Things to do in Sydney this week

The genre-defying, multi-award-winning, smash-hit Broadway sensation, Hadestown has finally made its way down to Sydneytown – and it’s unlike any musical you’ve ever seen or heard. With industrial steampunk aesthetics, a soulful jazz-folk fusion, and even a comment on our dying world, this is a brave new world for musical theatre. The Down Under debut of Hadestown opened at the Theatre Royal Sydney to a ready-made fanbase. There’s a lot of hype surrounding this show – the Broadway production picked up eight Tony Awards (including Best Musical for 2019) and still plays to packed houses today, and there’s also the highly successful West End production and the North American tour.  An incisive adaptation of the age-old myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Hadestown is the brainchild of indie-folk musician Anaïs Mitchell (with very clear influences from Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver, who appeared on the 2010 studio album). It started its life as a song cycle, and then a studio album, and now it’s a fully-formed stage musical with a dedicated international following. Hadestown is a spectacular challenge to what we think a musical is and can be Like many fans, I discovered Hadestown via the studio album and the Broadway recording. With such a strong, atmospheric tone, the music doesn’t even need visuals to shine – featuring everything from chugging vocal sounds, deep growling singing, floating falsettos, muted trombones, a train whistle, and heavy acoustic guitars. Hadestown is the...

If you’re of a certain age, you have history (HIStory, perhaps?) with Michael Jackson. I remember getting ‘Thriller’ on cassette as a kid. ‘Dangerous’ was one of the first CDs I ever owned. I remember seeing the extended music video for ‘Thriller’ on VHS, which came packaged with a behind-the-scenes documentary. One woman, cornered for a quick vox pop at one of the filming locations, asserted that she loved Jackson because he was “down to earth”, which is darkly hilarious in hindsight.  Down to earth? The press called him “wacko Jacko” – we all did. He slept in a hyperbaric chamber. He owned the Elephant Man’s skeleton. His skin kept getting paler, his nose thinner. What a weird guy! Was any of it true? Hard to say. Even today, when a careless tweet is like a drop of blood in a shark tank to fans and journos alike, the media furor around Michael Jackson stands as one of the most frenetic in living memory, eclipsing the likes of Beatlemania. Jackson wasn’t bigger than God, he was God to a lot of people – the King of Pop, the first Black artist to smash through the MTV colour barrier, an artist, an icon, a living legend. Then came the allegations of child sexual abuse, which first began in August 1993, and continue to this day. For those who were still on the fence, the documentary Leaving Neverland, released in 2019, saw many more fans abandon Jackson, who died in 2009 at the age of 50. And so, it makes sense that MJ the Musical would set Jackson’s relationship with the...

To bring a little musical joy to the Harbour City through the cooler months, Sydney’s historic waterside precinct The Rocks is hosting free jazz performances every Thursday throughout autumn and winter – with live performances by musicians from around Australia. Jazz Sessions in The Rocks will run from 6pm until 8.30pm every Thursday from Thursday, April 3 until Thursday, September 25 – so there’s plenty of time to catch the star-lit shows.  Local distillery Hickson House Distilling Co will be slinging gin-based cocktails, and there are a host of excellent restaurants in the area to keep you nourished pre and post show. The line-up so far includes harmonic duo Aaron Flower and Kate Wadey, the dynamic vocalist Leah Berry and Sydney-based ensemble Zodiac Quartet.The events are free to attend and there’s no need to book. You can learn more over here. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox.   RECOMMENDED:  Want more evening entertainment? These are the best bars and pubs in Sydney for live music. And these are the best shows to catch in Sydney this month. Need fun now? Here’s what’s on in Sydney this week

