Daryl Somers OAM

Daryl Somers is best known for his television work, being the co-creator, executive producer and host of Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Australia’s longest running and most successful comedy/variety show. The program started on the 9th October, 1971 and clocked up 30 years overall. There were many other shows along the way, including Family Feud, The Daryl Somers Tonight Show,New Faces, Blankety Blanks, Dancing with the Stars and countless Specials. Daryl has hosted the TV Week Logie Awards on five occasions and amassed 31 Logies over his long career, including three Gold.          

Apart from television, Daryl has always loved performing live on stage. His musical theatre credits stretch back to playing Sancho in Man of La Mancha (1988), The Billiard Marker in Mike Batt’s The Hunting of the Snark, Harry Macafee in Bye Bye Birdie, Nicely Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls and the tap-dancing Max Renfield in Hot Shoe Shuffle.

In the January 2004 Australia Day Honours List, Daryl was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the television and entertainment industries, to charitable organisations and to the community.

He is very excited to be playing Max Bialystock, having flown to New York 15 years ago specifically to see Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the Broadway production and literally bumping into Mel Brooks at the theatre. Daryl congratulates Dramatic Productions for donating ten percent of the season’s takings to charity and hopes you enjoy the show in this intimate setting of the Gungahlin Theatre.

Jason, 26, values versatility both on and off stage, and admits some similarity to his character Leo in their yearning for the magic of showbiz from behind the desk in a respectable profession.

Jason graduated with a Bachelor of Music from Adelaide Uni in 2013.

A well-rounded performer, his experience on stage includes choral work with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and roles in opera and music theatre.

He scored leading roles in local productions of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2015), Guys and Dolls (2015) and Catch Me If You Can (2016).

After several years working in Adelaide in music teaching, choral directing and promotional entertainment, he moved to France in 2016 to complete a double master of international business, before moving back to Australia to begin his current job at the Embassy of France. This is his theatre debut in Canberra.

Paul is playing Roger de Bris, the worst director on Broadway, for you tonight. The role allows Paul, with his signature presence and comic revelry, to mock fascism and honour the many creative directors who've made musical theatre the institution we love.

Paul thanks all the directors in Canberra area theatre for casting him as Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, Charlie Clench in One Man Two Guvnors, Bailey in Barnum: The Circus Musical and Les Kendall in Strictly Ballroom: The Musical.

Paul wishes it known that he has drawn on none of his experience with those directors to inform his portrayal of Roger.

Jake recently reignited his passion for musical theatre by starring in the Full Monty and is now fully immersed into the theatre community.

Now onto his second show after his long awaited return he fears that he may be type cast as “The gay” character for the rest of his acting career unless he can stop throwing off “that vibe”.

Carmen has always been a role that he has related to and it is now his immense pleasure to help bring the character to life.

During his hiatus from musical theatre Jake has been performing for the women of the nation as a male entertainer and is now extremely excited to continue to broaden his horizons back into theatre.

Jake wears a suit to his day job, and his birthday suit to his night job.

Jake has always been a performer and hosts some of the most spectacular shower concerts around.

His two beautiful dachshunds also enjoy his impromptu interpretive kitchen dance numbers.

Deb has been performing since the age of 4, first as a dancer and then later as a performer in Musical Theatre, Stage and Screen.

You will occasionally see Deb on your local TV station in a number of local television commercials.  Deb’s recent Canberra productions include 42nd Street, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and Into the Woods (there are many many more, but to list them would reveal her actual age - which is not actually 82 as you might think from her performance as “Hold Me Touch Me”

Deb is very proud to once again be working with Dramatic Productions and very excited to be working with such a wonderful cast and production team.  An avid watcher of Hey Hey its Saturday and Hey Dad, she is really honoured to be working with Mr Daryl Somers and Ms Rachel Beck in this fabulous production. She hopes you enjoy the show.

Lauren could not be more thrilled to be apart of Dramatic Productions 'The Producers'. She has previously taken part in other productions such as Wedding Singer (Queanbeyan Players) and Hello dolly! (Queanbeyan Players). As a childcare educator by day, she's enjoyed the change of pace in humour and music. Other than being an educator, Lauren spends most of her time drowning in the arts, taking vocal lessons with Tara Davidson, taking ballet classes at Legs Performing Arts and studying her diploma in children's services.

When requested to give an 'interesting fact about herself' Lauren realised that she was not very interesting. The only facts that she could offer was that she attempts to learn French at least twice a year, she has no sense of smell and that she really hopes you enjoy this production.

Deb has been performing since the age of 4, first as a dancer and then later as a performer in Musical Theatre, Stage and Screen.

You will occasionally see Deb on your local TV station in a number of local television commercials.  Deb’s recent Canberra productions include 42nd Street, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and Into the Woods (there are many many more, but to list them would reveal her actual age - which is not actually 82 as you might think from her performance as “Hold Me Touch Me”

Deb is very proud to once again be working with Dramatic Productions and very excited to be working with such a wonderful cast and production team.  An avid watcher of Hey Hey its Saturday and Hey Dad, she is really honoured to be working with Mr Daryl Somers and Ms Rachel Beck in this fabulous production. She hopes you enjoy the show.

Since 2013, Ronan has been performing in high school theatre productions and fringe festivals. He attended Canberra Academy for Dramatic Arts (CADA) for two years and is known for his stage presence and wacky characterisation.

