Two major musicals destined for Sydney have been cancelled, with industry leaders saying the live theatre sector faces a crisis unless it can get tax breaks from the federal government. <\/p>\n
Waitress The Musical was scheduled to open at Lyric Theatre in August after a successful run in Melbourne while Beetlejuice was to play at the Capitol Theatre from November.<\/p>\n
Both were scheduled to run for three months, employing hundreds of people.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is shocking to have two musicals go down in this manner,\u201d Live Performance Australia President Richard Evans said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just reached a tipping point now where with the economy softening, with inflation driving up, especially with touring costs, it\u2019s just reached the point where the risk is too great, and producers are having to make the very difficult decision to close the show early. I don\u2019t know what more needs to happen for it to be a crisis. The reality is, we need something to change and we need it to change quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evans and his team have been lobbying the government to introduce similar tax offsets to that of London\u2019s West End to enable producers to lower ticket prices while delivering world class theatre.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is horrendous, that means hundreds of people losing their jobs and not just performers and musicians, it is makeup artists, wig artists, wardrobe and technical experts, ushers, bar staff, we need to recalibrate the whole operation of our theatres to accommodate that and it is tragic, it is a terrible situation to be in,\u201d Graeme Kearns, chief executive of Foundation Theatres, owners of both the Capitol and Lyric, two of Sydney\u2019s biggest theatres, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how good your show is, buying a ticket to a musical theatre production is probably the very apex of discretionary expenditure. If consumer confidence is down and economics are telling us the conditions are tough, buying a ticket to a show is probably one of the last things on your shopping list.\u201d<\/p>\n
Together, Capitol and Lyric will sit idle for 30 weeks over the coming year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s theatres that are usually full,\u201d Kearns said. <\/p>\n
Producer Suzanne Jones pointed to data showing musical theatre accounted for 31.4 million ticket sales nationally in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe often think of theatre as a niche art form. In reality, Australians buy tens of millions of tickets to live performances every year. It\u2019s not a fringe industry, it\u2019s a major part of Australia\u2019s economic and cultural life,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an amazing opportunity for us internationally with a tax incentive approach to really stamp Australia as having a major footprint in the arts market in the world. The Capitol Theatre, if you fill it each week, that\u2019s 16,000 people that use the restaurants and the bars and the taxis and the Ubers and the shopping and the hotels, we are an economic driver for the places that we\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cI don\u2019t want a handout, I want something that compels people to invest in our country and that means I can make jobs and create IP that can go offshore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Federal Minister for the Arts Tony Burke met with representatives of Live Performance Australia last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsultation and development on the next National Cultural Policy couldn\u2019t be happening at a more important time,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cCost of living pressure always has a particular impact on ticket buying in the arts. The impact on live theatre needs to be fully appreciated. In an industry where permanent work is hard to come by, live theatre and in particular, musicals that have longer seasons are the backbone of secure employment in a notoriously insecure industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou meanwhile said the impact on local businesses couldn\u2019t be understated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cancellations of Waitress and Beetlejuice are a significant blow for Sydney and a worrying sign for Australia\u2019s live entertainment industry,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese productions are more than just shows, they bring visitors into the city, support our theatres, restaurants, bars and hotels, and sustain thousands of jobs across the arts, tourism and hospitality sectors. Losing them weakens Sydney\u2019s cultural offering and our reputation as Australia\u2019s premier events and entertainment destination. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe recent cancellations should be a wake-up call for governments and industry. With cost-of-living pressures changing consumer behaviour, we need practical measures that encourage audiences back into our theatres, reduce the financial risk for producers and ensure Sydney remains a vibrant global city where world-class live entertainment continues to thrive. Investing in the performing arts is also an investment in jobs, tourism, our night-time economy and the long-term vitality of our city.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two major musicals destined for Sydney have been cancelled, with industry leaders saying the live theatre sector faces…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[247],"class_list":["post-41203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-sydney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}