Francesca Arena - Jaqueline

Francesca graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts. She has played some of the most quintessential roles of the modern music theatre stage. Most recently she played Grizabella in the world touring production of CATS. Other roles have included Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, alongside Chaim Topol, Tell me on a Sunday in Andrew Lloyd Webber's SONG AND DANCE, other shows have included LES MISERABLES with the International touring cast, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, EVITA, FOLLIES, and created roles in new musicals such as CRUSADE, SISTERELLA, and the 2004 Comedy Festival hit EUROBEAT! She has been a regular vocalist on Australian television and around the world. For the past eight years she has helmed her own cover band, and has won several awards for her voice, including winner of the ITALIAN SONG FESTIVAL. Francesca is thrilled to be a part of this new production of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES.

Nicholas Kong - Jacob

Nicholas has studied Classical Voice at the Conservatorium of Music, Melbourne University and is a performer of many years. In 2010, Nicholas made his professional debut in Spring Awakening with the Sydney Theatre Company (STC), in which he performed the role of Otto and understudied Hanshen. His performance received rave reviews, being credited as ‘a beacon in the ensemble’ by The Australian. Most recently, Nicholas was featured in The Production Company’s, Kismet. Nicholas starred in Australian premier productions of Bare, in the lead role of Peter and Laciusa’s The Wild Party as Phil. After featuring in Magnormous’ OzMade Musicals 2007, Nicholas went on to play with role of Jamie in their production of Nick Enright and David King’s Mary Bryant. Other roles include Mereb in Aida, Jimmy in Reefer Madness, Freddy in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Young Man in Putting it Together, The Balladeer in Assassins and Songs for a New World. Nicholas has appeared on Sunrise for The Seven network and performed in many varieties and concerts.

Peter Nicholls -Eduoard Dindon

Peter has been involved in the entertainment industry for 30 years with performances in Stage Musicals, Opera, Television & Concerts.His career has seen him perform with the Victoria State Opera, Opera Australia, the original Australian cast of Beauty & The Beast, My Fair Lady in Melbourne & Sydney, Carousel, Side Show Alley & with Topol in Fiddler on the roof.

In non professional theatre he has played roles including, Jean Valjean (Les Miserables), Daddy Warbucks (Annie), Herr Schultz (Caberet) & Teyve (Fiddler on the Roof).

Peter is excited to be offered the opportunity to work with such an outstanding cast & a production team of great vision & professionalism.  

Gabrielle O'Brien - Marie Dindon

For many years Gabrielle has woven her love of theatre and performing around the demands of her consulting business. She has been fortunate to portray some wonderful characters of  musical theatre including Mrs Lovett (Sweeney Todd) Mrs Potts (Beauty & the Beast) Agnes (I Do, I Do)Irene, Helen (Irene) Anna ( The King & I) Charity ( Barnum) Mary ( Merrily We Roll Along) Anne ( A Little Night Music) Eliza ( My Fair Lady)and be part of exciting ensemble pieces including  Jack O’Hagan’s Humdingers, Side by Side by Sondheim . She has performed in both comedy and dramatic theatre roles, Lady Teazle ( School for Scandal) Mary ( Shadow of a Gunman) Marguerite ( Scarlet Pimpernel and more recently,  in the award winning productions of Noise Off ( Dotty ) and Freedom of the City ( Lily). Over her career she has been recognised with a number of Best Actress awards, FEIP, Music Theatre Guild and Victorian Drama League awards, in addition to receiving numerous nominations. La Cage marks a return to the National Theatre after last appearing here as Charity Barnum in Barnum with a very young David Rogers Smith and Kirk Skinner  - more years ago than it is polite to say!

Reece Budin - Jean Michel

Reece graduated from the Western Academy of Performing Arts, where he studied Musical Theatre, in 2010. During his time there he had the pleasure of being involved in productions of 42nd Street, Stephen Sondheim’s Company, and performing roles in Cabaret, Anything Goes and the modern classic Ragtime. Since graduating he has been involved in various performances from the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne to the backwaters of regional Australia. Reece is very excited to be a part of this production of La Cage aux Folles

Melanie Ott - Anne

Melanie's background lies originally in dance, with 20 years of extensive training in Ballet, Tap and Jazz. She then began singing lessons at 12 years old. Her affiliation with music theatre then began at the age of 14, some credits include Singin' in the Rain (Kathy Seldon), Pirates of Penzance (Edith), 42nd Street (Anytime Annie), A Chorus Line (Cassie), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Ruth), Grease (Cha Cha), The Boy From Oz (Trio), The Wedding Singer (Linda), Reefer Madness (Sally), RENT (Mimi), Cats (Bombalurina), and Hot Shoe Shuffle (April) with CLOC Musical Theatre. Melanie has toured nationally with Time Warp: A Musical Tribute to the Rocky Horror Show as Magenta, and most recently reprised the role of Stephanie Zinone in Grease 2: Live in Concert at Chapel off Chapel, the role of which she originated in the world premiere. Melanie is honoured and thrilled to be part of La Cage aux Folles.

