Detailed designs of new lyric theatre inspired by Canberra's natural landmarks revealed

By Charlotte Gore

The new Canberra lyric theatre is to be built in the area north-west of the current Canberra Theatre Centre, bordering Northbourne Avenue and Vernon Circle. (Supplied: ACT government)

Detailed designs for Canberra's new lyric theatre — which will host major musicals, ballets and operas — have been released.

The design includes seating for up to 2,000 people and a modern orchestra pit that can adjust for different performance sizes.

Canberra's new lyric theatre will include seating for up to 2,000 people, with accessible seating on every level. 
(Supplied: ACT government)

The building, which is inspired by Canberra's natural landmarks, also features accessible seating on every level, equitable building access and more bathrooms than required, including all-gender facilities.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the lyric theatre will deliver the "scale and sophistication" needed to attract major productions.

"This will be a significant venue for Canberra — providing a theatre that enables world-class performances to be held in our city," Mr Barr said.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says the theatre's design was guided by extensive community consultation. 
(Supplied: ACT government)

"The design reflects our landscape and celebrates First Nations' culture with its use of natural forms and textures," Mr Barr said.

"Importantly, the detailed design also responds to the needs of the people who will watch performances, the performers who will take the stage, and the staff who will work in the venue, which has been guided by extensive community consultation throughout the planning and design process."

Chief Minister Andrew Bar says the new theatre will enable Canberra to hold world-class performances. 
(Supplied: ACT government)

The detailed designs have been released as part of the main Works Approval application for the project, which has been lodged with the National Capital Authority.

The theatre is set to be built in the area north-west of the current Canberra Theatre Centre bordering Northbourne Avenue and Vernon Circle.

The site is in the existing Theatre Lane car park which will close from next month to allow early works to begin, with main construction expected to start early next year.

First published at ABC News, September 27, 2025

Goulburn's Big Merino 'Rambo' marks 40th birthday with entrance into 'big things' coin and stamp series

By James Tugwell

Goulburn locals say seeing the Big Merino is like coming home. (Supplied: Goulburn Mulwaree Library)

Four hours into a road trip to visit the grandparents, there are always squeals of delight from the back seats whenever the Howe family pass the Big Merino.

Thousands of motorists stop at Goulburn's big ram, just off the highway between Canberra and Sydney, which is celebrating its 40th birthday and has just been recognised on a coin and a stamp.

However, for the Howe family, there is a personal connection.

"There's your Rambo," Nathan Howe's kids will shout.

"They think it's mine because I named it,"  he said.

The Big Merino in the 1980s. (Supplied: Goulburn Mulwaree Library)

Attracting road trippers

Brothers Attila and Louis Mokany, originally from Hungary, decided to build "big things" at their service stations scattered throughout regional NSW to attract road trippers in the 1980s.

They started with the Merino ram in Goulburn, then a big oyster in Taree and finally Ballina's big prawn.

Goulburn’s mayor, AJ Elliot, back in 1977, with a prototype for a ‘Big Merino’ tourist attraction. 
(Supplied: Goulburn Mulwaree Library)

Weighing almost 100 tonnes, the 15-metre high, 18-metre long merino was installed in Goulburn in 1985.

Inside, it was a wool industry exhibition and museum, and a vantage point for people to look out from the two-metre-apart eyes.

The Big Merino under construction. (Supplied: Goulburn Mulwaree Library)

'Quasi-religious occasion'

Then, federal politician John Brown officially opened the Big Merino in 1985.

"Anyone who doesn't like the ram is not a true Australian,"  he is reported to have said.

The Canberra Times reported on the opening on September 22, 1985, describing the event as "a quasi-religious occasion" for the people of Goulburn.

The Canberra Times reported on the opening of the Big Merino on September 22, 1985 . (Supplied: Trove)

"When you stand at its feet the flanks of the Giant Merino loom above you like a cliff and when you stand well back from it the brute has almost prehistoric proportions and, with the supercilious curl of its sensual lips, exudes a slight air of menace … seems to be in half a mind to stride into the town and to trample it underfoot," the Canberra Times reported.