April 27, 2025 update: Transcend by Penfolds will also included a dedicated pop-up Bar, the Penfolds Lounge, open to walk ins and serving a range of wines by the glass.  Forget everything you’ve ever known about a normal, run-of-the-mill wine tasting session, because this exclusive 45-minute, multi-sensory experience is set to change the game. Transcend by Penfolds is a wine tasting reimagined, and offers the opportunity to sample Penfolds wines made in some of the best winemaking regions around the world, including Australia, France and the USA – as well as a taste of Penfolds' flagship Grange.  But that’s not all – everything about this highly immersive spectacle has been designed to enhance your sensory experience. Expect a unique soundscape accompanied by storytelling elements, plus dazzling visuals and lighting. The guided tasting will also be narrated by Penfolds senior winemaker, Steph Dutton. The experience will hit its crescendo with a ‘Grange palate cleanser’, which has been specifically designed to reinvigorate the palate ahead of tasting the Penfolds Flagship, Grange. It will leave you well and truly prepped to enjoy the gamut of complex aromas and flavours that Grange is most famous for. It’s all happening from May 2-11 in Sydney Arcade at 400 George Street, with multiple sessions available per day. To ensure you don’t miss out on this opportunity to try some really special tipples and throw around some fancy wine words, book your spot via the website.

Just like the Easter school holidays creep up on you, so does the spending on activities to keep the kids entertained. Skip out on the eye-watering ticket prices and pay a visit to the great-value Ingenia Holiday Parks Sydney Family Show this autumn. The family affair returns to the Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park, set to put the little – and not-so-little – ones in the Easter spirit without costing you a pretty penny. This year, the festivities kick off on Saturday, April 12 and will run until Sunday, April 27. The jam-packed program features everything from high-energy motorcycle and bike stunt shows to adorable little daschund meet and greets, carnival-style games and a carousel the whole family can enjoy. There will also be an adrenaline-pumping obstacle course, dodgem cars, a thrilling reptile show where you can get up close with snakes and crocs, and an animal nursery with cuddly ducklings, chicks, lambs, goats and piglets. Of course, there will be showbags galore too. For the first time the event welcomes an exciting lineup of shows set to wow little fans. The Paw Patrol Stage Show runs from April 12 to April 22 and the Bluey Live Interactive Experience from April 23 to April 27, and even better, there will be opportunities throughout the day to meet the characters (and snap a cheeky pic, too).  Be sure to go for a wander through the Easter Basket Zone and stock up on some treats. Animal lovers will be pleased to know that April 27 is Greyhound Adoption...

Call it “One Flew Over the Old Bird’s Nest”, if you like. Following its hugely successful debut with Melbourne Theatre Company in 2023, veteran comedian and Working Dog mainstay Tom Gleisner’s (The Castle, ABC television's Utopia) catchy new musical comedy set in a nursing home (and seasoned with a dash of tears, as expected) is now Sydney Theatre Company’s latest and very welcome offering. Directed by Dean Bryant (Dear Evan Hansen) with music by Katie Weston, Bloom is an across-the-board crowd-pleaser, the kind of popular four-quadrant gem that’s almost impossible to dislike. It even has a few pointed comments to make about the fraught state of aged care in Australia, but these never overwhelm the palpable sense of fun. What more could you want? We get two fish out of water (or Randle McMurphys, if you will) for the price of one here, both arriving at the understaffed, underfunded (and, as it eventuates, underestimated) Pine Grove Aged Care facility on the same day. One is new resident (or possibly inmate?) Rose (played by Evelyn Krape, reprising her role from the Melbourne run) – a feisty-to-the-point-of-prickly old dame, age has not wearied Rose, but it did lead to an accidental fire that made her an unwilling candidate for permanent care. The other is stoner/slacker/music student Finn (Sloan Sudiro), who was drawn here by the promise of a free room and board in exchange for some light duties. The duties turn out to be anything but light, as the frazzled staff –...

Friendship is at the heart of Big Girls Don’t Cry, a gorgeous slice-of-life drama that takes us back to 1960s Redfern, where three young Aboriginal women are gearing up for the biggest night of the year – the Deb Ball. Playwright and star Dalara Williams balances the bitter and the sweet in this engaging rom-com-inflected drama. As Cheryl (Williams), Queenie (Megan Wilding) and Lulu (Stephanie Somerville) navigate life’s ups and downs, audiences at Belvoir St Theatre are gifted with an all-too-rarely seen window into Blak sisterhood. While for these women, injustice may tarnish everything from going to work to walking the streets, where racist cops roam – nothing in the world can shake the sacred joy of a trio of girlfriends gathered in a bedroom and getting ready for a night out, tearing through outfit options and gossiping. Not even Cheryl’s concern for her beloved Michael (Mathew Cooper), who’s serving in Vietnam. However, could the distracting pull of the charming Milo (Nic English) be strong enough to tear her away from re-reading the same old love letters?  Inspired by her grandmothers’ stories and snapshots of history found in family photo albums, Williams has crafted an uplifting and entertaining drama that also doesn’t shy away from the violence and injustices of our all-too-recent history, and prompts us to question how much has really changed. Big Girls is not necessarily ground-breaking in its form, and it needn’t be, especially with a cast this good. Dalara...

