Filmed late last year in Melbourne’s beautiful Regent Theatre, this represents a rare opportunity to see a recording of a stage production of a major musical.

As the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, the most successful entertainment product of all time, Lloyd Webber has said Love Never Dies serves well as a stand-lone piece in its own right. This taping of Love Never Dies consists of a very strong Australian cast and a different set to the West End production.

While Love Never Dies received mostly lukewarm reviews in London, the Australian production was only staged after some reworking and rewriting had taken place. The Melbourne and Sydney productions both opened to rave reviews in the Australian press.

American theatre lovers are yet to see Love Never Dies on Broadway and there’s a chance it may never arrive, so here’s your chance to see the show on DVD or Blu-Ray. See online purchase links below.

JB HiFi (Australia)

Sanity (Australia)

DVD.co.uk (UK)

Amazon (UK)

Amazon (US) (delayed release)

Lovers of Broadway everywhere, get ready! On February 6, NBC will premiere what it hopes will be its next big hit, Smash, a television drama about the actors, theatre-makers and relationships behind a fictional Broadway musical on the life of Marilyn Monroe.

If you’re already thinking Glee, Smash will mostly showcase original tunes written for the show by the Tony Award winning collaborators of the stage musical Hairspray, Marc Shaiman (music) and Scott Wittman (lyrics), with a couple of pop covers thrown in each episode.

Smash will feature several actors who have not only starred in television and film, but have also made careers treading the boards. The pack will be led by Will and Grace Emmy Award winner, Debra Messing, and veteran actor Angelica Houston. The cast also includes Jack Davenport (The Pirates of the Caribbean), actress and singer Katharine McPhee, plus a number of both new and regular Broadway performers.

The show was originally conceived by Steven Spielberg. US viewers can watch the full pilot episode, below, until February 6.

Known for his work across a range of mediums, Rush is already in the rare position of owning an Oscar, a Tony and an Emmy.

In recent years, Rush has starred in The Pirates Of The Caribbean films, Eugene Ionesco’s play Exit The King and the film The King’s Speech.

Rush won an Oscar for his role in the 1996 film Shine and a Tony for his performance in Exit The King at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre in 2009.

Geoffrey Rush lives in Melbourne (the home of The Drama Teacher) and regularly performs on stage for The Melbourne Theatre Company.

One of the best compliments I have ever received from a student after attending the theatre was when a 17 year-old said to me the show we had just seen was better than any of the films she had seen in the past year. That’s a big call from a teenager! Television, computers and film seem to offer so much more than live theatre to the youth of today who often seem to be programmed only to enjoy seeing something if it is on a screen.

I tell my students that as good as film can be, it is a dead art. What they see has been filmed out of sequence in multiple locations over many weeks, months ago, and chopped up in the editing room. Actors receive an opportunity for many takes at various scenes, perfecting it until the content is acceptable. But the theatre is a living art. What a young person sees is alive on a stage only metres away in the same space. The actors must get it right on the night for the audience and there is no greater pressure and challenge than that.

In the theatre, audience members all have a slightly different perspective of the same action from different seats in the house. Some can see only parts of a stage set, while others may see lighting instruments as well and everyone has a different view. If one is fortunate to see the same show more than once (I’m no fanatic, but I’ll happily admit I saw the stage version of the musical Hairspray four times), then the joy is in understanding how no one stage performance is exactly the same .. but that reel of film is identical across the globe.

Drama students can gain so much valuable knowledge from attending live theatre, either with their teacher, parents or friends. The company is not important, it is the experience that matters most. A young person can only receive so much from reading about the theatre in a book, listening to their teacher in the classroom or even reading a play. There is no substitute for attending the theatre and no better method for a student to learn about the wonderful craft we teach.

Patrick Healy from The New York Times takes a behind the scenes look at some of the ups and downs of the year that was.

Broadway figures in a 53-week 2010-11 season from 24 May 2010 through to 29 May 2011, saw a 5.4% increase in attendance over the 2009-10 season to 12.5 million tickets sold for both plays and musicals combined. Box office figures during the same period were up 5.9% to $1.08 billion.

Who said the state of the economy is hurting our leisure spending?

Developed by Arts Victoria, the Victorian Government’s arts funding and policy body, Theatre Alive was established to fill a need in the market where lovers of independent theatre in and around Melbourne could find information on shows and upcoming attractions.

Most impressive on Theatre Alive’s website is a directory listing of nearly 200 independent theatre companies and artists. Each company is alphabetically sorted with an image and brief description about who they are, accompanied by relevant contact details. In case you thought that was impressive, how about another directory listing of 40 Melbourne venues for independent theatre, as well.

Most importantly, Theatre Alive’s main website section covers current and upcoming independent theatre shows in Melbourne, including necessary booking details. The average theatre goer can also publish their own review or check out links to independent theatre reviews in Melbourne’s daily press. There are also areas for news and employment, casting, training and professional development opportunities in the scene.

If you’re an independent theatre artist or company in Melbourne, your listing is free on the Theatre Alive website. As for drama and theatre teachers, whether you take the students or just visit independent theatre without them, Theatre Alive is a fantastic resource for you.

Search options for shows include:

• show title
• excursions and incursions
• curriculum area
• year level
• school term
• kilometres from your postcode

For school incursions (the show comes to you), teachers enter information that generates a booking inquiry, which is passed on to the show presenter who gets back to you. For excursions (you go to the venue), either a booking enquiry is made (as per above) or the actual seats to the show are sold on the Shows For Schools website if the show presenter has opted for this to occur. Could it be any easier?

Plus, the Shows for Schools website has shows to be booked K-12 in all curriculum areas, not just Drama. The website is informative, clean-cut and easy to navigate, with images of the various shows and all the details teachers need to know. A welcome initiative!

The BBC has reported the troubled sequel to The Phantom of the Opera will close after a little more than a year at London’s Adelphi Theatre (opened 9 March 2010). Love Never Dies received lukewarm reviews from the British press and the planned Broadway production never eventuated.

Enter Melbourne. Keen to seize an opportunity, the Melbourne production of Love Never Dies opened on 29 May to very favourable reviews. This revamped version represents a significant rewrite and a new set, different to that of the London production. The BBC has quoted Lloyd Webber as saying the current Australian production “cannot be improved upon”. We can only assume the Melbourne version will hit Broadway in the near future.

Life as a high school Drama teacher has been hectic the past few weeks. When I can find a spare hour, I will finally get around to my “to do” list and write my review of the Melbourne production of Love Never Dies for The Drama Teacher. It is indeed a beauty!