That Time of the Year Again

We mean it's time for those Autumn Winter fashion shows at David Jones. We love these shindigs and not just because of the copious amounts of French champagne (OK it helps) and great nibbles but..the fashion!. It's all about fashion!
VIP guests (that's us)  entered the event space via a subway tunnel, which opened out onto an urban jungle complete with a live graffiti artist, a paved runway reminiscent of Melbourne city laneways, vivid LED street-style lighting, and a live band of drummers. DJs urged us to dance to our own beat. (we always do but we'll dance to anyone's beat if the champers flows).
Designers on show included Akira, Bianca Spender, Camilla and Marc, Calibre, Carla Zampatti,  Ginger & Smart,Josh Goot, Nicola Finetti and the wonderfully named  The Upside and Vanishing Elephant. Plus tennis ace Mark Philippoussis debuted his collection of sportswear Phl!.

Mark Philippoussis & Silvana Lovin * Richard Roxburgh & Silvia Colloca * Kerri-Anne Kennerley * Luke Sales & Anna Plunkett

Megan Gale    * Jon Stevens & Jodhi Meares       *       Jessica Gomes    *       Tom Williams & Rachel Gilbert

Hollywood Stars at the Helpmanns

Every year the Helpmann Awards for live theatre in Australia has become a bigger and grander event and this year it did not disappoint.
Held at the Capitol Theatre guests were treated to a two hour extravaganza featuring numbers from the Lion King and Strictly Ballroom and plenty more. And a host if international names turned up from Geoffrey Rush, Baz Luhrmann and Lou Diamond Phillips.
You can read the full list of winners here : but special congratulations must go to the superb new intimate Kings Cross theatre, the Hayes Theatre which opened just 6 months ago. Their production (and the Shuttle watched it from the very back row which has a superb view of the stage) of Sweet Charity, an ambitious feat, picked up three well deserved gongs.

Lisa McCune & Lou Diamond Phillips     Robyn Nevin & Nicholas Hammond   Silvia Colloca & Richard Roxburgh

Andrew Upton                          Baz Luhrmann & Catherine Martin                  Kelley Abbey & Craig McLachlan

Below : Nancye Hayes with Hayes Theatre Director David Campbell : Sweet Charity

Pick & Stick with Alan

It's a very Sydney story. A tale of drugs and murder. Four years ago the Shuttle attended  the launch of ex-copper Roger 'Dodger' Rogerson's autobiography at the former gangster hangout, the Iron Duke pub in Waterloo.

Glen McNamara            Tim Priest          Alan Jones            above Rogerson & Jones at Roger's book launch                                                                

Roxburgh as Rogerson

Rogerson's book was launched by radio host Alan Jones. Rogerson is famous for being kicked out of the NSW Police and was portrayed in the TV  film Blue Murder with Richard Roxburgh playing the Dodger.
Above in our photo set is Alan Jones with another former detective Tim Priest at his book launch and in the photo is another former cop Glen McNamara.
Police are now alleging that McNamara and Rogerson entered a storage facility on Saturday evening with 20 year old Jamie Gao. Minutes later, say police, the two ex-cops walked out carrying Gao's body. A body matching his description was found floating off Cronulla beach this morning wrapped in a blue tarpaulin. McNamara has been arrested and charged and police say Rogerson is on the run in Queensland.
Multi millionaire radio network owner Alan Jones is famed for his "pick and stick "claim when it comes to friends. McNamara & Rogerson look like needing all the friends they can get.
#Memorable Jones' quote at Roberson's book launch :" the NSW Police needed 100s of Rogersons."

Sunburnt Superstar

 Tropfest 2013 was held for the last time yesterday in The Domain. In it's 21st year founder John Polson announced a change of venue- Centennial Park and date- December.
100,000 viewer turned up for the evening of short films and this year's judges included a sunburnt Sam Worthington, Magda Szubanski , Richard Roxburgh and Rebecca Gibney

 Nicholas Clifford's We've All Been There  won first prize while second prize went to the only documentary, Better Than Sinatra.

Indiana Evans

Josh Thomas

Magda Szubanski

Richard Roxburgh and Silvia Colloca

Kate Miller Heidke

Rebecca Gibney

Stefano Canturi Shines

rare gems....and beautiful baubles

Stefano Canturi has come a fair way in 25 years of designing precious jewellery and now numbers the likes of Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, Oprah Winfrey, Melissa George and Madmen star Christina Hendricks amongst his fans and customers. He's even received the ultimate accolade : designing a necklace for Barbie! (the necklace sold at a New York charity auction for over $300,000)

Stefano Canturi, Silvia Colloca & Richard Roxburgh

During the week Stefano hosted a dinner at the social set's fave new restaurant Apollo in Macleay Street, Potts Point with the restaurant kitted out with Stefano's original design sketches for his creations including the amazing diamond necklace worn by Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge.

Amongst the guests: designer Carla Zampatti (left) and Moulin Rouge star Richard Roxburgh and his beautiful Italian wife Silvia Colloca.  Roxburgh, a friend of Canturi's from the Moulin Rouge days had another reason to celebrate that night-his hit show Rake  premiered it's second season that night on ABC TV.

Christina Hendricks wears Canturi

       














left : Nicole Kidman wears the Stefano Canturi creation

Cate Blanchett :"Slugfest, With Pratfalls"

The New York Times is heaping priase on Andrew Upton's production of Uncle Vanya which stars Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh, Hugo Weaving and the Shuttle's favourite Oscar nominee Jackie Weaver.

