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STAGES is the podcast that accesses a variety of people whose professional life is about connecting with an audience. A host of creative artists and practitioners reflect on their career, their process and what matters – to them. Some have made the arts a lifetime pursuit, some explain how their career became a happy accident … but all describe the challenges and demands – and ultimately celebrate why there’s no business like show business! STAGES talks to talent from front of house and back ...
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Robert's award winning Follow Your Dream Podcast is ranked in the Top 1% of all podcasts with listeners in 200 countries! Each episode is like taking a World Tour! Robert is a professional musician who followed his youthful music dream later in life and became a Rock Star after he turned 60! Since then he has released 13 acclaimed albums including a Billboard #1, has millions of video views and streams, and has performed at festivals and concerts around the world. He also started this podcas ...
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Billy J. Kramer, of Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, was a huge Rock Star during the British Invasion era of the 1960s. They had massive hits with a string of songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney including “Do You Want To Know A Secret”, “Bad To Me”, “From A Window”, “I’ll Keep You Satisfied” and “I Call Your Name”. But their biggest hit…
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David Amram is a National Treasure. He’s a Musical Giant in Classical, Jazz and Popular music. He’s performed with a Who’s Who in all three genres including Aaron Copeland, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Judy Collins. Leonard Bernstein named him the first Composer-In-Residence for the New York Philharmonic. Joseph Pa…
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Livingston Taylor is a renowned singer/songwriter for over 50 years. He’s the brother of James and Kate Taylor. In this interview Liv discusses his family, opening for Joni Mitchell and Jethro Tull, collaborating with Carly Simon and much more. My featured song is “New York City Groove” from the album Made in New York by my band Project Grand Slam.…
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“It’s Alive” Again features four songs from Robert’s acclaimed “live” album: “Yeah Yeah”, “I Can’t Explain”, “The Queen’s Carnival” and “Redemption Road”. The album has been called “Magnificent!”, “Amazing!”, and “An Instant Classic!”. The album’s songs were recorded at festivals in Serbia and Pennsylvania and capture Robert’s band, Project Grand S…
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Charlie Calello is called the “Hit Man” for good reason. He has arranged or produced over 100 Billboard Hits for dozens of major artists. His hits include “Sweet Caroline” (Neil Diamond), “My Heart Belongs To Me” (Barbra Streisand), “After The Lovin” (Englebert Humperdinck) and many hits for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons including “Big Girls D…
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Mark Horowitz is a Senior Music Specialist in the Music Division of the United States Library of Congress. He is in charge of the collections of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Ella Fitzgerald, Leslie Bricusse, Richard Rodgers, Jonathan Larson and many more. He’s also written a book about Stephen Sondheim. This is a fascinating interview! My f…
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One of Australia’s most respected actors, Nadine Garner’s career has spanned film, television and theatre for more than 30 years. Nadine recently performed on stage in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s The Almighty Sometimes and Belvoir’s production of Tell Me I’m Here to rave reviews. Her recent screen credits include the ABC crime drama series Sava…
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Adam Nussbaum is an extraordinary jazz drummer. He’s played on hundreds of recordings with a Who’s Who in the jazz world including John Abercrombie, Eliane Elias, Gil Evans, Stan Getz and John Scofield. My featured song is my version of Miles Davis’s “All Blues” sing by the late great Jon Lucien from my “lost” 1994 debut album Miles Behind. Spotify…
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Ebet Roberts is an acclaimed photographer who captured the Punk and New Wave scene in New York City at CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City during the heyday of bands like Blondie, Talking Heads, Television, The Ramones and also Miles Davis, Bob Marley, Prince. Her photos have been in Rolling Stone, NY Times and Newsweek and are in the permanent collections…
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Warwick Fyfe is an Australian opera singer, considered to be one of Australia’s leading exponents of the Wagnerian repertoire and is the recipient of Helpmann and Green Room awards. Warwick has performed throughout Australasia and internationally. Most recently, he has sung the rôles of Wotan / Wanderer (MO, OMM and Alberich, OA). Other Wagner rôle…
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Peter Yarrow was a member of the iconic folk group Peter Paul and Mary, the trio which had so many hits in the 1960s including “Blowin In The Wind”, “Puff The Magic Dragon” (which Peter co-wrote), “Leaving On A Jet Plane”, “Lemon Tree”, “I Dig Rock And Roll Music” and many more. This wonderful episode is part interview and part concert, as Peter si…