The reporter also described the animal's scrotum as "like a trawl net containing two immense globes of the world, appear[ing] to drop through the roof of the shops beneath".

'Feels like home'

Eight years old at the time, Mr Howe entered a competition run by the local newspaper to name the new attraction.

He submitted the name Rambo — inspired by the recently released film franchise.

"To me it was an easy fit to call the biggest sheep in the world Rambo,"  he said.

Mr Howe and another person who also submitted the same name were both announced winners.

"I tell people about it all the time," Mr Howe said.

"They're all pretty intrigued to hear the story."

In 2006, because of a bypass, the merino was moved a few hundred metres down the road under police escort.

Mr Howe has left Goulburn now, but said the merino evoked special memories from his childhood.

"It gives you a warm nostalgic feeling, knowing I've got some kind of connection to it,"  he said.

"It means a big deal to me because it's been there since I was in primary school. When I come home, and when I see it, it definitely feels like home to me.

"It is part of Goulburn.

"I don't think I've ever heard anyone have a bad opinion about the bad merino."

Commemorative coin and stamp

In addition to celebrating its 40th birthday, the Big Merino has just been made into a commemorative coin and a stamp as part of the Royal Australian Mint and Australia Post's 2025 Aussie Big Things collection.

The new Big Things coin and stamp outside the Big Merino. (Supplied: Australia Post)

A survey of 1,000 Australians by Australia Post found the Big Merino was voted the favourite and most-visited big thing among the collection.

Australia Post's Kayla Le Cornu said their research showed half of Australians on a road trip had stopped at a big thing.

"People can tick the big things off their bucket list," she said.

"Big things are quirky. It's a wonderful thing we do as Australians.

"It's just an iconic thing to do in Australia."

First published at ABC News, September 27, 2025

Chuck Mangione, 'Feels So Good' musician and bandleader, dead at 84

The instrumental hit reached No. 4 on the Billboard singles chart in 1977.

By Christopher Watson

Chuck Mangione, the Grammy-winning jazz bandleader and musician who scored an unlikely top-five hit in 1978 with the jazz instrumental "Feels So Good," has died at age 84, according to a note on his official website.

Born in Rochester, New York, on Nov. 29, 1940, Mangione early on performed and recorded as the Mangione Brothers with his sibling, keyboardist Gaspare "Gap" Mangione. After graduating from the prestigious Eastman School of Music in his hometown, he played trumpet with famed bandleader Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers as well as with various other ensembles, including recording the album "Friends & Love…A Chuck Mangione Concert" with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 1970.

In this Sept. 3, 1977, file photo, jazz musician Chuck Mangione is shown. 
Bettmann Archive via Getty Images.

Mangione's notoriety grew with subsequent recordings of his compositions, including the 1975 RIAA-certified gold album "Chase the Clouds Away," the title track from which was used in coverage of the 1976 Summer Olympics, and the Grammy-winning "Bellavia" in 1977.

But it was Mangione's 1977 album "Feels So Good" and its breezy, pop radio title track hit that made him a household name. Featuring Mangione playing the flugelhorn and backed by his longtime quartet of guitarist Grant Geissman, bassist Charles Meeks, multi-instrumentalist Chris Vadala and James Bradley Jr. on percussion, the single reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and scored a Record of the Year Grammy nomination, while the album peaked in the No. 2 position on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart – second only to the soundtrack to "Saturday Night Fever," by the Bee Gees. "Feels So Good" ultimately was RIAA-certified double-platinum for sales of more than two million units and helped popularize what came to be known as smooth jazz.

Mangione's follow-up albums included the 1978 gold-selling soundtrack to the Anthony Quinn film "Children of Sanchez," the title track from which earned Mangione his second of two career Grammy Awards. 1979's "Fun and Games," which also was certified gold, featured the single "Give It All You Got," which was used in ABC's coverage of the 1980 Winter Olympics and scored two Grammy nominations; Mangione earned 13 lifetime Grammy nods, including his two wins.

