Cast
Creatives
Shane Jacobson
Oscar
Shane Jacobson is an award-winning actor, presenter, producer and entertainer. His incredible and varied career spans over 40 years both here at home and internationally.
Shane began performing on stage at the age of eight, but it was the successful film Kenny that brought Shane world-wide recognition as well as an AFI Award for best lead actor. Shane’s career has seen him star in subsequent credits including: Cactus with Bryan Brown, Charlie & Boots with Paul Hogan, Hollywood blockbuster The Bourne Legacy with Jeremy Renner, Edward Norton and Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz, Surviving Georgia with Pia Miranda and Holly Vallance, the hugely popular Oddball with Sarah Snook and Deborah Mailman, The Dressmaker with Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth and Hugo Weaving, 7 Guardians of the Tomb with Kelsey Grammer, The BBQ with Magda Szubanski, That’s Not My Dog!, Brothers’ Nest with his brother Clayton Jacobson, Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black and The Very Excellent Mr Dundee with Paul Hogan, Chevy Chase and John Cleese, and Never Too Late with James Cromwell, Jacki Weaver and Jack Thompson. Shane has just recently finished shooting another feature film, The Deb with Rebel Wilson.
As a TV host, presenter and actor, Shane’s appearances have been numerous and varied. Some of his shows have included hosting and presenting at the Australian Film Institute Awards, AACTA Awards, The Logies, Top Gear Australia, The Great Australian Bake Off, Little Big Shots, The All New Monty and Mates on a Mission, a judge on Australia’s Got Talent as well as telemovies Beaconsfield, The Mystery of the Hansom Cab and Jack Irish with Guy Pearce, to roles in TV series like Kenny’s World, The Time of Our Lives and Fat Tony.
Shane’s stage career has been just as successful. On stage, he has received a Helpmann Award for Best Male in a Supporting Role for Nicely Nicely in the 2008 revival of the musical Guys and Dolls. Some of Shane’s other on-stage roles include The Drowsy Chaperone, QI Live with Stephen Fry, 8 The Play, Shane Warne – The Musical and Mother & Son with Noeline Brown, The Rocky Horror Show and Hairspray with Todd McKenney and Midnight: The Cinderella Musical with Lucy Durack.
As an author, Shane has penned his best-selling bio The Long Road to Overnight Success and his exploration of his life as a motoring tragic in his second book, Rev Head.
Shane also is a passionate producer of film, television and events. He has produced The West Gate Bridge Disaster: The Untold Stories documentary, the TV show ManSpace, That’s Not My Dog! comedy festival and recently The Roast of Paul Hogan and The Australian Roast of John Cleese.
Shane is thrilled to once again be standing on stage next to his dear friend Todd McKenney; in Shane’s own words: “Todd and I spend all our time together laughing, the best part is sometimes we get paid whilst we are doing it. I love Todd to bits and adore our professional and personal relationship, put simply, he’s just a great mate”.
Todd McKenney
Felix
One of Australia’s most versatile performing artists, Todd McKenney is an award winning and critically acclaimed performer on stage and screen. As an actor and the leading man of song and dance in musical theatre productions, he has entertained Australians for over 30 years from the main stage to intimate venues.
Todd has led the cast on some of the 7 Network’s major productions including The Full Monty, The Real Full Monty, Mates on a Mission, Ladies Night and The All New Monty which aired in 2020, a one night show that was dedicated to men and women’s health awareness. Todd also appeared as a host/choreographer in The Real Dirty Dancing, which saw eight celebrities revisit the most memorable dancing moments from the original movie. 2023 saw Todd return to his role as a judge on the 20th season of Dancing With The Stars on Channel 7.
It’s not surprising that Todd McKenney is a household name. Todd’s stage credit roll and career highlights include his most notable role of Peter Allen in the Australian hit production The Boy From Oz, in which he performed over 1000 shows nationally and became one of the longest running and most successful musical productions in Australian history.