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Edward Dick trained as a theatre director with Cheek by Jowl, and has directed acclaimed theatre and opera productions across the UK and abroad. Edward’s first short film, An Act of Love, starring Stephen Mangan and Gina McKee, premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2010 and has played at festivals around the world. His second short That Woman…
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Jesse Colin Young started out as a NYC folk musician playing at all the clubs in Greenwich Village, and then became a San Francisco-based Counterculture Hero during the 1967 Summer Of Love with his massive hit “Get Together” by his band The Youngbloods. The song became the anthem for the Woodstock generation. He’s a pioneer in folk and American roo…
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Judy Collins is an iconic Renaissance Artist and Grammy Winning Singer/Songwriter with 55 albums and hit singles including Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Send In The Clowns”. She has been a dominating force in social activism, as a filmmaker, author and as a keynote speaker. And she had one of the greatest songs of the roc…
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Brothers Joe, Pat and John La Barbera are legendary musicians. Joe is an acclaimed jazz drummer, Pat is a celebrated saxophonist, and John is a renowned arranger and composer. Together they have played with a Who’s Who in music including Bill Evans, Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Woody Herman and many more. My featured song is “Easier Sai…
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The annual TONY Awards ceremony celebrates the best and brightest of the Broadway season. And I’m delighted that one of our favourite performers, who has graced the great white way, is the STAGES guest for our TONY episode. Caroline O’Connor is one of the foremost interpreters of musical theatre in the world. Projects have taken her from Sydney to …
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Jay Siegel is the original lead singer of The Tokens, the ‘60s band that had a massive worldwide hit with “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and a follow up hit with “Portrait Of My Love”. The group formed in Brooklyn, New York and Neil Sedaka was an original member. Jay also had a parallel career producing hits for other artists including Tony Orlando and …
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Neil Armfield AO is a leading Australian director of theatre, opera and film. Alongside Rachel Healy, Neil was Artistic Director of Adelaide Festival between 2017 and 2022. Prior to that, Neil was the inaugural Artistic Director of Belvoir St Theatre, which he also co-founded, for 17 years. As Artistic Director of Belvoir, and for other companies, …
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James Lee Stanley is an artist who has had a very eclectic career. As a musician he has produced 32 albums and has toured with Stephen Wright, Bonnie Raitt, Peter Tork and Robin Williams. As an actor he played the Singing Klingon on the “StarTrek Deep Space Nine” TV show for five years. And he is the subject of a documentary film called “The Openin…
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Genevieve Lemon has appeared in many premiere Australian productions in a 40-plus year career including Steaming, Steel Magnolias, Seventeen, Miracle City, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Billy Elliot, which she also played in London’s West End. Other performances include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Death of a Salesman, Summer Rain, The Vene…
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Genevieve Lemon has appeared in many premiere Australian productions in a 40-plus year career including Steaming, Steel Magnolias, Seventeen, Miracle City, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Billy Elliot, which she also played in London’s West End. Other performances include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Death of a Salesman, Summer Rain, The Vene…
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Danny Gottlieb is an All-Star Drummer. He's played with The Pat Metheny Group, John McLoughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, the Gary Burton Quartet, Mark Egan and Elements, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Gary Sinese's Lt. Dan Band, and many more. We discuss all the incredible musicians that he met and played with at the U. of Miami, the Jazz Fusion era, an…
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Michael Simon has been a leading television director for the past 35 years. He has directed 25 live final episodes of “Survivor”, 42 seasons of “Ridiculousness”, “Soul Train”, VH1 episodes featuring Miles Davis, Prince and others; the Bee Gees HBO Special “One Night Only”, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and much more. My featured song is “The Winner” from the …
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Dillie Keane is one-third of iconic Cabaret trio Fascinating Aida. She is presently in Australia for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, where alongside her partners in song, Liza Pulman and Adèle Anderson, Fascinating Aida will present a 40th anniversary show. Since their first performance together in 1983, the trio have racked-up millions of internet …
