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September 2022 – John McRae Photography & Studio

La Cage Aux Folles in Sydney

La Cage Aux Folles will be playing in Sydney at the Concourse at the end of November. Tickets available at Ticketek here:

  • Directed By Cameron Menzies
  • Musical Direction by Craig Renshaw
  • Choreography by Veronica Beattie George
  • Production Design by James Browne
  • Lighting Design by Karen Norris
  • Wigs and Make-up Design by Drew-Elizabeth Johnstone
  • Sound Design by Anthony Lorenz

The iconic Paul Capsis will be joining an all-star cast including Michael Cormick to delight Sydney audiences. We captured some images of Paul at the studio recently in preparation for the production. Here are some behind the scenes shots of Paul getting ready for publicity imagery. As always it is a joy to work with Paul. His ability to make you laugh is unsurpassed.

Paul in makeup with Vincent Wang (MUA), watched on by La Cage Aux Folles producer David Hawkins

Bells Are Ringing

CASTS & CREATIVES

Directed by Luke Joslin 
Musical Director Su Hee Cho
Choreographer Matthew Jensen
Design Angela Meany
Production Assistant/SM Alexis Worthing
Producer Michelle Guthrie

Starring Penny McNamee
with Andrew Cutcliffe, Wayne Scott Kermond, Octavia Barron Martin, Ava Madon, Drew Livingston, Vincent Huynh, Dean Vince, Emily Cascarino, Joel Houwen, James MacAlpine, Chloe Malek, Siena Elchaar


The Hayes Theatre, Potts Point, is well known for its staging of musicals and theatre productions. One such production is the musical, Bells Are Ringing. This piece is part of a Hayes Theatre’s initiative whereby long standing musicals are selected as part of a “forgotten musicals” genre.

What is also interesting in these productions is that the cast comes together and is given the scripts one day before the musical opens to the public. This means that the cast is challenged with the formidable task of presenting something which is almost not rehearsed…..to the point that they cast members read from scripts on stage as part of the presentations. This creates a captivating set of conditions as the audience is simultaneously invested in the outcome.

As Penny MacNammee states in a recent interview, “The unique and thrilling experience that comes with performing a Neglected Musical, is three-fold for me. Firstly, the challenge of learning and staging a show in just a day, the thrill of performing that show in front of a live audience who are invested in the process, and finally the joy of rediscovering and presenting a forgotten, but cherished musical!”

I was asked to shoot for the production on their first public performance of the show. It was a great experience to capture the moment. The following is a selection of shots…..

If you missed this production at the Hayes make sure you catch one of their works in the future. Keep up to date by visiting their web site here: The Hayes Theatre, Sydney.

Charles Cooper launches his monograph at Annandale Galleries

Charles Cooper is a well known, accomplished, incredibly talented artist who has an impressive CV and career. For many years he has been part of the permanent stable of artists showing at the prestigious Annandale Galleries, Trafalgar Street, Annandale. Charles also works as drawing lecturer at the National Art School

On Saturday 10 September, 2022 at the Annandale Galleries Charles launched a monograph of his work over the last 40 years. Dr Michael Hill, Head of Art History and Theory at the National Art School, spoke at the launch together with Joe Frost who contributed the accompanying text in the book. John McDonald (Art Critic) wrote, “”It’s illuminating to read Joe Frost’s description of Cooper’s career and trace the evolution of his work. While the artist’s themes and ideas have remained consistent, the formal innovations have never ceased.”

I captured a few images from the launch (selection pictured below). The book is available from Charle’s website: www.charlescooperartist.com

Moulin Scrooge at the Seymour Centre this December

Trevor Ashley is at it again! This Christmas will see Trevor flying high in a raucous parody called “Moulin Scrooge” being performed at the Seymour Centre in December, 2022.

I had the pleasure of working with Trevor again on the photography for the poster work. We hadn’t seen each other for some time so it was great to have him in full make-up and drag, bursting into the studio for the shoot.

We set up a mock trapeze in the centre of the studio as the main prop to recreate the illusion of “Nicole Kidman”. As you can imagine the whole shoot was hilarious. Trevor has a natural capacity to keep you giggling even when you should be concentrating on more serious concerns.