Todd’s first professional musical role was in 1983 in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song and Dance. His career followed with lead and headline roles in Cats, 42nd Street, West Side Story, Crazy For You, Born Yesterday, Camelot, Pirates of Penzance, Cabaret, Strictly Ballroom, La Cage aux Folles, Singin’ In the Rain, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Orpheus In the Underworld for Opera Australia, Annie the Musical, Grease and Anything Goes. In 2018 he stepped into the stilettos and successfully took on the role of Frank N’ Furter in The Rocky Horror Show in Melbourne. In 2019 Todd stepped out on stage as Australia’s Greatest Showman in the title role of Barnum, and went onto play Lord Farquaad in the hit musical Shrek. In 2020, Todd played Lewis in the award winning feature film Unsound.
Todd starred as Wilbur Turnblad in Hairspray the Musical at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre, as well as Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella The Musical in Sydney. Todd is currently starring in the musical Wicked as the Wizard.
On the small screen Todd starred in the acclaimed ABC series Significant Others, an engrossing, intelligently crafted six-part series about a missing persons case. 2024 will see Todd star in Ladies in Black on the ABC. He has featured in the hit show Winners and Losers on the 7 Network, appeared as a guest judge on Australia’s Got Talent, and hosted on a range of morning television programs.
2020 saw Todd launch Todd Creates, an online marketplace exclusively for independent, Australian creatives and small businesses who produce and ship their products in Australia. Todd+Creates has partnered with Everyday Market from Woolworths to be an approved seller of products sourced from Australian-owned independent small-to-medium sized businesses (SME’s). We’re working with Everyday Market from Woolworths to help curate some of Australia’s best brands to reach millions of Woolworths shoppers.
Lucy Durack
Cecily Pigeon
Lucy is one of Australia’s most well-known leading ladies with major roles to her credit including Glinda in Wicked, Sophie in The Letdown (Netflix/ABC), Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical, Roxy in Sisters (Netflix), Elle Woods in Legally Blonde (for which she won a Helpmann and Sydney Theatre Award), Audra in A Perfect Pairing (Netflix), Chantelle “Tugger” Waugh in Doctor Doctor (Nine) and most recently Mrs Lilicroft/Mrs Madrina in the World Premiere of Midnight the Musical.
Further highlights include playing Katie Halloway in Now Add Honey (Gristmill/Netflix), Michelle in Upper Middle Bogan (ABC/Netflix), Rose Walker on Neighbours (Ten Peach), Sarah in Touching the Void (MTC), Glinda in The Wizard of Oz (GFO), Sybil Chase in Private Lives (MTC), as The Cactus on The Masked Singer (Ten), a judge on Australia’s Got Talent (Seven) and as the voice of Daisy Quokka’s Mum in animated feature film Daisy Quokka: World’s Scariest Animal.
Lucy won the Helpmann and Sydney Theatre Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for Legally Blonde; Best Screen Play Asia Web Award for Lift; and the AACTA Award for Best Online Drama or Comedy Series for Love In Lockdown. She is currently developing television series with Gristmill and Jungle, and is the proud co-founder and co-director of evidence-based health and wellness tech company and CSIRO tested app Hey Lemonade, for which she is a finalist in this year’s Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards.
Penny McNamee
Gwendolyn Pigeon
Multi-talented Penny McNamee has starred in leading roles across film, television and theatre. Penny’s US television credits include Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot (CBS), Steven Spielberg’s The Pacific (HBO), Political Animals (USA), Elementary (CBS) and Blue Bloods (CBS).
Penny was a series regular for six years in the Seven Network’s hugely popular drama Home and Away in the role of Dr Tori Morgan, which saw her nominated for a Logie Award. Penny’s other Australian television credits include roles in White Collar Blue, All Saints, Headland and Foxtel’s Satisfaction. Penny’s feature film credits include lead roles in the US feature film See No Evil (Lionsgate) and John Duigan’s critically acclaimed Australian feature Careless Love.
Penny’s Australian theatre credits include Jennifer Gabriel in The Witches of Eastwick for Cameron Mackintosh, Nessarose in the original Australian production of Wicked – for which she won a Green Room Award, Donna in the Griffin Theatre’s production of Hurlyburly, Ella in Bells are Ringing for the Hayes Theatre Co and Alaura Kingsley in City of Angels, also for the Hayes Theatre Co. Penny’s international musical theatre credits include Daddy Long Legs and Rocket Science both staged in New York City.
