Fertita, also of Queens of the Stone Age, on guitar.

"The tracks — a sludgy, bluesy blend of psych-rock guitar, alternately stark and explosive rhythms and Mosshart's sultry-to-siren vocal — take relatively logical leaps from the members' other bands, White's groove-heavy drumming elevating the Dead Weather's Stripes-esque blues-rock moods and Fertita and Mosshart pulling in atmosphere and disaffected cool, respectively" – Rolling Stone

Horehound, the band's debut LP, was released earlier this year and features a hybrid of styles with each member's distinct contributions creating a sound like no other. Their onstage presence reflects the raw energy sparking from their collaborative talent and is a performance certainly not to be missed!

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2010

With a commanding Alabaman drawl and a mischief-making sense of fun, the defiant Reginald D Hunter returns to Melbourne with a hailstorm of 'did he just say that' moments. Think you've heard it all before? Think again. In this new show, Reginald's got the stuff that would make Vin Diesel blush like Princess Diana.

The Guardian said, "He makes James Earl Jones sound like Frank Spencer." With cojones like that, 'Danger' really must be his middle name.

Warning: This show is not for the easily offended - please do not attempt to repeat Reginald's routine in case of severe retribution.

"Hunter is one of those rare comics to deliver astute, philosophical musings through cover-your-mouth filthiness." - The Sunday Age

"A masterful, playful comic... Gets more ideas into 50 minutes than some comics in a career." - The Times, UK

"While you're laughing, your self-image is being knocked around inside your head." - The Sunday Herald UK

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2010

As seen on Spicks and Specks, Thank God You’re Here, and Good News Week.

Life is bewildering. Injustice. Unrequited love. Grapefruit.

One of Australia’s favourite comedians, Frank brings a brand new hour of stand-up, physical comedy and songs to the Comedy Festival.

Since Lano & Woodley, Frank has been flat out – touring (nationally and internationally) with his smash-hit show Possessed, creating an award-winning animated short film (Chicken of God) and even receiving a coveted Herald Angel award at the Edinburgh Fringe for his role of Candide in Optimisim.

Whether his bendy brain is musing or his liquid limbs are flowing, an evening with Frank Woodley will send you away feeling tingly.

“You must leap out of your chair and sacrifice life and limb to buy a ticket.” Sunday Herald Sun

“One of our most naturally gifted comedians.” The Age

"*****" The Scotsman

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2010

Peter Helliar is one of Australia’s best loved stand-up comedians.

Exciting and new. Come aboard, he’s expecting you.**

It’s been two years since he hit the stage with a solo show and he’s doing it in style this Comedy Festival.

Best known for his ten years on Rove, Pete has also penned a book, worked on radio with the likes of Judith Lucy and Myf Warhurst and has his first feature due for release in 2010.

Don’t miss this chance to see Peter Helliar’s dreamy new show.

“One of the nations favourite comedians.” Sunday Mail

"Peter Helliar makes the difficult business of being funny look dead easy." Adelaide Advertiser

"Wonderful." The Age

**That’s a reference to The Love Boat, but please note that you don’t need to be an expert on The Love Boat to appreciate Pete’s comedy stylings.

Presented by: Street Press Australia & Faster Louder

Paul Dempsey announces “Burning Leaves” national tour April 2010 and new single "Bats".

With very special guests Dan Kelly and his Dream Band.

Paul Dempsey is delighted to announce that he and his band will embark upon their “Burning Leaves” national tour throughout April. This will be Paul’s one and only Australian headline tour for 2010 before relocating to New York City for the remainder of the year.

2009 was a watershed year for Dempsey. With his first solo album “Everything Is True” debuting at # 5 on the ARIA chart and garnering rave reviews across the board, it confirmed him as one of this country’s finest and most original songwriters and musicians.

The universal language of jazz has flourished over more than one hundred years, shifting into a diverse spectrum of new styles and sounds. The spirit of improvisation in jazz has emerged as a common chord that binds diverse communities around the world. As we move further into a new century marked by developments in technology and innovation, the common chord that defines this age of jazz creativity will be explored over the eight days of the 2010 Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

During the first week of May, the iconic spaces of Melbourne will be transformed as its streets, concert halls, clubs, bars and galleries play host to the world’s leading modern masters of jazz. A rich multi-layered program of music events will be presented in the city centre, also incorporating film, visual art, public art installations and forums. For absolutely all lovers of music, this is a time to be entertained, to discover, to be inspired and most importantly to participate.

Ladies and gentlemen, please prepare yourselves for the welcome return of Wilco to our shores in 2010. Set to perform in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, the Chicago Sextet make their fourth journey to Australia for a series of intimate theatre-style shows along the east coast.

Heralded by critics everywhere as "the world's most exciting rock band", their live set clocks in at over 2 hours and is a spell-binding journey through their rich and inspiring catalogue of tunes. With seven studio albums to their credit Wilco will present a selection from their familiar past, as well as songs from this years outstanding self- titled release Wilco.

Canadian twins Tegan and Sara return to Australia in May for a national tour, following the release of their new album 'Sainthood' (Warner) last year. 'Sainthood' was lavished with acclaim from fans and critics a-like, the first single 'Hell' gathering radio spins from alternate and commercial radio around the country.

