The Limelight team continues its look back on the year past with our musical theatre highlights of 2018.

Jo Litson – Editor

Johanna Allen, Genevieve Kingsford, Chris Ryan, Alinta Chidzey, Mitchell Butel and cast in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Photograph © Jeff Busby

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, The Production Company

How good is Mitchell Butel? In this giddily funny musical, he played eight members of the D’Ysquith family, male and female, who stood between the impoverished Monty D’Ysquith Navarro and the Earldom of Highhurst. It’s a tour de force role for a performer and Butel made theatrical hay with it, showcasing his remarkable versatility. Butel shared the stage with a fine cast, including Chris Ryan as Monty, who made it his mission to kill his way to the D’Ysquith top. Directed by Roger Hodgman, on a set resembling a cut-out theatre, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder was a delicious dose of  escapist, farcical fun.

Candide, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s concert version of Funny Girl (covered below by Angus McPherson) was a real highlight of 2018. So too, the concert version of Bernstein’s Candide. Once again Mitchell Butel...