The Stage Show

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is retold in the hit folk musical  Hadestown. It's won Tonys, Grammys and is now in Australia. We speak to the singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell, who wrote Hadestown as a concept album, before touring it around in an old bus and then turning it into a remarkable stage show with the Broadway director Rachael Chavkin. First broadcast March 18.Back stage... The make up artist. Meet the veteran head of WHAM (that's wardrobe, hair and make-up) Fiona Cooper-Sutherland as she transforms Christine Anu into Hermes, the silver god for Hadestown. First broadcast May 20.How would you create a play that a four year old could understand? How about a four month old? Sally Chance and Stephen Noonan do just that, carefully creating works of theatre for the very early years. Stephen's the Boy & the Ball is on as part of the Dream Big children's festival in South Australia. Composer of The Thing That Matters: Heather Frahn. First broadcast April 15.

More highlights from The Stage Show. We meet Irish screen and theatre actor Stephen Rea, who talks about meeting Samuel Beckett early in his career. Rea so wanted to perform Beckett's play Krapp's Last Tape, he had the foresight to record his youthful self reading it. In his  production at Adelaide Festival, the audience got to hear those recordings.We head Back Stage to the hat maker's studio! In fiction there are lots of characters who are famous for their hats. Robin Hood. Sherlock Holmes.  Lady Bracknell (she needs a ridiculous hat). In our new series Back Stage, Michael meets theatre milliner Phillip Rhodes, who reveals how hats bring a character to life. Butoh is a dance form that started in Japan in the 1950s and was called 'the dance of darkness'. Dancers often wear white body paint and explore raw psychological states. But it can also be outrageous and funny, as veteran performer Yumi Umiumare tells us about her own life practising Butoh. Yumi's latest show was Butoh Bar: Out of Order II for Asia TOPA. First broadcast March 4 2025.

In 2025 Australian theatre legend Robyn Nevin directed And Then There Were None, a classic murder mystery by Agatha Christie. She talks to Michael about the darkness in Christie's stories, her view on changing acting styles and how Robyn finds her 'inner clown'. Playwright Patricia Cornelius explains why she had five actors playing the world's most famous hacker — Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, in her 2025 play TRUTH. She's joined by director Susie Dee.And you’ll discover a ballet about the great Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Michael speaks to Australian Ballet principal artist Callum Linnane, who first danced the part nine years ago in the ballet Nijinsky. First broadcast Feb 11.

Michael Cathcart and the team farewell you from The Stage Show. In front of a studio audience, Michael interviews the remarkable Denise Scott, who's about to tour her new comedy show ; songstress Bernadette Robinson (with pianist Mark Jones) gives us a taste of the grand dames who sang at Carnegie Hall. Theatre director and actor Rachael Maza reflects on her 18 years at the helm of the groundbreaking Ilbijerri Theatre Company. And singer and pianist Ian Andrew brings it home with the parody musical .

For 25 years Michael Cathcart has been presenting arts and culture shows on Radio National, bringing listeners stories and conversations with writers, performers, musicians, poets and playwrights, from across Australia and the world. On our second-final ever Stage Show, Michael revisits some of his most memorable interviews. From authors Salman Rushdie and Esther Freud, to playing the organ at the Melbourne Town Hall, Philip Glass, Genevive Lacey, Audra McDonald, a special performance of Macbeth in Noongar language. And an encounter with horse riding mother-and-daughter Gladys and Quitta Docking, on the road for Bush Telegraph.