Rob 'Millsy' Mills is our number one musical man

Rob Mills and Gretel Scarlett will star in the new production of the musical GREASE. Picture: Damian Shaw Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

There is officially only one male performer in the Australian theatre industry.

Following lead roles in Wicked and Legally Blonde: The Musical, Rob Mills walked into the last day of auditions for Grease and walked out with a new name - Danny Zuko.

As the cast for much-loved multimillion-dollar production was confirmed yesterday, the Australian Idol alumnus said he only got the part two weeks ago after appearing in a previous, smaller rendition of the show and had always wanted to be the T-Birds captain. "I don't think I'm a cool guy, but I really wanted the jacket," he said. "I had a sparkly number, but I just really wanted to be a T-Bird. I met some incredible people on that tour. That's when I fell in love with the musical theatre community.

"They opened their arms to me and gave me a big hug and I haven't let go since."

Mills joins an eclectic line-up that includes newcomer Gretel Scarlett as Sandy and seasoned performers Bert Newton, Todd McKenney and Anthony Callea .

Grease is expected to run for at least six months and will open in Brisbane in August.

Mike Snell no longer weighting in the wings as he takes a leading role

Mike Snell poses in the wings at The Lyric Theatre after rehearsals for upcoming musical Legally Blonde. Picture: Richard Dobson Source: The Daily Telegraph

Amy Harris and Joel Christie, The Daily Telegraph, report

He lost 13kg to play the part of "the hot UPS guy" in Legally Blonde: The Musical, now musical theatre star Mike Snell is ready for love.

The Hairspray and Wicked singer and actor credits dropping so much weight with reviving his career.

"It gave me the confidence to become a leading man," he told Confidential yesterday. "It's changed my whole life. Now I just need a date.

"After all, my main line in the show is 'I have a package'."

Having appeared alongside Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz, Snell made it to the top of the leaderboard this year on Channel 10's I Will Survive. He said the show - which has bombed in the ratings - has suffered because it only appealed to a tiny pool of people.

"Musical theatre has a very small demographic in Australia, and then you add a drag element and it's even smaller," he said.

"It has a lot of heart and soul but it's a very niche market.

"Plus it's up against X Factor, which is just a juggernaut."

No love lost in this foreign affair

From left, cast members Stephen Mahy, Scott Johnson, Bobby Fox and Glaston Toft from Jersey Boys. Picture: Jeff Busby. Source: Supplied

Matthew Westwood, The Australian, reports

The show must go on, but given the angst over bringing foreign artists to these shores, you sometimes wonder that the curtain ever goes up. Jersey Boys, the hit musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, with a great Australian cast, almost came to grief during its Sydney run when five actors left the company or went on leave.

To avoid running the show without a prudent number of leads and covers, producer Rodney Rigby attempted to cast Australian actors in the roles. When that wasn't possible, he approached Equity - the actors' union, part of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance - about importing two foreign actors. "The union simply rejected our proposal," Rigby says.

As the song goes, Rigby decided to walk like a man. He applied to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship - which requires productions with foreign artists to have a net employment benefit - to bring in two actors who had worked on Jersey Boys in North America.

His frustration is palpable: "The choice of artists, to maintain the standard of our production for our audience, is paramount," he says. "We won't compromise on those issues, nor do we want any union or outside party determining artistic merit."

Here's another dimension to the foreign artists debate. Noni Hazlehurst won an AFI award for her role as Cate Blanchett's mum, Janelle, in Rowan Woods's gritty drama Little Fish about drug addiction in Sydney. But she could have missed out on the role and the award because, she says, the producers wanted a big-name foreign actress. "It would have been nonsensical to have had someone American or British," Hazlehurst says. "If Australian actors are only relegated to moths around a flame, we're losing cultural exactitude ... It doesn't have that authenticity."

The vexed issue of foreigners in the performing arts is similar to the bigger debate around protection for local industry. The MEAA wants to secure jobs for Australian actors, singers, dancers and musicians and build a sustainable talent pool. Producers want to go about their business unimpeded and employ foreign artists as they see fit.

During the past two decades the entertainment sector has boomed and the use of foreign performers has been managed through an agreement between industry body Live Performance Australia and the MEAA.

Something has broken. Last month LPA - representing subsidised and commercial producers - tore up its agreement with the MEAA. From June 25, says LPA president Andrew Kay, the union will no longer have veto over casting decisions.