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Extensive experience throughout Australia in theatre, film, radio and television, over several decades, established Robert van Mackelenberg as one of our leading actors. Studying in New Zealand, Robert’s journey through the theatre was as a stage manager first but he soon found his true place was in assuming the great roles in classical and contemp…
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Jimmy Vivino is an All-Star Guitarist, Keyboard Player and Bandleader. He was the bandleader of Conan O’Brien’s various television show bands; a member of the Fab Faux, the world’s greatest Beatles tribute band, and currently a member of Canned Heat blues band. He talks about playing Tevye in “Fiddler On The Roof” in High School, his 15 year affili…
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The STAGES podcast is now in its Seventh year. Over that time we’ve garnered a vast number of insightful and glorious conversations with a broad range of artists. Some of these have recorded fascinating histories with the elders from various disciplines - theatre, dance, opera, musical theatre, television - the list goes on. We’ve also been able to…
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“East Side Sessions” is the Project Grand Slam album that I released in January 2020, just a few months before the pandemic caused a worldwide lockdown. The album features 12 of my new songs - all vocals for the first time. Our singer was the incomparable Marilyn Castillo. The reviewers were effusive in their praise and called it “Album Of The Year…
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As one of our finest actors, Keith Robinson carved a career on stages around the country. As a wit and treasured talisman, he kept us informed and in stitches with his regular postings on social media. Keith’s repertoire of characters included the great clowns of Shakespeare. He was admired for his tremendous physicality in realising these endearin…
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Jodi Krangle is a celebrated Voiceover Specialist. She’s worked in a variety of settings including for Disney, Depends, Viagra, Dell, Kraft, Lindt Chocolates and others. She specializes in Brand Voice, Commercials, Corporate Narration and even Podcasts. My featured song is “Metro Shuffle” from the album The PGS Experience by my band, Project Grand …
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Joe Lovano is a Superstar Grammy Award winning saxophonist who Downbeat Magazine has called “The Titan among us”. He’s played with a Who’s Who of the Jazz world including Woody Herman, Tony Bennett, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, Hank Jones and Diana Krall. My featured song is “Out Of Tahini” from the album Play by my band, Projec…
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Entertainer Doug Lucas has been delighting audiences around the country for several decades as a comic, a creative and much loved drag performer. Chiefly his performance stage has been found in various Melbourne venues. Doug is a pioneer of these establishments, commencing Melbourne's first gay disco in 1975 and the legendary show evening, Pokeys, …
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Peter Noone - better known as Herman with Herman's Hermits - is a 1960s Superstar. They had a remarkable string of hits including #1s: "Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter" and "Henry VIII, I Am", plus "I'm Into Something Good" (written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin), "Kind Of A Hush", "No Milk Today", "Listen People" and many more. My Co-Hos…
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Iain Sinclair is one of Australia’s finest, award winning theatre directors specialising in new writing and contemporary international work. Iain established the critically acclaimed theatre company Elbow Theatre in Canberra, where he received four Critics Circle Awards. He received a Sydney Theatre Award for his production of The Seed by Kate Mulv…
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Peter Tiehuis is one of the best guitarists in Holland. He’s played and recorded with every big star in the Netherlands and many international stars including Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, Stan Getz, Tina Turner, Elvis Costello and Herbie Hancock. My featured song is “The Rich Ones”. Spotify link. --------------------------------…
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Tim Draxl is an actor and singer with a career spanning more than two decades. Most recently he was seen in the SBS anthology television series Erotic Stories, for which he has received an AACTA Nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama series, and the lead role in ABC’s four-part musical drama In Our Blood, for which he has received both an …
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Peter Erskine is a Superstar Drummer. He’s a two-time Grammy winner who has played on over 700 albums and film scores. He rose to worldwide fame with Weather Report, perhaps the greatest band of the 1970s Jazz Fusion era. He has also played with Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, Steps Ahead, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan and many more. He was voted Best J…
