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A string of high-profile musical theatre cancellations has thrown Australia’s live performance sector into turmoil, with producers, venue operators and the industry’s union all warning the situation demands urgent government intervention.
Five major musicals have been cancelled or cut short in the space of several months: Back to the Future, Dear Evan Hansen, Annie, Beetlejuice and Waitress. In addition, a $20 million production of the Italian opera Aida has been pulled from its planned Adelaide season.
The cancellations have put hundreds of arts workers out of jobs and left major venues scrambling to fill their calendars.
Cancellations Stack Up
Broadway musical Waitress, starring Rob Mills and Natalie Bassingthwaighte, will end in Melbourne on 19 July and will not tour to Sydney as planned.
Crossroads Live Australia Chief Executive John Frost, who produced the show, stated that “whilst audience enthusiasm for our work remained strong, attendance levels and box office have not been sufficient to support the cost of the production”.
Beetlejuice, written by Australian performer Eddie Perfect and previously staged on Broadway and the West End, has cancelled its Australian tour and will end in Brisbane three weeks ahead of schedule. The show had been set to go to Perth for three weeks, Adelaide for two and Sydney for seven.
Producer Michael Cassel Group explained that “for a production of this scale, the current logistical realities of touring across vast distances between Australian cities have created increasing cost pressures that ultimately made continuing the run unsustainable”.
“While audience enthusiasm for the show has been encouraging, a more cautious consumer environment combined with the economics of moving a production of this magnitude could not be justified.”
Back to the Future: The Musical was originally slated as a national tour but never made it past Sydney after slow ticket sales. Dear Evan Hansen called off its Canberra and Adelaide legs due to soft sales.
The Arena di Verona’s production of Aida will no longer come to Adelaide in February 2027 despite having sold 17,000 tickets, due to the rise in production and touring costs.
TEG Live’s Head of Touring Claudia Coffey told ABC Adelaide the company lost $2 million and five years of work by cancelling Aida, but “bringing 400 people and 28 containers became totally untenable”.
“If we sold every single ticket to the show with the increased freight costs and travel costs, we would be at a loss,” she added.
Venues Stare Down Extended Dark Periods
Graeme Kearns, CEO of Foundation Theatres, which runs Sydney’s Capitol Theatre and the Lyric, told the Guardian that the two theatres will now likely be dark for 30 of the next 40 weeks.
That would mean “hundreds of people will be out of work, from performers and musicians to wardrobe, wigs, makeup, stage technicians, administrators, ushers and bar staff,” he warned.
“It will be a very difficult six months ahead of us all. We will, of course, try to find alternatives for the theatres but, with short lead times and tough economic conditions, that will be very difficult to achieve.”
Kearns pointed to a deeper shift in audience behaviour.
“Buying a ticket for a show, no matter how good the show is, is at the very apex of discretionary expenditure. Encouraging patrons to buy a ticket to something they are unfamiliar with is more difficult than I have ever seen.”
Costs Rising Faster Than Revenue
Both productions cited rising production costs, touring expenses, cost-of-living pressures and lower consumer confidence as factors behind the cancellations. Producers and industry figures argue the problem is structural rather than a run of bad luck.
Suzanne Jones, CEO of Jones Theatrical Group, which is staging Pretty Woman, The Book of Mormon and Mrs Doubtfire in Australia, told the Guardian the market still exists but the economics are not working.
“The market is there but the costs are rising faster than the ticket prices are, and that’s just a squish,” she explained. “Freight costs, labour costs – all of those things are going up at a greater rate than ticket sales are.”
A Creative Australia survey found 74 per cent of Australians attended a live arts event in 2025, the highest level on record. However, 60 per cent identified ticket prices as the biggest barrier to attending more often. For a family of four, tickets to a major musical can run between $500 and $1,000.
Freight, venue hire and labour are all markedly more expensive than they were pre-pandemic, while marketing budgets have grown as audiences require more convincing. Producers are also competing in a crowded marketplace, with more touring musicals, international acts and experiences chasing the same entertainment dollar.
In a statement, Jones Theatrical Group confirmed that “while our productions continue to perform well, we can also confirm what many other producers are experiencing: the cost of producing world-class live entertainment is increasing at an unsustainable rate”.
The sector generates more than $4 billion in economic activity and supports more than 30,000 Australian jobs. More than 31.4 million tickets were sold to live performances in 2024, exceeding the combined attendances of Australia’s major sporting codes, which drew 26.2 million.