Joel Anderson - Phaedra; Les Cagelle

Joel has worked extensively in all elements of dance throughout Australia and overseas for the last ten years. His work has involved performance, teaching, adjudicating, coaching and working as a choreographer.

His career in dance started after developing a passion for ballroom and latin American dancing. After spending several years on the competition DanceSport circuit, he moved on to broadway jazz, ballet, and tap.  After completing his full-time dance training, Joel spent some time doing film clips and extra work as a dancer. More recently, he has spent the last few years performing around the world on cruise ships and equity dance production shows, and teaching classes in Australia between show contracts.

His 2011 credits include playing Belthazar in MATALOR, featuring as a dancer in EUROBEAT: ALMOST EUROVISION, and choreography credits for GREASE2: LIVE IN CONCERT and the GOOD FRIDAY APPEAL VARIETY CONCERT.

Joel also works with high school dance students coaching for VCE and works extensively with Rock Eisteddfod teams, including co-coaching and choreographing St Columba’s College to their sixth national title.

Whilst Joel has stopped dancing full-time to complete his PhD in psychology, he still is a regular face on the Melbourne dance scene, and can constantly bee seen both choreographing and performing in various theatre restaurants, club shows, corporate events and variety functions. He is thrilled to be working with Quirky Productions on this project, and is looking forward to getting his strong underwire bra, some sheet music, and sparkling – SHOWTIME.

Joel Bow - Hannah; Les Cagelle

Originally from North QLD, Joel studied at the conservatorium of music and the Brent Street school of performing arts.
Joel was dance captain for Carnival Cruise Lines and singer / dancer for Princess Cruises.

Theatre credits include, Sweet Charity for The Production Company, Mark in A Chorus Line, featured artist in Songs for a New World, Assistant to James Cutler on Urinetown and choreographed Rent and Once on this Island.

In film, Joel played The Stranger in Knowing for Ezekiel films with Nicholas Cage and was a featured dancer in The King: The Graham Kennedy story.

In cabaret, Joel co-wrote and co-starred in Gypsy and Rag, winning the 'People's Vote' in Short and Sweet Cabaret and enjoyed sell out seasons at The Butterfly club. Made the finals of the Cabaret Showcase at The Basement in a solo cabaret show and
was rehearsal director and soloist on Sugar SEX, Spice for SLY Entertainment.

Joel opened Downstairs at Almas with a cabaret inspired burlesque review - Burlesque in the Burbs and continues to choreograph for the ABC and Dancemakers.

Ed Deganos - Les Cagelle

Ed graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts' (VCA) Music Theatre program in 2005, and made his professional musical theatre debut in the Australian tour of Cameron Mackintosh's Miss Saigon (Michael Coppell Ventures and Louise Withers & Associates) understudying the role of 'Thuy'.  

Most recently, Ed performed for the Melbourne Fringe Festival as part of 'Butterfly @ Trades' series, in the cabaret revue Tall Poppy Blues (Chris Wallace). Other credits include - TV host for the Aurora Channel (FOXTEL), 'Clown' in Ordinary (Jack Felstein and Ben Ward) for Short, Sweet + Song,  'Patroclus' for the premiere of Jon English's musical Paris, The Man from Snowy River - The Arena Spectacular (David Atkins) and toured the USA and Europe for Odyssey on Stage (Jane Miskovic). 

Ed is thrilled to join the cast of La Cage aux Folles.

Josh Duke - Les Cagelle

"La Cage aux Folles" is Josh's musical theatre debut since graduating from Melbourne's DanceWorld Studios with a Cert. IV Dance Performance and Associate Diploma in Applied Dance. Growing up on the Gold Coast, Josh trained under Jasmine Meakin and Anthony Lee before moving to Melbourne to pursue full-time training in dance.
Television credits in the TV mini-series "Killing Time" and music video credits in Art Vs. Science "Higher" and Nate James "Walk Like That".
Josh is thrilled to be joining the cast of La Cage and would like to thank his family and friends for their unwavering love and support in the pursuit of dreams.

Jayden Hicks - Les Cagelle

Jayden has been dancing since he was under 3 years old, training for 13 years at Vickis Dancing Academy in Jazz, Tap and Ballet. Throughout that time he also participated in local Musical Theatre including Annie, The King and I, Hello Dolly as well as landing the lead role in Oliver. Jayden began training professionally at Australian International School of Coaching under the direction of Brian Nolan (Australian Ballet) and Miss Viktorya Titova (Kiev Ballet), completed full time in Jason Colemans inaugural full time year at the Ministry of Dance and completed his scholarship year at the Space under the direction of Daniel Brown and Natalya Bobenko.