Mangione recorded some 30 albums during his career, the last of which was the 2000 release "Everything for Love." His general popularity waned following his 1970s heyday but he remained a pop culture touchstone well into the 2000s, sending up his image with a recurring voice role in the animated TV comedy "King of the Hill," playing an exaggerated version of himself as he appeared on the cover of the "Feels So Good" album, complete with his trademark fedora.

In 2012, Mangione was inducted into the Rochester Music Hall of Fame, which quotes him as saying, "If you’re honest and play with love, people will sit down and listen … my music is the sum of all I have experienced.”

First published at ABC News, July 25, 2025

Legendary actress once dubbed ‘most beautiful woman’ dead

By Eric Todisco

Italian actress Claudia Cardinale poses at the Museum in Tours on Feb. 14, 2015. 
AFP via Getty Images

An actress celebrated for her unforgettable roles in classic films and once declared “the most beautiful woman” has passed away.

Claudia Cardinale, the Italian actress best known for her roles in The Pink Panther, Once Upon a Time in the West and 8½, has died. She was 87.

Cardinale died Tuesday in Nemours, near Paris, her agent, Laurent Savry, confirmed to the Agence France-Presse.

“She leaves us the legacy of a free and inspired woman both as a woman and as an artiste,” Savry said in a statement.

The Post has reached out to Cardinale’s agent for comment.

Born in Tunisia on April 15, 1938, Cardinale was picked out of a crowd to win a beauty contest at age 16.

The prize was a trip to the Venice Film Festival, where she was spotted by Italian producers.

Franco Cristaldi, who owned the production company Vides, and would go on to become Cardinale’s husband, offered her a seven-year contract, which she accepted because she was pregnant after being raped.

“One day as I was walking home from school in Tunis a man in a car grabbed me and raped me and I became pregnant,” she told Variety in 2017.

“After that my mother and my sister stayed close to me. I gave birth in London, because in those days it would have been a scandal.”

“We pretended that my son was my little brother. I didn’t want to become an actress; I did it so I could be independent,” Cardinale added.

Cardinale’s first movie under the Vides deal was the 1958 Italian heist film Big Deal on Madonna Street, directed by Mario Monicelli.

Her career blew up in the 1960s with roles in Austerlitz, 8½, The Leopard, The Pink Panther, Circus World, The Professionals, Once Upon a Time in the West and more.

In her 2017 Variety interview, Cardinale recalled how she filmed The Leopard and 8½ at the same time.

“Luchino wanted me dark-haired and Federico wanted me blonde-ish, so I had to change hair colour every two weeks,” she explained.

“It was a magic moment for me. They were very different directors. Being on set with Luchino was like being in the theatre; we had rehearsals and all that.

“With Federico there was no script, it was all improvised. Those two movies both really took my career to another level.”

Cardinale worked in the movie industry for six more decades, notably appearing in 1993’s Son of the Pink Panther and 2014’s Effie Gray.

Her final film was Ridha Behi’s 2022 Italian-Tunisian drama The Island of Forgiveness.

Cardinale’s awards included an honorary Golden Lion at the 1993 Venice Film Festival, and an honorary Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival.

“If you want to practice this craft, you have to have inner strength,” she shared in a 2014 interview. “Otherwise, you’ll lose your idea of who you are.”

Cardinale is survived by her two children.

This story first appeared in the New York Post and was republished with permission.

Published at news.com.au, September 25, 2025

Wizard of Oz star Elaine Merk Binder dies aged 94

By James Moules

One of the last remaining stars of the timeless film The Wizard of Oz has died aged 94.

Elaine Merk Binder was one of the last surviving munchkins from the beloved classic.

The news of her passing was confirmed by her daughter Annette Phillips to TMZ.

No cause of death has yet been revealed.

Binder was cast as one of eight kids to be part of the Munchkin cast in the classic movie.

She successfully auditioned for the role in 1938.

Reflecting on the audition, she previously told the Mirror US: “I tried out for the Wizard of Oz Munchkins.