As a writer, Penny currently writes episodes for Home and Away and has recently signed a book deal with Scholastic with her first young-adult fiction series due for release in 2024.
Laurence Coy
Speed
As an actor on stage, Laurence has worked for all the State Theatre Companies in Australia, Bell Shakespeare, Ensemble Theatre, Belvoir, Darlinghurst Theatre Co, Hayes Theatre Co, Perth, Adelaide and Sydney Festivals, and many commercial and independent producers. Some of his favourite productions have been Girl From the North Country (GWB Entertainment), The Cripple of Inishmann (Mad March Hare Theatre), The Night Alive (O’Punksy’s Theatre), Shining City (Griffin Independent), Portia Coughlin (Darlinghurst Theatre), The Removalists (Sydney Theatre Company), Norm and Ahmed (The Alex Buzo Company), The Christian Brothers, Of Mice and Men (Sport for Jove), Angels in America (New Mardi Gras Festival) and To The Green Fields Beyond (Bite Festival).
In musical theatre his credits include Summer Rain (New Theatre), Calamity Jane (Neglected Musicals), The Fantastics (Hayes Theatre Co), High Society (Hayes Theatre Co), The Man of La Mancha (Squabbalogic), The Drowsy Chaperone (Hayes Theatre Co), Sunday in the Park with George (Q Theatre Co) and Buddy.
His feature film credits include The Appleton Ladies Potato Race, Ladies in Black, San Andreas, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Fool’s Gold, The Three Stooges and Doing Time for Patsy Cline. On television his credits include Mr Inbetween, RFDS, Black Comedy, Devil’s Dust, Wild Boys, Rake, Crownies and Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo. He co-wrote and directed two series of Tough Nuts – Australia’s Hardest Criminals for Foxtel and The Kangaroo Gang for the BBC.
Laurence is a graduate in Theatre Studies from UNSW, in Acting from WAAPA, in Directing from NIDA, and in Screenwriting from UTS.
Anthony Taufa
Murray
Anthony was most recently seen on screen in series two of Wolf Kile Me on Stan. In 2023 he toured parts of the USA with Windmill Production’s Hiccup, returning home to Griffin Theatre to co-star in the critically acclaimed Jailbaby, which returned to the stage in January, followed by the critically acclaimed Ensemble production of Alone It Stands. In 2022 he appeared in The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall for the STC and A Christmas Carol for the Ensemble Theatre.
For the Sydney Theatre Company, Anthony appeared in Home, I’m Darling, How to Rule the World and both the original production and Australian tour of Black is the New White. He also was a part of the productions of A Cheery Soul, Saint Joan, The Golden Age and Cloud Nine for the Sydney Theatre Company, An Octoroon for Queensland Theatre, A Man With Five Children for Darlinghurst Theatre Company and The Misanthrope and The Comedy of Errors for Bell Shakespeare.
Anthony is a NIDA Graduate.
John Batchelor
Roy
John Batchelor is a familiar face to Australian audiences following his five-season stint as the loveable Chief Petty Officer Andy ‘Charge’ Thorpe on the Nine Network series Sea Patrol, which was also broadcast worldwide including USA, Canada, UK, New Zealand and Germany, and as the larger than life character Peeto in the AACTA winning film Red Dog.
John starred in the Chinese/Australian feature The Whistleblower. Other feature film highlights include The Tenderhook, Chasing Comets, Walt Disney Pictures’ Inspector Gadget 2, Danny Deckchair, Peter Rabbit 2, The Appleton Ladies Potato Race and shorts including The Lotus Room (Accolade Comedy Actor, Exposure Film Festival) and The Oblong Box (Best Actor, Queensland New Filmmakers’ Awards). In addition to Sea Patrol, John’s television highlights include Barons, Underbelly: Razor as Kate Leigh’s underworld ‘right handman’ Wally Tomlinson, The Great Mint Swindle, Brock, Harrow, The Secret Daughter, Home and Away and Devil’s Dust.
