STAGES with Peter Eyers Peter Eyers

Jodie Gillies commenced her dynamic career in 1983, following her graduation from the Nepean College in Sydney. In the same year she was cast as one of Major Stanley’s daughters in the iconic Victorian State Opera’s production and consequent tour of The Pirates of Penzance. She then appeared in Camelot with Richard Harris; followed by the role of Marta in Stephen Sondheim's Company and Vikki Fowler in King of Country, both for the Sydney Theatre Company.

In October 1985 Jodie won the inaugural Australian Contemporary Singing Competition at the Sydney Opera House. Jodie starred in Australia Day Live, the Network Ten Bicentennial extravaganza. Jodie then went on to begin the first of three musical engagements at the Theatre Royal in Sydney, all of which would include the honour of creating her roles in the Premiere Australian seasons, these being Les Miserables, Chess and Aspects of Love. 

Firstly she played Eponine in the amazing original Australian production of Les Miserables and her performance as the waifish Eponine won her wide acclaim as did her ensuing role as Aldonza in The Man of La Mancha. Jodie has also appeared in cabaret at Kinsela’s in It’s One for the Money and Two for the Show displaying her comedy and mimicry.

Jodie then went on to play the lead role of Florence Vassy in the musical Chess to standing ovations and then toured to Queensland as Jess in Lipstick Dreams. Jodie was also awarded the prestigious Musical Theatre Performer of the Year by the Variety Club in 1991. Jodie has also toured with her own production The Other Woman which marked her debut as a writer and director. This show also took her to New York in 1992, where it was very well received. From there Jodie went on to play the role of Giulietta Trapani in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love in both Sydney and Melbourne. Jodie also joined the cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, taking over the starring role of the Narrator from Tina Arena at Sydney's Her Majesty's Theatre. Jodie also performed in Love Lemmings at the Tilbury Hotel in Sydney. 

In late 1995, Jodie performed her second self written show called A Soldier's Song which tells the story of her Grandfather during the war years. She based the show on some diaries that her Grandfather had left behind from the war plus some of the classic tunes from around that time.

Jodie’s television credits include The Ray Martin Show, A Country Practice, Home and Away, The Money or the Gun, Live n' Sweaty, Hey Hey It’s Saturday, the Steve Vizard Show and Once in a Blue Moon, a celebration of Australian Musicals. Jodie has also released a self titled solo album featuring songs from Les Miserables, Aspects of Love, Chess, Miss Saigon and more.

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).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Andrew Sharp began his professional career playing The Artful Dodger in J.C.Williamson’s 1966 revival of Oliver! He went on to work steadily in theatre and on television in the 1970s, in shows such as Peter Kenna’s A Hard God and Peter Handke’s Kaspar at the Nimrod Street Theatre, The Season at Sarsaparilla and Julius Caesar for The Old Tote Theatre Company, The Rocky Horror Show at The New Art Cinema in Glebe, as well as playing a regular role in The Young Doctors and guest roles in other Grundy’s productions. At the age of 25 he moved to London where he played leading roles in three long-running West End productions: Beyond the Rainbow, Stage Struck and Deathtrap. Returning to Australia in the 1980s he worked mostly in film and television, notably in movies such as Buddies and Undercover, mini-series such as Glass Babies and Sword of Honour and the 13 episode Taurus Rising - amongst other work. Throughout his career he dabbled in directing, producing shows with friends in unusual locations such as garages, living rooms and church halls. He graduated from the post-graduate diploma course in film directing at Melbourne’s Swinburne Institute of Technology in 1986. In the 1990s he went on to work as an assistant director on several operas at The Australian Opera (as the company was then known), before returning to the UK in the 1990s, where he directed opera students at the Royal College of Music and the Birmingham Conservatoire and - for the Covent Garden Opera Festival - directed Handel’s Saul and his own translation of Mozart’s The Impresario. In 2002, searching for “home”, he moved to the small northwestern NSW town of Barraba, where he created The Playhouse Hotel, a 9 bedroom boutique hotel housing an 80 seat theatre. There he has presented dozens of touring theatre performances, bands, musicians and comedians… though he admits he misses his real hometown of Sydney, and plans to return soon. 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).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Stephen Flaherty is a composer who writes for theatre, film and the concert hall. With longtime collaborator Lynn Ahrens, he won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for the Broadway musical Ragtime and was nominated for two Academy awards and two Golden Globes for the animated feature film Anastasia, which they also adapted for Broadway.

Additional Broadway credits include Once on This Island (Tony Award, Best Revival), Seussical, Rocky, My Favourite Year, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life (original songs), and Neil Simon’s Proposals (incidental music). 

Off-Broadway and Regional credits include The Glorious Ones, Dessa Rose, A Man of No Importance (all three at Lincoln Centre Theatre), Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein (About Face), Little Dancer (Kennedy Centre and Seattle 5th Avenue), In Your Arms (Old Globe) and Lucky Stiff (Playwrights Horizons). Future productions include Little Dancer and Knoxville.

