Ho Ho Ho! STAGES has completed yet another season. Season 8! And 600+ episodes. You know what that means … it’s time to haul out the holly and pull those bon-bons.

As is tradition, we conclude season 8 with our annual Christmas episode. The perfect companion as you wrap your presents, put up the tree, peel a prawn and pour another glass of pineapple punch!

Once again I am joined by ‘Mary Christmas’ herself, the inimitable Kate Fitzpatrick who will no doubt provide her take on the cricket and the festive season. Always a treat!

And special guests galore come into the STAGES studio to escape the ‘icy footpath, chestnuts roasting and snow covered stoops’ of our Christmas trained brains.

Publicist Ian Phipps will say hello and advise us what to look out for on national stages in 2026.

Drag Doyen Stan Munro has written his autobiography with companion author William Brougham, and they’ll join us to celebrate ahead of the book’s January release.

The busiest couple in showbiz, Grant Piro and Marina Prior found time in their chockablock schedules to bring some Christmas cheer.

Old mates Hugh Monroe and Donna Lee too, via the magic of Christmas allow us an in depth conversation with Santa and Mrs Claus ahead of their busiest time of the year.

And we wrap it all up with our favourite Christmas anthem, penned by Ron Creager & Tina Messina, and performed by Lauren Schmutter, ‘Christmas Will Find Us Wherever We Are.’

So we hope you can join us and rejoice in the STAGES year that saw season 8. Thank you to all of our listeners, the guests, near and afar, who have shared their stories in this season’s episodes, and the personnel who have coordinated some of those conversations. I can’t wait for season 9 in 2026.

We are all greatly saddened by the passing of the great Toni Lamond in November. As the very first guest on the podcast, we would like to dedicate this episode to her. She leaves a vast legacy. Fly high dear Toni!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

The STAGES podcast will return in March, 2026.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au

Two of our favourite STAGES guests, and couples, return to the podcast, together, to examine their dual lives as actors. Grant Piro and Marina Prior guarantee performance brilliance in any entertainment in which they grace the stage. They reflect on some of the highlights of 2025 and what Christmas brings to them both, as a couple, individually and as a family.

Few artists embody the breadth and brilliance of Australian musical theatre as completely as Marina Prior. This year alone she has reaffirmed her status as one of the nation’s great leading ladies, embracing an extraordinary range of roles across the stage. From the brittle sophistication of Phyllis Rogers Stone in Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, to the tender innocence and wisdom of Kimberly Akimbo, and the delicious villainy of Madame Thénardier in Les Misérables – The Arena Spectacular, Prior continues to demonstrate an artistry of remarkable versatility. The latter role also marked her West End debut during the production’s 40th Anniversary season, a milestone in an already unparalleled career.

Her presence extends beyond the stage, with a much-loved annual appearance in Carols by Candlelight, broadcast nationally each Christmas Eve.

This year’s theatrical landscape saw Grant Piro play Dimitri Wiseman in Follies, and complete a national tour of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. He now appears in the stage adaptation of Cluedo. Inspired by the classic board game and the 1985 film, Cluedo is a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud whodunnit, featuring an all-star Australian cast and touring nationally throughout 2026.

In the coming year, Marina Prior joins fellow icons David Hobson, Silvie Paladino and Michael Cormick in OVATION, a concert celebrating the very best of musical theatre and opera. United by decades of shared history and artistry, these four performers come together in a program that honours the music, roles and moments that have defined their careers.

www.ovation.net.au

www.cluedoplay.com.au

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au

Wilton Morley is an accomplished theatrical producer whose career helped shape the landscape of Australian commercial theatre throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Born into one of Britain’s most distinguished theatrical families—the son of celebrated actor Robert Morley and grandson of stage and screen legend Dame Gladys Cooper— he carried forward a remarkable artistic lineage while forging a distinct and influential career of his own.

Morley began his professional journey with J.C. Williamson’s, the powerhouse of Australian commercial theatre, where he gained a deep grounding in production, touring and company management. Over the following two decades, he became known for bringing high-profile international stars to Australian stages, nurturing major local talent, and producing works that ranged from intimate dramas to genre-defining musicals and theatrical sensations.

His first venture into producing, through his company Parachute productions, was Same Time, Next Year (1976) starring Lewis Fiander and Nancye Hayes.

Among his most prominent productions were the 1988 stagings of Blood Brothers, featuring Chrissie Amphlett, Russell Crowe and Peter Cousens; and Noel & Gertie with Geraldine Turner and Peter Carroll. He presented Paul Eddington in dual Terence Rattigan works, The Browning Version and Harlequinade, in both Melbourne and Sydney, and brought new energy to repeated seasons of The Rocky Horror Show, which enjoyed highly successful runs under his stewardship throughout the 1980s.

Morley showcased contemporary writing and emerging voices, producing works such as When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout, Crystal Clear, Pack of Lies, and established playwrights with Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, featuring John Bell and Jacki Weaver. His productions frequently attracted international performers of stature: the 1987 revival of Aren’t We All? starred Rex Harrison and Claudette Colbert, while Tennessee Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth (1986) boasted a cast led by Lauren Bacall, Colin Friels and Frank Wilson.

He also nurtured landmark Australian performances, including multiple seasons of The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin with Gordon Chater, whom he later reunited in The Dresser, starring Warren Mitchell, Chater and Ruth Cracknell. Morley produced comedies, including Steaming, Noises Off, and Steptoe and Son Down Under, and presented Spike Milligan in An Alarmingly Funny Evening with Spike Milligan and Friends.

His interest in experimental and physical theatre led him to invest in Lindsay Kemp’s landmark works Flowers and The Dream, which travelled internationally and became emblematic of avant-garde theatre of the time. Flowers—inspired by Jean Genet and starring Kemp as Divine, became a global sensation despite (and sometimes because of) its controversial reputation.

Musicals formed a consistent thread in his career, including significant seasons of Little Shop of Horrors, My Fair Lady, and multiple tours of The Rocky Horror Show across Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and regional Australia.

Wilton Morley’s career is defined by bold artistic choices, the championing of both established and emerging talent, and a willingness to bring challenging, star-driven and commercially adventurous theatre to Australian audiences. He is a most extraordinary raconteur, fuelled from a two decade career that proved “there is no business like show business.” And it’s a delight to feature him in this riveting episode of the STAGES podcast.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au