If there’s one thing that you can say about Cody Simpson, it’s that the guy really throws his all into whatever he sets his mind to – from his teen pop idol era, which saw him gain international fame and tour with Justin Bieber after signing a record deal at the age of 14 years old, to his recent stint in competitive swimming. His next challenge? High stakes musical theatre – performed outdoors, on a giant floating stage. That’s right, Opera Australia has just announced that Cody Simpson will make his Australian musical theatre debut in a brand-new production of the award-winning Broadway musical, Guys & Dolls, at Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour in March 2025.
Drawing on his ‘inner crooner’, Simpson will play the lead role of Sky Masterton, which was made famous in the 1955 film by Hollywood leading man Marlon Brando, starring alongside Frank Sinatra. Simpson joins an all-star cast including two of Australia’s favourite leading men, the uber-talented Irish expat Bobby Fox as Nathan Detroit, and the breakout star of Australia’s Hamilton, Jason Arrow, as the cheeky rogue, Nicely-Nicely Johnson, along with celebrated musical theatre performer Annie Aitken as the saintly Sarah Brown.
While this is Simpson’s Australian musical theatre debut, the singer is no stranger to treading the boards – he played the role of Dimitri in the Broadway musical Anastasia between 2018 and 2019. Soon after that, a little thing called Covid shut down the world’s theatres, and he threw himself into swimming, and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Olympics. All that training and stamina is about to come in handy though, as he prepares to tackle the elements and face off with “rain, wind and bat poop” on the epic Sydney Harbour stage.
Respected local director Shaun Rennie is taking the reins of this super-sized new production alongside musical director and supervisor Guy Simpson, which is set to transport audiences into a zoot suit-filled, colourful and glamorous 1950’s New York City filled with showgirls and gangsters. Guys & Dolls is regarded as one of the finest musicals ever written – from its premiere on Broadway in 1950, winning five Tony Awards including Best Musical, the Hollywood film adaptation in 1955, to its most recent smash-hit revival on the West End in London – it is filled to the brim with toe-tapping tunes, high-energy, vibrant dance numbers and plenty of laughs.
The Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour production of Guys & Dolls will play from March 21 – April 20, 2025. Tickets start at $79 for adults, and you can snap them up over here.
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