However John’s first love is the stage and there he has enjoyed such productions including Storm Boy (MTC), The Way of the World, Festen and Top Coat (STC), Holding Achilles (World Premiere, Dead Puppets Society), Antony and Cleopatra, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Troilus + Cressida, Julius Caesar (Bell Shakespeare), Christmas at Turkey Beach, Oz Shorts and Managing Carmen (QTC), as well as The Underpants, The Misanthrope, A Doctor in Spite of Himself, Deathwish, Bouncers, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and many more. His five years working in Brisbane gained him two Matilda Awards for his work in Queensland Theatre.
Jamie Oxenbould
Vinnie
Jamie has been an actor for over 30 years and has worked for most of the major theatre companies in Sydney – most recently in Midnight Murder at Hamlington HalI, Boxing Day BBQ, Woman in Black, Babay Doll (Ensemble), Family Values (Griffin), The Miser (Bell Shakespeare), Trevor (Outhouse), The Hypochondriac (Darlinghurst Theatre), The Village Bike (Old Fitz), The Literati (Griffin and Bell Shakespeare), The Dapto Chaser (Apocalypse). Television credits include Ten Pound Poms, Secret City 2, My Place and as a Play School Presenter.
Jamie has worked consistently in the voice-over industry voicing commercials as well as characters for animations including Oh Yuck, Gasp, I Got a Rocket, Raggs and Tabalunga. He has written for many comedy and reality programs, and written and directed short films which screened at Flickerfest, St Kilda Film Festival, Tropfest, BOFA, Adelaide Film Festival and LA Shorts Festival. His stage writing credits include The Spear Carrier (Ensemble), Gods and Little Fishes (co-writer New Theatre), Chicken in a Biscuit (co-writer) and Midnight Murder at Hamlington Hall (co-writer).
Julia Ohannessian
Understudy
Julia Ohannessian graduated from NIDA in 2007. Since graduating Julia has performed in Diary of a Wombat (Monkey Baa), Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare), Every Second (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), Cherry Smoke (Old Fitz), Accidental Death of an Anarchist (STC Ed), The Mysteries: Genesis (STC), Vs Macbeth (STC/Border Project), The Comedy of Errors (STC), Oresteia (STC), Blood Wedding (STC), Hamlet (STC Ed), Mr Chicken Goes to Paris (NIDA), The Splinter (STC), Othello (Sport For Jove) and Children of The Sun (STC). Her film and TV credits include The Clearing (Hulu), Down Under, Frayed (ABC), East West 101, Home and Away (Network 7) and Subject to Change.
Berynn Schwerdt
Understudy
Berynn has performed in more than 70 plays and musicals over the course of his career, with the Sydney Theatre Company, Opera Australia, Sport for Jove and many other commercial and independent theatre companies. His musical work includes The Rocky Horror Show national and international tours, West Side Story national tour, Spring Awakening and Certified Male. Some of Berynn’s theatre credits include Rose Riot, a compendium of eight of Shakespeare’s history plays, Antony & Cleopatra, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Julius Caesar, The Importance of Being Earnest, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Russian Transport, Away and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) around Australia and in seven countries. Recent theatre credits include North by Northwest, As You Like It and The Tempest, as well as the premiere of Hilary Bell’s triptych of plays, Summer of Harold, which tours to the Edinburgh Festival later this year. Berynn’s recent screen credits include the film Wyrmwood, Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV series, Rings of Power, and the Stan/BBC co-production Ten Pound Poms. Berynn has also taught various elements of stage and screen performance at Actors Centre Australia and the National Institute of Dramatic Arts, and held theatre classes in India and Malaysia. He is a proud Equity member.
Hayden Spencer
Understudy
Hayden’s vast theatre credits include Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Michael Cassel Group), King in Kooza (Cirque du Soleil), Clown Vincenti in Dralion (Cirque du Soleil), Murray in The Odd Couple, Mad Jack in Jasper Jones, De Guiche in Cyrano De Bergerac, Happy Days, Elling and The Beast, all for Melbourne Theatre Company. He has also performed in numerous shows for both Queensland Theatre and La Boite Theatre including End Of The Rainbow for which he was nominated for a Helpmann award. Hayden is also a recipient of the Gold Matilda theatre award for 2001,2003 and 2004.
His screen credits include the much-acclaimed Deadloch (Amazon), Superwog (Princess Pictures), Tall Man (Real TV), Mystery Road (ABC) and Judy and Punch (VICE/Blue Tongue).
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