This January, Sydneysiders and visitors will be enticed to take part in an exhilarating summer of art across 23 days of storytelling, knowledge sharing and cultural immersion in Festival Director Olivia Ansell’s fourth and final festival line-up.
Sydney Festival encourages you to immerse yourself in a summer of unforgettable performances, ground-breaking new works, and exclusive experiences that reimagine the world around us. Australian Arts Review takes a look at fifteen events worth checking out!
Cinderella (Cendrillon)
2 January – 28 March
After packed-out runs at the Metropolitan Opera of New York and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, this playful new staging of Cinderella (Cendrillon) makes a grand Australian debut presented by Opera Australia. With a delightful dash of humour, lavish costumes and playful choreography Laurent Pelly’s staging transports audiences into a land of enchantment and nostalgia. Relishing the role, audience favourite and internationally renowned Australian mezzo Emma Matthews helps make dreams come true as the Fairy Godmother.
Colour Maze
4 – 25 January
Colour Maze is an imaginative play experience that inspires children and the young at heart to get hands-on with visual art and journey through the “Tongpop” aesthetic of Sydney Festival Visual Artist in Residence Telly Tuita. Brought to life by public art experts Amigo & Amigo, the studio has teamed up with Tuita to create ten rooms for young explorers to wind their way through – with building blocks, swings and knitted playgrounds. Kids can channel their inner artist with climbable craft and sticker activities featuring Tongan motifs through a blaze of colour.
AFTERWORLD
7 – 11 January
The timeless Greek myth of Eurydice takes on new life in AFTERWORLD – a world premiere work that brings together the visionary choreography of Sue Healey, the live percussion and electronic music of innovative composer Laurence Pike, and five incredible dancers, set against the ethereal film presence of 109-year-old Eileen Kramer as the tragic Eurydice.
Cowboy
8 – 11 January
Saddle up for Cowboy at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatres, an interactive solo contemporary dance work where audiences are not just a spectator; they are brawling in the saloon, robbing a train and transforming the story as it unfolds for one hell of a ride. Creator and performer Michael Smith, armed with an original score by Regurgitator bassist Ben Ely, gallops across the frontier to reveal the shared humanity beneath the Stetson, and the raw desires and hidden vulnerabilities that shape our identities.
MULTIPLE BAD THINGS
8 – 12 January
The internationally acclaimed Back to Back Theatre – winner of the 2024 Venice Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre – returns to Sydney Festival with the must-see Multiple Bad Things. The Sydney Opera House stage will be transformed into a toneless warehouse at the end of the world wherein three employees wrestle with a seemingly pointless task and struggle to work together.
Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera
8 – 25 January
Making its World Premiere at the festival, Constantine Costi and Luke Di Somma’s brand-new Australian opera, Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera, is a modern stage spectacle inspired by Las Vegas’ most famous and legendary duo. Raised in war-torn Germany, the eccentric showmen went on to become the highest paid magic act Sin City had ever seen. Complete with live magic, powerhouse vocals, and the iconic duo’s show stopping tiger, Mantacore, this epic new opera has plenty of tricks up its bedazzled sleeves.
Milestone
10 & 11 January
Celebrating his 80th birthday, the beloved Chinese-Australian visual and performance artist, William Yang, reflects on a remarkable life well-lived in Milestone. Set against Elena Kats-Chernin’s haunting score, performed live by a chamber ensemble and Kats-Chernin on piano, Yang weaves together themes of family, cultural and sexual identity with his signature blend of warmth, disarming humour and total candour. Drawing on Yang’s vast collection of documentary photographs, Milestone is also the story of queer Australia, from the early days of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras to the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 90s.
Tina – A Tropical Love Story
11 – 12 January
Blending storytelling, cabaret and dazzling drag, Tina – A Tropical Love Story is a heartfelt tribute to the indomitable spirit of Tina Turner. Enter the enchanting realm of First Nations drag performer Miss Ellaneous (AKA Ben Graetz), who shares deeply personal tales of growing up in Darwin and the profound impact of the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Tina – A Tropical Love Story is written, performed and directed by Graetz with special performances from guest artists from the drag, First Nations and queer performance scene. Simply the best!
KATMA
15 – 19 January
KATMA is a slang term from Sudan meaning “suffocation” or “no room for breathing” – a word that describes the intensity of hard partying. This immersive performance, directed by Azzam Mohamed (Sculptured Riddims), brings that frenetic energy to the dancefloor, pulling inspiration from both Sudan and Australia’s party scenes. With no seats, the audience is part of the action, fully surrounded by seven dancers performing a dynamic fusion of street and club dance styles: breaking, hip-hop, krump, waacking, locking, house and Afro dances.
