If one were walking around the Italian Forum in Leichhardt, a Broadway-style theatre wouldn’t have been the first thing one would imagine to be present in this unassuming precinct. And for many years there wasn’t a working theatre, with Andrew Bevis and Nathan M. Wright doing an incredible job (and investing an incredible amount of capital and effort) to bring the theatre to a point where it has become a great space for creatives in Sydney. After some more developmental shows at the end of last year, the theatre has really started to take its stride in 2026 with the Australian premiere of The Prom inaugurating at the theatre with Australian theatre legend Caroline O’Connor in the lead.

With an incredibly star-studded cast for this production, audience expectations were high and from the start the production delivered a superb mix of great humour and top-quality vocals. The musical deals with quite serious subject matter as a lesbian teen is excluded from her school prom before a group of narcissistic Broadway actors, dealing with a wave of bad publicity, seek to repair their image by attaching themselves to the cause. The subject matter is serious, but this is definitely a comedy, with the fabulous five from Broadway getting up to a whole lot of shenanigans as they try to give Emma the prom that she deserves.

From the outset, it has to be said that this is one of the strongest lead casts in the Sydney theatre world in quite a while, which is all the more extraordinary when considering the size of the theatre. O’Connor was extraordinary in the lead as Dee Dee Allen, giving a hilarious performance complete with top-quality vocals and an amazing stage presence, as she very much carried the show. There wasn’t a hint of aloofness about her performance, with the Australian theatre legend really giving everything to the role and the rest of the cast fed off the energy that she brought. She was very well supported by Brendan Monger, who played a hilarious Barry Glickman, while Thern Reynolds, Bella McSporran and Scott Irwin were also very strong in the principal cast (with Reynolds in particular delighting with a repeated Juilliard gag).

But even with all the big names that this production had pulled in, the bona fide star of the show was without a doubt Sophie Montague as Emma Nolan, who performed with such clear, concise vocals, beautiful tone and absolute precision to give a breathtaking performance. They received a huge ovation after every song that they performed and it was incredibly well deserved. Their performance would rival almost any in Australian theatre at the moment and clearly stunned many in the audience. With nuanced acting and vocals that combined power, richness and delicacy like few others can, there can be no doubt that they will be seen on the highest stages in Australian theatre very soon.

Nick Fry’s set was also an excellent addition, with the shimmering rainbow colours giving a very fun vibe to the production and allowing it to sparkle. The band was also great, supporting the action on stage, and the ensemble, most of whom were part of Bevis and Wright’s TheatreBridge program, were also strong and will continue to develop as they gain more experience. The script was also great, with the characters really getting the humour and connecting with the audience. It was a perfectly balanced performance with really good vocal moments, songs and acting as well as comedic brilliance which had the audience in hysterics.

For all the amazing things about this production, there were a few slightly problematic elements that stood out and must be addressed in this review. First, there was a slightly uncomfortable moment in the second act, where a character seemed to don costuming and utilise stereotypes to portray the race of a character as dictated by the script. This is somewhat of a slippery slope as it felt problematic in the theatre and while I understand that the production was written for a more diverse American theatre world, of which Australian theatre still currently lags behind, this did not feel like the right way to confront this (and perhaps something that a developmental theatre program should strive to address in the long-term, noting that this is a longstanding issue that cannot be remedied immediately). Unfortunately, this was compounded by the changing of a line early in the first act to erase the fact that school principal Mr Hawkins is actually written into the script as a person of colour, which did perhaps underlie an uncomfortable reality and something that perhaps should have been given more consideration in production development. This was not to detract from the fact that this was an extraordinary production but it does reflect something that should be more than an aspirational goal for Australian theatre moving forward. 

Overall, this was a truly superb production with amazing leads, amazing performances, great vocals, and some fantastic comedy. The ability of the production team to bring together an extraordinary principal cast with a fast-developing ensemble was to be greatly commended and delivered a performance in this case which entertained the socks off everyone in the room. If you haven’t been down to the Teatro in the Italian Forum, you absolutely must before this show ends as this is a show you won’t want to miss.

Rating: ★★★★1/2

The Prom plays at the Teatro Italian Forum until 19 April 2026. For more information, click here. 

Photo credits: Robert Miniter