“I was relieved when Bud told the dance director, ‘She’s OK’.

“I did not have to perform like the others did. For me it was scary. It was my first big call for girls from a major studio.

“And they selected me as one of the eight who would both dance and sing.

“We learned later that they had added girls to the Little People because they had the mistaken impression that the Little People were not athletic.”

She was just eight years old when she filmed her scenes at the MGM studios.

Binder can be seen in the scene that features the song ‘Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are’.

She is in the second small house, on the way up the stairs.

The timeless movie stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale and Frank Morgan as the Wizard of Oz.

It grossed $US3,017,000 ($A4.58m) during its initial release in the US and Canada.

This article originally appeared in the The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Published at News.com.au, September 23, 2025

Mighty opera gala to mark theatre’s anniversary

The Opera Australia orchestra, chorus and soloists will be coming to town for a one-night-only gala concert.

By Helen Musa

In a show of strength to mark the 60th anniversary of Canberra Theatre Centre, an impressive line-up of the Opera Australia orchestra, chorus and soloists will be coming to town for a one-night-only gala concert.

This huge logistical undertaking is also something of a coup for retiring director of the centre, Alex Budd, who will take over shortly as CEO of Opera Australia, to appear here for the first time in 42 years, a signal perhaps of things to come in the future if and when we get a lyric theatre.

Conductor Tahu Matheson will be lead more than 80 artists, including singers such as Canberra-trained soprano Lorina Gore, mezzo-soprano Sian Sharp, tenor Diego Torre, soprano Jennifer Black, baritone Luke Gabbedy and bass David Parkin in a night of big hits from the opera repertoire by composers such as Mozart, Puccini, Bizet, Verdi and Wagner.

When I catch up with Sharp to talk about the coming gala, she’s just taken a day of vocal rest, with lots of steam and gentle warming up after experiencing a bit of hoarseness. That’s the life of a working opera singer, guarding the precious vocal instrument. 

Sharp, whose key roles for OA this year include the title role of Carmen in Bizet’s opera and Prince Charming in Cinderella, is one of the flagship opera company’s most in-demand singers, but one who’s readily put her hand up over the years for gala performances of this sort on New Year’s Eve and at The Domain.

Next year, she’ll be playing Suzuki in what is claimed to be the last showing of the Moffatt Oxenbould production of Madama Butterfly, and Maddalena in Elijah Mojinsky’s 1960s-style Rigoletto, where the chorus does The Twist at one point.

There’s no mezzo-soprano in a new production of Turandot to be created by director and choreographer Ann Yee, so she won’t be part of that next year, but she praises the company’s decision to do new productions of its most popular works and looks forward to its further announcements.

Mezzo-soprano Sian Sharp… “For most people, evenings like this are simply for enjoyment.”

Sharp, like many of her fellow-singers, is curious about the appointment of Budd to Opera Australia, from which he came to the Canberra Theatre, describing it as “an interesting appointment“ and noting how long he had worked with Opera Australia out of its Melbourne office, looking after touring for the company.

“It’s a good thing having someone who knows the institution as a leader,” she says.

She will be pulling out all the stops and singing some of the great favourites, including the seductive Seguidilla from Carmen, which she says stands alone as a concert piece perfectly, The Flower Duet from Delibes’ Lakme together with Gore and as part of the trio, Soave sia il vento, from Mozart’s Così fan tutte.

She tells me that her colleague Torre will be singing one of opera‘s best-known arias, La donna è mobile from Rigoletto, while Gore will sing The Jewel Song from Faust by Gounod.

As for Opera Australia’s mighty chorus, the jewel in crown, opera fans can pretty well guess what they’ll be singing – the epic Anvil Chorus from Verdi’s opera Il Trovatore and another Verdi powerhouse, Va, Pensiero, the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco, still sometimes suggested as a potential Italian national anthem. 

“The general public loves to hear tunes they know,” Sharp says. “ For most people, evenings like this are simply for enjoyment.”

Opera Australia Gala, Canberra Theatre, October 9.

First published at Canberra City News, September 24, 2025