The Chronicles
16 – 19 January
Following Colossus and Manifesto (smash successes at Sydney Festival in 2020 and 2023), The Chronicles is a cathartic new dance work by Australia’s boldest choreographer, Stephanie Lake. Lake’s explosive bodily language is translated by twelve incredible dancers alongside a masterful electro-acoustic score by Robin Fox, the ethereal sounds of a children’s choir and a stirring solo vocalist. Pulsing with energy and sensuality, The Chronicles explores the cycles of life and the inevitability of change.
Christie Whelan Browne: Life in Plastic
14 January
In a deeply personal cabaret, musical powerhouse Christie Whelan Browne (Show People) looks back from her childhood to today – from the blue light discos and crushing teenage doubt to battles with endometriosis and her own self-worth – to tell a tale of hard-worn self-acceptance. Written and directed by Sheridan Harbridge, Life in Plastic features a dizzying array of dance hits and pop anthems. Plus, guest appearances from Barbie, some full-on dental braces, soul-bearing diary entries and one triumphant dancing dinosaur, in a story of finding oneself and loving that person without bounds.
In Her Own Words
15 – 18 January
Australian star of stage and screen, Rachael Beck (Beauty and the Beast, Les Misérables, Cats) performs a collection of verbatim stories shared by extraordinary Australian women. Co-created by James Millar (Matilda the Musical) and with contributions by local singer/songwriters, In Her Own Words is an anecdotal, surprising and revealing celebration of inspiring female stories with stories from composer-pop star Kate Miller-Heidke, visual artists Yvette Coppersmith and Sally Browne, screen producer Celia Tait, Oz Harvest visionary Ronni Kahn, journalist and bestselling author Sarah Wilson, choreographer Kelley Abbey, Les Girls legend Carlotta and more.
Jacky
16 January – 2 February
After a knockout run, the gritty new play Jacky arrives at Belvoir Theatre with its whip smart deconstruction of private life, work life and that thing called ‘culture’. Written by Arrernte playwright Declan Furber Gillick and directed by Mark Wilson, Jacky stars Guy Simon (Jasper Jones, The Visitors) returning in the title role alongside Greg Stone (A Doll’s House, Part 2).
The Bridal Lament
23 – 26 January
Drawing on her Weitou ancestry, Rainbow Chan reimagines a ritual known as the bridal lament, a public performance of grief in which a bride wept and sang in front of family and friends. Conceived and structured as a song cycle, The Bridal Lament brings to life intergenerational and cross-cultural perspectives on diasporic experiences and the complex history of Hong Kong. With a new suite of songs by Chan and direction from CAAP Artistic Director Tessa Leong, this lush and lavish work pays homage to ritual in a vibrant world of projection, movement and colour.
Katie Noonan: Jeff Buckley’s Grace
21 – 25 January
The angelic vocals and emotional depth of Jeff Buckley’s 1994 masterpiece, Grace, will be paid tribute by multi-award-winning Australian singer and festival favourite Katie Noonan on the occasion of the seminal album’s 30th anniversary. Two years after her “spine-tingling” (Sydney Morning Herald) tribute to Joni Mitchell’s Blue at Sydney Festival, the ARIA Award-winning Australian singer and her band recreate Grace for five mesmerising shows.
Sydney Festival 2025 runs 4 – 26 January. For more information and full program, visit: www.sydneyfestival.org.au for details.
Images: Colour Maze (render) | Cinderella (ROH) – photo by Bill Cooper | Colour Maze (render) | Afterworld – photo by Gregory Lorenzutti | Michel Smith stars in Cowboy – photo by Ben Lindberg | Multiple Bad Things – photo by Jeff Busby | Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera – photo by Jacqui Manning | William Yang – photo by George Gittoes | Miss Ellaneous (Ben Graetz) stars in Tina – A Tropical Love Story (supplied) | KATMA – photo by Anna Kucera | Stephanie Lake Company presents The Chronicles – photo by Daniel Boud | Christie Whelan Browne in Life in Plastic – photo by Claudio Raschella | Rachael Beck presents In Her Own Words (supplied) | Guy Simon stars in Jacky – photo by Jo Duck | The Bridal Lament – photo by Capsule48 | Katie Noonan (supplied)