After years of selling out headline tours and their recent experience in joining the summer festival circuit, which saw them playing to thousands at the Falls Festivals, Southbound and Sunset Sounds in 2008, Tegan and Sara tours have become one of the most anticipated live shows among Aussie music lovers. Their on stage chemistry, incredible musical abilities, infectious pop sensibilities and direct connection with their fans has won hearts all over the world.

In 2010 the girls return with a show full of new songs off 'Sainthood', as well as a few crowd favourites.

TAME IMPALA 'INNERSPEAKER' ALBUM TOUR 2010
Perth group Tame Impala are a rainbow sandstorm of stoned riffage, mind bending melody and blissed out adventurism from the most isolated city in the world. Formed in 2007 and signed to Modular Recordings in 2008, the band are set to release their debut album, 'InnerSpeaker' this coming May. The resultant record will first be unveiled with the single, 'Solitude Is Bliss', a joyous summertime romp through fields of honeyed harmony and crispy good times. It's just the very tip of the amorphous cosmos that is 'InnerSpeaker'.

With Special Guests: Boy and Bear and Georgia Fair.

Lisa Mitchell today announces the exciting details of her huge National Theatre Tour to support the release of her brand new single 'Oh Hark!'.

Having spent the last few months promoting the album in Europe, Lisa is returning to Australia in April to kick off her massive Oh Hark! National Theatre Tour. Taking in major capital cities and regional centers across Australia, Lisa is set to play to over 18,000 fans in shows over a four week period including appearances at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney and the Forum in Melbourne. Joining Lisa on the road will be folk n' slide favorites Boy and Bear and Georgia Fair.

'It excites me to remember that I will be embarking on a tour of the gorgeous Australian theatres in May after the sure-to-be raucous, Groovin' the Moo festival. It will be lovely to be touring around my beautiful Australia' said Lisa of the forthcoming tour.

2009 was a remarkable year for Lisa: her debut album 'Wonder' debuted at 6 on the ARIA charts, she earned 3 ARIA nominations, signed a huge record deal in the UK with Sony Music, scored album of the week in the UK's prestigious Sunday Times, toured Australia and the UK nationally twice over and finished a magical year with number 7 spot on the Hottest100 with her global smash 'Coin Laundry'.

2010 is set to get even bigger. This week Lisa's brand new single '0h Hark!' is serviced nationally to radio in Australia and the UK and is expected to be her biggest hit yet. With a brand a new radio edit, bonus tracks including an 'Ou Est Le Swimming Pool' remix and Lisa's stunning version of 'Romeo and Juliet' first performed on Triple j, expect to hear 'Oh Hark!' all over the airwaves in 2010.

Well, shunt me in the gunt and call me a munt-funter - The Ronnie Johns Good Times Campfire Jamboree Half Hour Show: Now on Television is now a 1 hour show live on stage!

For the first time on stage, The 3rd Degree - Felicity Ward, Heath Franklin, Jordan Raskopoulos and James Pender - reunite to perform all your favourite characters, including Chopper, Jesus, Poppy, Paulie, The Germans, Mlak Mlak and many more from the Logie-nominated Australian TV cult sketch show, The Ronnie Johns Half Hour.

Since Ronnie Johns last sat in the saddle of the Good Taste Pony, Heath Franklin has taken Chopper around the world, Jordan has rocked audiences with Axis of Awesome, Felicity Ward has become one of the hottest female comics in Australia and James has had a real job, working as a lawyer for the UN.

Come back to where it all began as the guys present the best old bits, some juicy new bits, all your favourite characters live and close enough to throw fruit at. Too big for the box, too rude for broadcast, leave your kids at home or prepare to have them messed up for life.

It's guaranteed to light a campfire in your pants!

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2010

Winner Edinburgh Comedy Award 2008
Nominee Barry Award 2007

Throw up your hands and lower your expectations for the David O'Doh-Party. He's not afraid to underwhelm you with his sub-sonic analogue pulsations. Before you know it, you'll be letting loose with this 'comedy colonic'.

Star of 'A Film with Me in It' alongside his brother, Mark, and Dylan Moran, and author of a book on pandas featuring some impressive graphs.

"A tiny keyboard and a giant talent." - The List, UK

"The king of creative novelty...We barely had time to close our mouths before we were laughing again." - The Age

"It's hard not to be hopelessly charmed by David O’Doherty." - Herald Sun

"A masterclass hour of comedy." - The Stage, UK

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2010

Directed by: Neill Gladwin

For thousands of millennia, award-winning musical idiots Tripod have wowed audiences in Australia and abroad with their trademark blend of gorgeous harmonies and dysfunctional relationships.

In their latest opus: Scod, Yon and Gatesy strap on their scabbards to embark on a musical theatre work of exquisite sophistication and hilarity that delves deep into the terrifying, tantalising, geektastic world of D&D.

Tripod versus the Dragon combines classic old-school character comedy and a bunch of great songs with liberal references to the great operas, the bible (all three testaments: old, new and Superstar) and the other bible: the D&D Player's Handbook.

It's the Ring Cycle meets the Three Stooges meets stats.

Featuring special guest - genre-busting singer and Triple J Next Crop artist - ELANA STONE as 'the Dragon'

"*****Sometimes five stars just aren't enough" - The Scotsman

"These guys are jaw-hang-wide-open,-drool-slowly-drip-out brilliant" - Herald Sun