“Let me take you back six months, I was at the bottom of the barrel.”

Tim Draxl is singing the first few lines from Let’s Have Lunch – the opening number of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard.

“It just swings,” he says, humming a few more bars. “There are so many great 1950s jazz references.”

We’ve met to talk about Opera Australia and GWB Entertainment’s new production of the Tony Award-winning musical, in which he is about to perform the role of Joe Gillis opposite Sarah Brightman, who plays Norma Desmond.

Tim Draxl as Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard. Photo © Ben King

With just three days to go until rehearsals begin in Melbourne, Draxl is in high spirits.

“This is me. This is my world!” he exclaims.

Watching the Logie-nominated actor and musical theatre star snap his fingers as he jitterbugs around his Sydney apartment, it’s easy to see why The Sydney Morning Herald dubbed him Australia’s best male cabaret artist in 2016.

Given the choice of any musical, Draxl says Sunset Boulevard has been at the top of his list for as long as he can remember.

“It’s always been in my mind as the...