Lets face it, heading along to the cinema ain’t cheap these days – add a choc top into the mix and yeesh, you may as well take out a second mortgage. If 2025 is all about saying yes to getting out and about but doing it on a budget, Parramatta has the answer: a bunch of free pop-up movie nights for the whole family to enjoy. The travelling Family Movie Nights pop-up event will span across two weekends sitting inside the NSW school holidays, with the first kicking off on Friday, April 11 at Binalong Park, Old Toongabbie. Wondering what’s on the line-up? Don’t worry, they won’t be dusting off the old VHS and playing Flubber (although 10/10 would watch again), organisers have nabbed an epic line-up of flicks including the 2025 Academy Award nominated musical spectacular, Wicked. It’s free, and I get to sing ‘Defying Gravity’ to the good people of Parramatta? Win, win! Not only will this family-friendly initiative from the City of Parramatta bring the magic of movies to the masses, but you can also expect a bit of a funfair with live music, art, games, food stalls, kid’s workshops and plenty more kicking off from 4pm before the film begins at sundown. City of Parramatta Lord Mayor Cr Martin Zaiter said the return of Family Movie Nights will be a welcome event for parents looking for cost-effective activities during the school holidays. “It’s getting harder for families to find fun yet affordable things to do during the school holidays, so we’re making life easier by putting on...

Just over a decade since it was last seen in Australia, Annie is back – bursting onto the Capitol Theatre stage filled with optimism, joy, and hope. Director Karen Mortimer revives this quintessential piece of musical theatre with a sentimental production that preserves the charm and flair found in Thomas Meehan’s book. For those living under a rock (mainly me), this Tony Award-winning musical follows the story of 11-year-old Annie, who is growing up in an orphanage in 1930s New York, under the cruel eye of Miss Hannigan. In the midst of the Great Depression, pessimism is all around, but chipper young Annie has the antidote: hope. Encouraging others to believe that “the sun will come out tomorrow”, Annie’s enduringly positive spirit seems to finally pay off, when billionaire Oliver Warbucks chooses to take her in for two weeks over Christmas. Four spirited young performers share the titular role in this production, alongside an alternating cast of child actors. On opening night, Dakota Chanel’s Annie is a ray of sunshine, fully embodying the doe-eyed optimism of the character, balancing warmth and comedy with the more tender and emotional segments. The whole ensemble of “orphans” share an incredible chemistry, which is strongly on display in their performance of ‘It’s The Hard Knock Life’. The stakes are high when it comes to such a well-known and well-loved song, but this ensemble more than meets the challenge with a passionate and committed performance.  Annie is the...

Arguably, Ensemble Theatre’s production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie deserves a better audience than it got on opening night.  At a key point in the play, well-meaning faded golden boy Jim O’Connor (Tom Rodgers) accidentally breaks a tiny glass unicorn, part of the titular collection of knick-knacks that shy, anxious Laura Wingfield (Bridie McKim) is obsessed with.  It’s a moment laden with meaning and pathos. Laura – who was left with a limp by a childhood illness, and is so shy and awkward that she dropped out of secretary school rather than face day after day of simply sitting in class with other people – is finally, tentatively, making a connection with Jim, her high school crush. Unbeknownst to her, the future of her family depends on this connection. The meeting has been engineered by her younger brother, Tom (Danny Ball), and mother, Amanda (Blazey Best). Marrying off Laura will free Tom, who works in a shoe warehouse to support the family, to run off and find the adventure he craves in the merchant marines. It will also elevate Amanda from the crushing poverty she’s endured since her estranged husband, whose faded photo dominates the stark set, ran off years ago.  But Laura is far too fragile for such a burden – she’s as delicate as the glass unicorn that Jim so carelessly crushes. And the quiet, crystal moment in the aftermath of that tiny, terrible accident was itself shattered when some halfwit in the first few rows stage-whispered, clear as a bell...