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Aussie icons head west

Powerhouse vocalist Casey Donovan will join a star-studded season of entertainment at The Clocktower Centre in a year that will also bring some of our country’s best-loved and most enduring performers to the north-west.

More than 20 years after she won hearts as the winner of Australian Idol, Casey Donovan has amassed an impressive theatrical resume and cemented herself as an icon of New Year’s Eve entertainment.

Her new show, ‘THIS IS ME’, features highlights from The Sapphires, We Will Rock You, Chicago, 9 To 5, & Juliet and Sister Act, alongside NYE favourites and never-before-heard original songs.

Donovan will take to the stage in Moonee Ponds on Sunday 24 May.

The 2026 Clocktower season will open on Friday 27 February when guitar virtuoso Slava Grigoryan joins Melbourne Chamber Orchestra for ‘Flexible Sky’.

On 27-28 March, musical theatre’s Rachael Beck will perform ‘In Their Own Words’, weaving anecdotes from the likes of Ita Buttrose, Marcia Langton and Carlotta, with the music of famous Australian songwriters such as Missy Higgins, Kate Miller-Heidke and Kate Ceberano.

In April, Na Djinang Circus will bring together Indigenous Australian, migrant, and colonial histories in one physical theatre performance; ‘Of the Land on which We Meet’, while on 1-2 May, audiences will have the chance to experience playwright Tom Holloway’s ‘Beyond the Neck’, a profoundly compassionate portrait of a community living with loss.

In August, music lovers will get the change to see a different side of The Whitlams’ frontman Tim Freedman at an intimate solo show, ‘Moonlit Deck’. As part of the show, Freedman will explore the untold stories behind some of his most loved songs.

Everyone’s favourite sister act, Vika and Linda, will bring their signature blend of harmonies and storytelling back to the Clocktower stage on 4 September, before ‘Temple of Desire’ – a sumptuous and subversive Indian dance piece that even audiences to stay behind for the afterparty – takes over on 6 November.

School holidays programming includes Junkyard Beats in April, a visit from Spot the dog in June and The Teeny Tiny Stevies in September.

Details: clocktowercentre.com.au/clocktower-theatre-season/

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