Ronan has performed comedic roles in high school productions such as 'This is theatre!', a production about the evolution of theatre which he co-wrote (2013), Jethro in 'Opening a Fuzzwollops Frame of Mind' (2014), Captain Spotsworth in '2061 a Space Idiocy' (2015), Bobby in 'Man of steel' (2016), Ensemble in 'Ubu Roi' (2017) and Sammy in 'Blood Brothers' (2018).

Since graduating year 12, Ronan hopes to be a part of many theatre productions with the Producers being a start.

After taking a break from theatre for the last few years, Josh has had the pleasure of putting his tap skills to the test as an ensemble member of The Producers. He's also welcomed the opportunity to really stretch himself as an actor by playing the young, gay male with an interest in theatre, Kevin - one of the members of Roger's production team.

Previously Josh has performed in several local musicals, including Beauty and the Beast (2016) and Peter Pan (2017) with Ickle Pickle Productions, having most recently performed in Sweeny Todd (2017) with Dramatic Productions.

Deb has been performing since the age of 4, first as a dancer and then later as a performer in Musical Theatre, Stage and Screen.

You will occasionally see Deb on your local TV station in a number of local television commercials.  Deb’s recent Canberra productions include 42nd Street, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and Into the Woods (there are many many more, but to list them would reveal her actual age - which is not actually 82 as you might think from her performance as “Hold Me Touch Me”

Deb is very proud to once again be working with Dramatic Productions and very excited to be working with such a wonderful cast and production team.  An avid watcher of Hey Hey its Saturday and Hey Dad, she is really honoured to be working with Mr Daryl Somers and Ms Rachel Beck in this fabulous production. She hopes you enjoy the show.

Silvana has been refining her role of Lesbian Shirley Markowitz through rigorous method acting for years. However, her stage experience has taken her in a  different direction having spent the last few years performing as ensemble in the We Will Rock You Arena Spectacular at AIS Stadium and WEC, dipping her toes into the deep waters of circus in Barnum: The Circus Musical, rocking out on stage as Lambchops in Fame and being a pox-ridden peasant in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Alongside her musical theatre, Silvana has spent the last year performing juggling, adagio, fire twirling, and fire-eating as part of circus duo, High Notes Circus, with her partner. The two have performed at Folk Festival, Boogong, and have just finished producing a successful Circus Cabaret at the Abbey.

Deb has been performing since the age of 4, first as a dancer and then later as a performer in Musical Theatre, Stage and Screen.

You will occasionally see Deb on your local TV station in a number of local television commercials.  Deb’s recent Canberra productions include 42nd Street, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and Into the Woods (there are many many more, but to list them would reveal her actual age - which is not actually 82 as you might think from her performance as “Hold Me Touch Me”

Deb is very proud to once again be working with Dramatic Productions and very excited to be working with such a wonderful cast and production team.  An avid watcher of Hey Hey its Saturday and Hey Dad, she is really honoured to be working with Mr Daryl Somers and Ms Rachel Beck in this fabulous production. She hopes you enjoy the show.

Deb has been performing since the age of 4, first as a dancer and then later as a performer in Musical Theatre, Stage and Screen.

You will occasionally see Deb on your local TV station in a number of local television commercials.  Deb’s recent Canberra productions include 42nd Street, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and Into the Woods (there are many many more, but to list them would reveal her actual age - which is not actually 82 as you might think from her performance as “Hold Me Touch Me”

Deb is very proud to once again be working with Dramatic Productions and very excited to be working with such a wonderful cast and production team.  An avid watcher of Hey Hey its Saturday and Hey Dad, she is really honoured to be working with Mr Daryl Somers and Ms Rachel Beck in this fabulous production. She hopes you enjoy the show.

Nicola has been involved in the dramatic arts ever since primary school. She previously danced for Canberra’s Fresh Funkfor a number of years and starred in Narrabundah College’s 2016 production of The Accusedas Jennifer Mitchell, for which she won a CAT award for Best Youth Actress in a Leading Role in a Play. She has completed term 1 of the 2018 CADA Screen Acting 101 course and has also gone on to be a part of the ensemble of Harvest Rain’s production of Grease in 2018.

Nicola loves to sing and regularly performed during her college years. Some performances were more impromptu and others were prearranged, like the Autumn and Winter Concerts as well as Yuddah at the Ainsle Arts Centre in 2015. Both of which, were organised by Narrabundah College.

Stephanie was most recently seen in Dramatic Productions’ The Producers (2019), and as Mayella Ewell in Canberra Repertory Society’s To Kill a Mockingbird (2019) for which she earned a Canberra Area Theatre Award (CAT Award) Nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play. She has also been involved in numerous Canberra theatre productions over the past few years, some of her favorites include; Ensemble in "The Who's Tommy", Green Girl in “Shout! The Mod Musical”, Ferdyshchenko in “The Idiot”, Doris Walker in "Miracle on 34th Street", Gwendolen Fairfax in "The Importance of Being Earnest", Various Roles in "The Laramie Project", and several others.

Stephanie is currently completing a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Stage & Screen) at Actors Centre Australia in Sydney, to be completed December 2024, and has also recently completed a Certificate IV in Musical Theatre with Perform Australia (2019).

During her time at ACA so far, Stephanie has had the absolute pleasure of performing various roles including Gwendolen Fairfax in "The Importance of Being Earnest", Lyubov Ranevskaya in "The Cherry Orchard", Gabrielle York (Older) in "When the Rain Stops Falling", Miranda in "NSFW", Hamlet/Ophelia in "Hamlet", Virginia in "Ruben Guthrie" and Lady Capulet/Chorus in "Romeo and Juliet", and Usher/God/Understanding in "Everybody".