The Sydney Theatre Company, Michael Cassel Group and Gaynor Wheatley have revealed their a solution to one of the more challenging casting conundrums of recent years, announcing that Michael Paynter will play Australian music icon John Farnham in Whispering Jack: The John Farnham Musical, part of Sydney Theatre Company’s World Premiere season at the Roslyn Packer Theatre this November.

Marking 40 years since the release of Farnham’s Whispering Jack in 1986, the production brings to the stage the story behind the album that transformed the singer’s career and became the highest-selling Australian album of all time. 

Michael Paytner. Portrait supplied

Directed by STC Artistic Director Mitchell Butel, the musical charts Farnham’s late-career reinvention and the suburban Melbourne beginnings of a record that would become a cultural landmark.

Paynter, currently touring nationally with The Great Australian Songbook, earned widespread acclaim in 2025 for his Sydney Theatre Award-winning performance as Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar – a role famously played by Farnham three decades earlier. He said portraying Farnham was an honour “hard to put into words”, describing him as “the gold standard” of male singers.

Of his performance in Jesus Christ Superstar, Limelight editor Jo Litson wrote: “Paynter is outstanding. A session musician who sings with the likes of Jimmy Barnes, he is a current member of Australian band Icehouse, but proves himself to be a bone fide theatrical star here, as he seduces with gently laid-back tones, then scorches with an incredible rock tenor and a falsetto to die for. How he holds those stratospheric notes, who knows.”

Michael Paynter and Mahalia Barnes in Jesus Christ Superstar, 2024. Photo © Jeff Busby

Butel said Paynter’s performance in Jesus Christ Superstar confirmed he had found the right artist. “John Farnham is more than just an extraordinary voice,” he said. “Michael has a warmth, charm and wit that is spookily Farnham-like.”

Producer Michael Cassel described the casting as “an enormous responsibility”, while Farnham’s manager Gaynor Wheatley said audiences would be “blown away” by Paynter’s respect for and understanding of Farnham’s story.

Whispering Jack: The John Farnham Musical plays the Roslyn Packer Theatre from 15 November 2026