Vocalists —

We are delighted that Rachael Beck, Michael Falzon, Luke Kennedy and Alexandra Flood will be joining us on stage to perform some of the best loved Gershwin tunes alongside our dancers.

RACHAEL BECK

One of Australia's leading performers, Rachael Beck most recently won acclaim for her performance of ‘Diana’ in Black Swans production of Next to Normal in 2015, she also played ‘The Bakers Wife’ in Harvest Rain’ s Into The Woods at QPAC in 2015. 

Rachael’s theatre credits include ‘Truly Scrumptious’ in TML Enterprises national production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; ‘Sally Bowles’ in IMG’s Cabaret, directed by Sam Mendes; ‘Kathy Selden’ in Singin' in the Rain directed by David Atkins, earning her a Mo Award nomination; 'Maria' in The Gordon/Frost Organization/SEL production of The Sound of Music; Me and My Girl - which toured Australia and New Zealand for the Adelaide Festival; and for The Production Company, The Pajama Game, and Call Me Madam.

Rachael is widely remembered for her award-winning role as ‘Belle’ opposite Hugh Jackman in Beauty and the Beast, which won the 1996 ARIA Award for the Best Australian Soundtrack/Cast/Show Release.  Her outstanding credits include her Green Award nominated performance as 'Fantine' in Les Miserables and 'Rumpleteaser' in Cats, both produced by Cameron Mackintosh. Rachael’s theatre credits for the STC include Summer Rain; A Little Night Music; Henry IV and for Malthouse Theatre Secret Bridesmaid’s Business.


Rachael’s screen credits include Home & Away, It Takes Two, City Homicide, Stingers, Mercury, The Feds, This Man This Woman, GP, Flying Doctors, and Hey Dad!

Rachael is a proud Ambassador for The Australian Childrens’ Music Foundation.

MICHAEL FALZON

Cast by Queen and Ben Elton, Michael’s break-through role came as 'Galileo' in the original Australian production of We Will Rock You. He was invited to reprise the role in Japan and the UK, breaking box office records and playing the show's first-ever arena. Other arena shows include three NSW Premier’s Concerts at Sydney Entertainment Centre and Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds (Australia/NZ), later joining the UK/European 2010 & 2012 tours (released through Universal Pictures).

Michael has appeared in STC's The Wharf Revue (STC), Side by Side by Sondheim, and as 'Hedwig' in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (QPAC, Metro Theatre), 'Homer' in Floyd Collins (City Recital Hall), 'Stacee Jaxx' in Rock of Ages , 'Jason' in Ordinary Days, 'The Arbiter' in Gale Edwards' new production of Chess, and he originated the role of 'Leo Szilard' in Atomic. He has been a soloist with Sydney, Adelaide, Western Australian and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, recording with TSO for ABC Music.

Over the last two years, with Asia Theatricals, Michael has co-produced and starred in concerts, The Music of Queen (Sydney Opera House), Painted From Memory (Australian tour) creating Swing on This to open 2014 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, subsequently selling out concerts around Australia alongside friends, Luke Kennedy, Matt Lee, Ben Mingay, Rob Mills and Kate Ceberano.

Most recently, Michael was invited to New York to record the leading role in ATOMIC - The New Rock Musical by Foxman and Ginges, and produced by Steve Margoshes (Fame, Tommy). After a sell-out 2015 Off-Broadway run with ongoing US tour, the new album is out now.

ALEXANDRA FLOOD

Alexandra Flood made her professional operatic debut in 2014 as a young artist at the Salzburg Festival singing the roles of Blonde and Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail für Kinder), Modistin (Der Rosenkavalier) and Clorinda (La Cenerentola für Kinder) with the Vienna Philharmonic.  In 2015 Alexandra gave her German debut as Marguerite (Le Petit Faust (Hervé)) and Australian debut in the title role (The Cunning Little Vixen).

Other solo performances include Musetta (La bohème), Carmina Burana, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten and Vaughan Williams’ A Pastoral Symphony.  In February and March 2016, Alexandra reprised the role of Blonde at the Vorarlberger Landestheater Bregenz

Alexandra’s awards include the 2015 Richard-Strauss Wettbewerb Förderpreis, the Martin Bequest Travelling Scholarship, the Dame Nellie Melba Opera, the Opera Foundation Australia AIMS Award, Opera Scholars Australia “Scholar of the Year”, the Robert Stolz Viennese Music Society Award, the National Liederfest Hedi Holt Memorial Award, the Robert Salzer Vocal Championship (1st place), and 3rd place Meistersinger Vocal Championship in Graz, Austria and the Australian Music Foundation award winner.

Alexandra is currently completing a Master of Musiktheater / Operngesang at the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, Germany. 

LUKE KENNEDY

Australian recording artist Luke Kennedy shot to international attention in 2013 as Ricky Martin’s grand finalist on season two of television phenomenon The Voice Australia. As series runner-up, Luke was the first artist to secure a #1 single on the iTunes charts for his stirring rendition of Time To Say Goodbye.

Following his success on The Voice Australia, Luke performed with Ricky Martin as a special guest on his 2013 Australian tour released his debut album, ‘A Time For Us’, which debuted at #6 on the ARIA charts.

Luke is also an accomplished music theatre performer, with iconic performances in Les Misérables, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, The Last 5 Years and Grease. He has also headlined six productions across Australia of Jesus Christ Superstar as the title role. Luke has extensive international touring experience with Australian classical crossover sensation The TEN Tenors, and now frequently joins Australian music theatre, television and film superstars Rob Mills, Ben Mingay and Michael Falzon as a member of the exciting new Big Band group Swing on This.

The stage is not the only place you might see Luke appear. Luke is a regular TV Presenter on Channel 7 Queensland’s popular weekly travel and variety show The Great South East.

Luke’s latest music release, ‘Skin & Scars – EP’ was independently released in August 2015, and reached the Top 5 of the iTunes Singer/Songwriter charts. You can order ‘Skin & Scars – EP’ on iTunes.