Stephen Flaherty’s work in film includes the animated feature Anastasia, the original score for the documentary After the Storm, Lucky Stiff and Nasrin. His concert commissions include American River Suite and With Voices Raised.

Additional awards include London’s Olivier (Best Musical), Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson (Best Musical) and four Grammy nominations.

He serves on Council for the Dramatists Guild of America and co-founded the DGF Fellows Program for Emerging Writers with Lynn Ahrens. In 2014 Ahrens and Flaherty received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement and in 2015 they were inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.

For more information please visit AhrensAndFlaherty.com.

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).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Australian musical theatre performer Daniel Assetta is currently based in New York City, where he recently made his Broadway debut in the hot-ticket show, & Juliet. This follows an Off-Broadway debut with The Light in the Piazza for NY City Center Encores!

Most recently, Daniel appeared in the Original Australian company of Hamilton as Samuel Seabury and performed Tony in the Opera Australia production of West Side Story across Australia, New Zealand and Germany. His theatre credits include; Al Deluca in the Darlinghurst Theatre Company's A Chorus Line; Elder Young in the original Australian company of The Book of Mormon; The Rum Tum Tugger in the Australian/New Zealand tour of CATS; the 10th Anniversary Australasian tour of Wicked; The Ziegfeld Tenor in Funny Girl; Luke in the world premiere of The Gathering; Follies in Concert ; and Curtains.

Daniel is also the proud recipient of the prestigious Rob Guest Endowment Award in Australia. Notable stage appearances include ABC News Breakfast, Carols in The Domain, The ARIA Awards and Michael Mott & Friends concerts. 

Over the last couple of years, Daniel produced, co-wrote, choreographed and performed alongside his sister, Chiara, in Siblingship which played to sold-out audiences across Australia and was awarded the winner of 'Best Cabaret' in BroadwayWorld Australia Awards 2020. 

As a Choreographer, Daniel has worked extensively with highlights including Squabbalogic's production of NINE the musical, Twisted Broadway at Melbourne's Regent Theatre, the opening of the Sydney Latin Festival and concept pieces for the leading performing arts companies, Ettingshausens Pro & ED5International.

Visit www.danielassetta.com and follow @dassetta on Instagram.

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).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Kim Carpenter AM is an Australian visual artist, theatre director, designer and devisor. For thirty years he was artistic director of his company, Kim Carpenter's Theatre of Image.

During the 1970s, Carpenter designed for the Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney’s Nimrod Theatre Company. He was, for a short period, co-Artistic Director of Nimrod in the early 1980s.

In 1988, Kim established Theatre of Image as Sydney's first visual theatre company. Theatre of Image developed into a leading Australian theatre company for children and families, with its productions having a distinctive visual style. In September 2019 he announced the closure of the company.

His work includes The Book of Everything which he created with Neil Armfield for Theatre of Image and Belvoir. The production toured Australia and played a season in New York at the New Victory Theatre.

In 2019 he adapted and designed The Happy Prince as a ballet for The Australian Ballet. It premiered at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

Kim Carpenter was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2013 for significant service to the performing arts. He has devised, directed or designed over 100 productions for theatre, opera, dance, physical theatre, ballet and puppetry.

A prolific visual artist also, Kim Carpenter has been represented in Australian and International exhibitions. His next exhibition is a series inspired by William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This show of works will be exhibited at Maunsell Wickes Gallery Paddington, from April 6th to 21st.

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).

www.stagespodcast.com.au

Diana McLean has had a long career in TV, Film and Theatre and is best known by the public for her role of  Vivienne Jeffries in the iconic TV Soap,  The Young Doctors.On her return to Australia, after 16 years in UK and France, she appeared in many TV shows including, Water Rats, Murder Call, All Saints, Backberner, Number 96, Wonderland, and is still remembered for playing Bess O'Brien in Neighbours. Her miniseries credits include Ben Hall, The Norman Lindsay Series, Winner Takes All, and A Model Daughter. Theatre work has included; The Cold Child for Anthony Skuse at Griffin, Colder for Lachlan Philpot at Griffin, Love & Money at The Old Fitz, Three Sisters for Kate Retz, & Cry Havoc at ATYP, Julius Caesar for Anthony Skuse at The New, Other Desert Cities at The Ensemble Theatre (2015) and a national tour playing Florence Foster Jenkins in the play Glorious.Diana reprised her role of  Vera in 4000 miles, twice in 2014 for which she was nominated as Best Leading Actress at the Sydney Theatre Awards. Most recently Diana has appeared in the World Premiere of Joanna Erskine’s new Australian play, Air (Old 505) and was part of the ensemble cast of The Humans at the Old Fitz.She joins STAGES for a long over-due catch up, and to reflect on a life-time telling stories.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).www.stagespodcast.com.au