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Happy Anniversary to the original Australian company of The Rocky Horror Show - the production opened at the New Art Cinema, Glebe on April 19th, 1974. This outrageous musical has a book, musical and lyrics by Richard O’Brien, and is a tribute to the B-grade Science Fiction and Horror films of the 1930s to early 60s. It’s premiere production was pr…
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Music To Life is a nonprofit that supports new voices in social change: Next Gen Artists addressing Human and Civil Rights issues. This episode introduces Music To Life through its CEO, Liz Stookey Sunde, and her dad, Noel Paul Stookey - who was Paul of Peter Paul and Mary. And also introducing two artists who graduated from the program: Amanda Pas…
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Vivid Sydney is an annual celebration of creativity, innovation and technology, which transforms Sydney for 23 days and nights. In 2024, for its 14th year, Vivid Sydney will fuse art, innovation and technology in collaboration with some of the most boundary-pushing artists, musicians, thinkers and culinary experts of our time. Mark the dates 24 May…
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This episode is a special Shout Out to the six wonderful female singers who I’ve featured with my band, Project Grand Slam: Judie Tzuke, Kat Robichaud, Lucy Woodward, Ziarra Washington, Leslie Hunt and Marilyn Castillo. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have such incredible vocalists to interpret my original songs and my reimagined covers. Here are …
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In this Vale episode of the STAGES podcast, we remember Arts Historian - Frank van Straten, who passed away in April. Frank was the inaugural archivist at the Performing Arts Museum (now Australian Performing Arts Collection at Arts Centre Melbourne) and later its founding Director. Renowned as a theatre historian of supreme knowledge, Frank was th…
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Oscar Hammerstein II was Broadway’s greatest lyricist. He was responsible for the book and lyrics to so many of the musicals that created the Golden Era of Broadway. With Richard Rogers he wrote “The King And I”, “Oklahoma”, “The Sound Of Music”, “Carousel”, “South Pacific” and “Flower Drum Song”. With Jerome Kern he wrote “Show Boat”. He co-wrote …
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John-Michael Howson worked as a journalist, starting in Mildura, Victoria, before moving to print and radio in Melbourne where he began writing comedy sketches and songs for revue clubs, theatres and television. After several years working in the UK and Europe he returned to Australia and created, wrote and performed in two of Australia’s most belo…
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Stephanie Beacham is without a doubt one of Britain's most talented, beautiful and well-known actresses. Despite becoming world famous and an icon of the 1980s due to her role as Sable Colby in the American soap operas Dynasty and The Colbys and going on to have starring roles in shows such as Sister Kate, Seaquest DSV, Beverly Hills 90210, and Bad…
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Welcome to the first Saxophone Summit! Featuring the following four extraordinary world class saxophone players: John Helliwell of Supertramp, one of the greatest bands of the rock era. They dominated the charts in the 1970s with their album “Breakfast In America” which sold over 20 million copies. Fred Lipsius, the saxophonist and an arranger for …
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Since graduating from WAAPA in 2006, Lucy Maunder has cemented her reputation as one of Australia’s musical theatre leading ladies performing in a huge range of roles over the last 17 years. Most recently she appeared as Winifred Banks in the critically acclaimed Cameron Mackintosh/Michael Cassel Group/Disney revival of Mary Poppins. Prior to this …
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Tom Morris has had an illustrious career in classical music. He was the longtime former Senior Executive of The Boston Symphony Orchestra and then The Cleveland Orchestra. He went on to become the Artistic Director of the Ojai Music Festival. He currently serves on the Board of the Interlochen Arts Center. And he has a forthcoming autobiography com…
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Lucy Durack is one of Australia’s most well-known leading ladies with major roles to her credit including Glinda in Wicked, Sophie in The Letdown (Netflix/ABC), Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical, Roxy in Sisters (Netflix), Elle Woods in Legally Blonde (for which she won a Helpmann and Sydney Theatre Award), Audra in A Perfect Pairing (Netflix), C…
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The Four Seasons are one of the greatest vocal groups of all time. Led by Frankie Valli, their lead singer with the distinctive falsetto voice, they had dozens of hits beginning in the early 1960s including “Sherry”, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Can’t Take Me Eyes Off Of You”, “Dawn (Go Away)”, “Rag Doll”, “Working My Way Back To You” and many more. My …
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