The MEAA has since had shop floor meetings with actors across the country, from the cast of Under Milk Wood, in rehearsal at Sydney Theatre Company, to the Mary Poppins company now in Perth. The union says it will oppose unrestricted use of overseas artists.

The standoff comes at a critical juncture as officials grapple with guidelines on foreign actors, musicians and performers. In the film and television sector, discussions about updating the Foreign Performers Certification Scheme - in place since the early 1990s - appear to have stalled amid protests by actors last year.

In the music world, a plan floated by former arts minister Peter Garrett called the Foreign Music Acts Certification Scheme - requiring tour promoters to hire Australian support acts for international bands - went nowhere.

And Opera Australia artistic director Lyndon Terracini told The Australian's Opera 2012 roundtable discussion last month that he wanted to end the quota of 10 foreign singers a year, and hire up to 20.

In the subsidised not-for-profit sector - which includes the national opera and ballet companies - it makes sense that artists developed to maturity with support from the public purse have opportunities to perform, and that taxpayers get to see them.

In this way, OA and the Australian Ballet have become vital companies with strong ensembles of local artists. Open the floodgates to foreigners, the argument goes, and there is no incentive for Australians to stay.

"It is impossible to run an international career from Australia," artist manager Patrick Togher says. "The imported artists' agreement protects the livelihoods of singers who make their homes here. Drop the quota and they will all have to pack suitcases."

The discussion is not only about protecting jobs. Audiences want to see international stars. The ballet periodically invites international guests to Australia - often with the blessing of its dancers - and says the foreign glamour and experience they bring is good for the company.

And OA would not be able to cast its Ring cycle next year without some foreign singers, so rare are experienced Wagnerians in those difficult roles.

The industry agreements on foreign artists date back to the early 90s and some well-publicised instances of foreign casting, including a production of South Pacific.

In recent years, though, it has become rare to see foreigners on the musical stage. We're likelier to find terrific local talent, such as Amanda Harrison and Ben Mingay, the leads in An Officer and a Gentleman opening in Sydney this month.

Indeed, LPA figures show that during the past five years, almost every musical - from Billy Elliot to Wicked and Love Never Dies - has been cast entirely with Australian actors, apart from short-term replacements.

Rigby, who is producing the Australian premiere of The Addams Family in Sydney next year, says he intends to cast Australian actors wherever possible.

"It's an old-fashioned notion," he says, "but Australians like seeing Australians on stage, and when they get an opportunity they like seeing an international star on stage as well."

Part of the frustration with the LPA-MEAA agreement, for commercial producers, was the restriction on them touring foreign shows. Festivals and art centres were not party to the agreement, and this allowed the Sydney Opera House, for example, to program the Broadway drama This is Our Youth, with Michael Cera. Commercial producers want a bigger piece of the action.

It's clear that 20-year-old agreements need to keep pace with the needs of modern show business. But despite LPA assurances that nothing will change - the industry remains bound by the migration regulations, which require union consultation - the accord between producers and performers has ended badly. In a business that thrives on a spirit of collaboration, it points to a breakdown of trust.

Wicked! Bert Newton's back on stage

Bert Newton speaks to a Channel 9 TV crew after he was discharged from a hospital in Singapore. Picture: Joseph Nair Source: Herald Sun

Alice Coster, The Herald Sun, reports

Bert Newton is out of hospital, with Moonface back to his smiling self.

The hard-working Australian TV legend will return to the Wicked! stage in Singapore tomorrow, after being admitted to hospital last week with a health scare.

Wicked! spokeswoman Amanda Osborne yesterday said the 73-year-old was back to his old self and keen to return to work.

"He is absolutely back on track," she said.

Speculation was rife the TV stalwart had suffered a heart malfunction, with devoted wife Patti making a mad dash from the Celebrity Apprentice set to be by his side in Singapore on Friday.

It is understood Newton was suffering from a "heavy cold", which hit many of the stage production's cast and crew, and had surgery to clear fluid from his lungs.

"Bert Newton has not had a heart attack or emergency heart surgery in Singapore," Ms Osborne said.

"He has had a very heavy cold, which caused him some minor complications and a short stint in hospital.

She said Newton was admitted to hospital last week and was rested from performing as a precaution after a bout of pneumonia last June.

"Due to a bout of debilitating pneumonia last year, Newton has to be extra cautious."