Andrew & Cate on opening night

Says reviewer Ben Brantley :" I consider the three hours I spent on Saturday night watching them complain about how bored they are among the happiest of my theatergoing life."..."this “Uncle Vanya” gets under your skin like no other I have seen."
 "With her movie star credentials and fashion-magazine looks, Ms. Blanchett (a dazzling Blanche in the Sydney Theater Company’s touring “Streetcar Named Desire” two years ago) is the obvious popular draw here. And she confirms her status as one of the best and bravest actresses on the planet, with a go-for-broke yet artfully contained performance that keeps sabotaging her own natural elegance."
 Brantley not only raves about our Cate but the all-Australian cast gets the thumbs up in this Tamas Ascher directed play. Read the full review here.
Uncle Vanya is a Sydney Theater Company production, presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,

Sydney Theatre Awards

Richard Roxburgh, Helen Dallimore & Andrew Upton at the Sydney Theatre Awards

300 MEMBERS of the Sydney theatre community packed the auditorium at Paddington RSL to celebrate the best of Sydney theatre throughout 2011.

Kirsten & David Williamson at the awards

Amongst the recipients :
Best Mainstage Production was awarded to Belvoir’s production of The Wild Duck, which also won Best Direction of a Mainstage Production -Simon Stone, and Best Actress and Actor in a Supporting Role of a Mainstage Production -Anita Hegh, Anthony Phelan.

Best Independent Production went to The Libertine, produced by Sport for Jove Theatre with Darlinghurst Theatre Company, which also garnered Best Actress and Actor in an Independent Production -Danielle King, Anthony Gooley.

Oz Of The Year ?

Best Actress in a Leading Role of a Mainstage Production was won by Cate Blanchett for Sydney Theatre Company’s Gross und Klein, for which Alice Babidge was awarded Best Costume Design.
For the full list of awards go to the awards website.
                                                             
Meanwhile the search is on for replacements for Cate Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton who are relinquishing their roles in 2013 as co-artistic directors and CEOs of the Sydney Theatre Company. Under their auspices, the STC has received rave reviews and plaudits for their productions, around the world and turned around the fiances of the company into a healthy profit.

And our favourite Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush has been nominated as a contender to pick up the Australian of The Year award on Australia Day (or Invasion Day as some prefer to call it) on January 26th.
                                                         ********************
# Should the Shuttle feel flattered or otherwise as we were ushered past the door minders at the Paddington RSL with great aplomb whilst actor and Hollywood star Richard Roxburgh stood patiently while they searched for his name on the door list ?

## Speculation is mounting as to who the VIP was as mentioned in our previous story with the bodyguard who waved a pistol in the face of a photographer in Double Bay last week. Watch this space.....

Cate Blanchett Attends Sydney Film Festival

A freezing Sydney winter night and lots of bare legged girls shaking in the cold wind for their art. The show must go on. The Sydney Film Festival opened at the State Theatre with the espionage thriller Hanna starring Saorise Ronan, Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana. 

Ronan plays a 16 year old assassin who sets out to bump off Blanchett who plays a cold eyed , orange haired spy and Blanchett tries to do likewise to Ronan..

Actor Matt Day & wife Kirsty Thomason

Meanwhile in downtown Surry Hills The Seagull opened at the Belvoir Street Theatre with Judy Davis , David Wenham,Emily Barclay and Bille Brown. Needless to say, a cast like that received a rousing reception and almost a standing ovation.

Maia Thomas* Katherine Hicks * Michelle Vergara Moore * Anya Beyersdorf who star in Black & White & Sex

The notoriously media shy Davis skipped out the stage door-she refused to give interviews for the play while the rest of the cast joined first nighters for champagne and smoked salmon in the foyer.

Film director Gillian Armstrong and daughter Billy

Zoo Lim

actress Sylvia Colloco and husband Richard Roxburgh at The Seagull

Fox Studios boss Kim Williams

Sigrid Thornton & Tom Burstall

Festival director Clare Stuart

Art'n About

Joanna Braithwaite's 'Royal Mount' from the Sulman exhibition

Now in its 90th year, the Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s oldest and most prestigious art awards. JF Archibald’s primary aims were to foster portraiture, support artists and perpetuate the memory of great Australians.

There was little controversy this year. No-one is suing anyone as has happened several times in the past - once over a claim a charcoal drawing was not a painting. Although the Archibalds thrive on controversy and out of hundreds of entries only 40 get hung as a twelve trustees of the NSW Art Gallery-led by the president Steven Lowy (his family own the world-wide chain of Westfield shopping centres) finally decide on a winner after much debate.



Margaret Olley &  Ben Quilty



This year's winner of the $50,000 prize was Ben Quilty with his portrait of Australia's doyen of art, 88 year old Margaret Olley acclaimed as our greatest living artist who was also the subject of the 1948 winning work by William Dobell.

Richard Goodwin won the Wynne Prize for his sculpture of a vertical motorcycle titled ' Co-isolated slav.'and the Sulman Prize was won by Peter Smeeth for his painting 'The artist's fate'.

Hugo Weaving admires a painting of his pal Richard Roxburgh

All the works  go on public exhibition from tomorrow until June 26 at the Art Gallery of NSW and will then tour regional NSW and Victoria.



Rodney Pople with his family portrait



round the world sailor Jessica Watson by Tom McBeth

Judy & Ken Done with his self portrait

Nicholas Harding's portrait of actor Hugo Weaving



Gallery director Edmund Capon, new NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell , Steven Lowy



Song Ling's self portrait