Jayden has worked as a performer for company’s like Vega fm, Telstra Bigpond and Ronald Mc Donald House Charity, He also performed as lead dancer in Project Y's "Time" Story of Youth Directed by Paul Malek. In 2010 he Directed and Choreographed The Space’s production of EXHIBIT: The Misconception of Dance, which was produced through the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Immediately after commencing his training Jayden was involved in two back to back productions, including "Release The Stars" with one of Melbourne’s most talked about dance companies, Vertical Shadows, as a soloist dancer and the other with up and coming production company StageArt in there season of "Matalor".

Jeremy Hinman - Mercedes; Les Cagelle

Jeremy has spent the last 3 years studying at the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art (NASDA) in his hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand. After recently moving to Melbourne, Jeremy is delighted to make his first performance on Australian soil as apart of the La Cage company. His favourite roles to date have been Quick Lamb in NASDA's Cloudstreet and Mister Mistoffelees in his graduating performance of Cats. 

Robert Mulholland - Les Cagelle

Robert has been performing from a very young age, studying in Tap, Jazz, Ballet and Gymnastics. He has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Teaching from Deakin University. Robert has performed for various amateur theatre companies around Victoria including CLOC, Whitehorse, DTC and CPAC. He received a Guild Award for his role as the Police Sergeant in Pirates of Penzance. Robert’s professional credits include The Wiggles, Disney Special Events – Japan, Disney Cruise Line and Princess Cruises, where he played the role of Dance Captain. He has also choreographed many shows for various secondary colleges and other amateur companies such as Whitehorse, CPAC and Windmill.

Gerwin Widjaja - Chantal; Les Cagelle

Gerwin’s interest in music was sparked at a young age.  He was inspired by his mother, who is an accomplished pianist.  It was not until he arrived in Australia that he discovered the wonderful world of musical theatre.  In literature class his first assignment was Into the Woods, which was the turning point in his career.

In 2000, while undergoing his Bachelor of Information Systems degree, and unbeknown to his parents, Gerwin graduated from the Music Theatre course at the National Theatre.  His broad passion for dance soon saw him embark upon training in jazz, tap and funk.

Credits include The King and I (The Production Company), The Good Guys TVC, The Panel TVC, Today Tonight, Indidgeridoo (Live at the Logies), Bollywood at the Bowl, The Veronicas, Ned Kelly (FF), and The Line (FF).

Gerwin is a regular dancer at Luna Park Sydney and will be appearing in Short+Sweet Sydney 2012.

Tim Minturn - Francis

Tim Minturn graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 1995. As a Performer and Director, Tim has worked all over Australia and New Zealand in such productions as The Sound of Music, Cinderella, Disney Live! The Boy from Oz, Sunset Boulevard, Cats, Titanic, Godspell and Perform! Educational Musicals. In 1999 Tim was diagnosed with brain cancer and thought he would never perform again. 12 years later, he is now continuing the journey he started.

Josh Stent - Ettienne

Josh recently graduated with a BA of Music Theatre from WAAPA, some of the roles he performed included Moose in Crazy For You, Greg in A Chorus Line, Henry. T Dobson in Anything Goes, Carl Grubenierre in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Stewart in James Millar and Peter Rutherford’s workshop of A Little Touch of Chaos.
Currently Josh is featured as the male lead in the ECU Mount Lawley Commercial and was selected to sing as part of Your Management International’s Masterclass series with Broadway songwriters Jason Robert Brown and John Bucchino.
Before his time at WAAPA, Josh studied classical voice at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on the Elizabethan Trust Scholarship and has sung for His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent and Baroness Greenfield at the national launch of the Royal Institution of Australia.

Erin Newington - Paulette

Erin is a graduate of the Ballarat Arts Academy (BAPA), and has over 20 years of dance training and experience.  Erin has also completed a Certificate III in Commercial Dance & Music Theatre at Tony Bartuccio’s, as well as tuition at TAFTA with Tom McSweeney. Erin has also appeared in a solo cabaret performance, has worked as a dancer for Channel 9, and also has experience in voice-over and modelling. 

Erin performed in and choreographed the original productions of World War Wonderful  (2009 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Upfront, Short + Girly, Keep Your Skirt On, Anarchist Guild Social Committee and the Butterfly Club 10th Birthday Concert) and Give My Regards to Broady (2008 MICF and Melbourne Fringe Festival).  Other show credits include Merrily We Roll Along, Hell’s Cabaret – Short + Sweet Cabaret, the Australasian Premier of Bare; A Pop Opera, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Urinetown, Closer than Ever, RENT, The World Goes Round, The Witches of Eastwick,  42nd Street, The Virgin Wars, and Sweet Charity.

Piera Calabro - Madame Renaud

Piera has trained in all facets of dance under the direction of Michelle Slater and Kevin Coyne since the age of 11. She has recently completed her second year of full time dance training at Triple Threat Performing Arts and is also undertaking a bachelor of arts at the university of Melbourne. La Cage marks Piera musical theatre debut and she would like to thank her family and friends for their constant love and support.