Industry Pushes For Theatre Tax Reform
Jones is among a growing number of industry figures calling for tax concessions similar to those available to other cultural sectors. Australian films currently receive up to 40 per cent tax offsets on production costs, while games and television receive 30 per cent. Live performance receives nothing equivalent.
“Musicals cost tens of millions of dollars to get on the stage – the Wickeds and the Hamiltons didn’t get written on a Saturday and put on on a Monday,” Jones argued. “Reform would help a lot.”
Jones framed the argument in economic rather than cultural terms.
“I don’t think taxpayers should support commercial musicals simply because they’re musicals, as much as I love them. I think government should support industries that create jobs, attract investment, generate tourism and deliver a return to the economy. And commercial theatre does all of those things.”
“The UK doesn’t have theatre tax relief because it’s culturally valuable. It has it because the government decided it was economically valuable.”
Jones added that she is contacted “once a week” by international productions interested in bringing shows to Australia. When they learn there are no tax incentives, they drop the idea.
Live Performance Australia, the peak body for the industry, has been pushing for a Live Performance Production Incentive – a 40 per cent offset or rebate on production costs. CEO Eric Lassen has argued the measure would be revenue-positive for government, noting that every dollar spent by a theatre organisation produces more than $4 in economy-wide spillover.
Analysis by Live Performance Australia in 2024 found a tax offset of 25-40 per cent would pay for itself through additional economic activity, create 4,650 new jobs and increase the number of new productions in Australia by up to 73 per cent.
APRA AMCOS has proposed a similar “Australia Live” tax offset. Industry advocacy has continued in Canberra, where LPA representatives met with politicians at Parliament House, joined by composer and performer Tim Minchin, for the launch of the new Parliamentary Friends of Live Performance group.
UK Model Points To Returns On Investment
The UK introduced Theatre Tax Relief in 2014, allowing theatre companies to claim tax deductions on production costs: 45 per cent for touring productions and 40 per cent for non-touring.
Under the scheme, if a production is losing money the government pays the percentage back in cash. If it is profitable, it reduces the company’s tax bill instead.
Analysis found that £38 million of TTR in a single year resulted in at least £163 million in extra investment in UK theatre. The scheme has been credited with encouraging private investment in productions across the country.
“The UK has demonstrated that theatre tax relief creates production, creates jobs, attracts investments and strengthens the entire industry. We should be having that conversation here,” Jones urged.
Union Calls For Dual Approach
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, which is assisting cast, crew and musicians affected by the cancellations, described the situation as “completely devastating for everyone involved”.
While the MEAA supports tax reform, CEO Erin Madeley argued the financial pressures on audiences also need to be addressed. The union is advocating for a “cultural pass” that would see young Australians receive government-funded vouchers of up to $200 to spend on theatre tickets.
“When Beetlejuice fell over, they said, ‘If we had the tax incentive, the show could have kept going’ – which would be great, obviously we want our members in work. But I think there’s a bigger issue that goes to access and ticket pricing,” Madeley told the Guardian.
“For a family of four, it can be between $500 and $1,000. We’ve got to do something to stimulate audience participation and get more bums on seats.”
Emergency Action Planned
More than 75 elected MEAA leaders and workplace delegates – including actors, dancers, musicians, technical crew, ushers and ticketing staff – held an emergency meeting on the crisis in the Australian live performance industry.
Leaders discussed the structural issues facing the sector as well as immediate ways members can respond collectively to the closures and impending unemployment of hundreds of arts workers.
The MEAA will hold an Emergency Town Hall Meeting of all live performance workers on Monday 13 July to seek endorsement of a Live Performance Action Plan. The plan may include lobbying for an immediate response to the crisis, public-focused campaigning to outline the direct impact on workers and audiences, cross-industry consultations to plan a long-term response and further actions demonstrating that creative workers are united in their demands.
All live performance workers have been invited to attend.
Bassingthwaighte posted to social media following the Waitress closure, writing: “The arts is dying in this country, and that hurts my heart beyond anything.”
Government Acknowledges Pressure
The MEAA consulted with Arts Minister Tony Burke on the next national cultural policy, while representatives from Live Performance Australia are also heading to Canberra.
Burke told Guardian Australia: “Consultation and development on the next National Cultural Policy couldn’t be happening at a more important time.”
“Cost-of-living pressure always has a particular impact on ticket buying in the arts. The impact on live theatre needs to be fully appreciated.”
The industry is watching closely to see whether the consultations translate into concrete policy measures. As the AussieTheatre analysis warned, every cancellation makes the next one more likely – burned audiences book less eagerly, producers who lose money tour less ambitiously and venues that sit dark lose staff they cannot easily replace.
