SYDNEY — One of the more pleasant things about Sydney during the summer holidays (apart from the fact that one-third of Sydneysiders evacuate the place) is the Sydney Festival in January and February.
Despite attempts to turn the 1998 festival into a giant rehearsal for the 2000 Olympics, the program includes some fantastic theatre, music and spectacle. The following is just a small sample.
9point = Titanic! — Jan 20-24, 9pm, Sydney Opera House forecourt. Free. Germanys Theater Titanik build, launch, sail and sink a 30-metre replica of the Titanic.
9point = Plasticiens Volants — Jan 13-17, 9pm, Overseas Passenger Terminal forecourt. Free. A French carnival and parade featuring gigantic inflatable figures.
9point = Free Domain concerts — Featuring: Opera in the Park, Jan 10, 8pm (a full concert version of Verdis The Force of Destiny); Symphony Under the Stars, Jan 17, 8pm (Sydney Symphony Orchestra perform Strauss, Holst, Dvörak, Berstein, Gershwin, Hindson, Torke and Tchiakovsky); Tamworth comes to town, Jan 18, 5pm (with Lee Kernaghan, Keith Urban and the ranch, and a giant posse of boot-scooters).
9point = OpenAir cinema — Jan 11-Feb 15, Mrs Macquarie Point and the Domain, sunset. $14. Cinema classics, box office hits and premiers on a three-story high screen against the backdrop of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.
9point = Oumou Sangare — an 22-23, 8pm, Opera House Concert Hall. $25 to $40. One of West Africa's most famous griot singers, Oumou speaks to Malian music's long tradition of defiance and struggle. Featuring her own ensemble of musicians.
9point = Cloudstreet — Jan 3-Feb 8, Tue-Sat at 6.30pm, Sun at 4pm, Berth 9 , Sussex St, Darling Harbour. $31 to $44. Company Bs performance of the Tim Winton novel about family, inclusion and reconciliation and suggests a way forward for white Australia.
9point = Le Cercle Invisible — Jan 24-Feb 4, Tue-Sat at 7.30pm, Sun at 2.30pm, Seymour Centre. $25 to $35. A two-person circus of gravity-defying antics and whimsical comedy.
9point = Festival de Cuba — Jan 8-10, 15-17 and 22-24, 6.30pm, Darling Harbour Amphitheatre. Free. Samba, rumba and rage to some of Cubas hottest salsa bands.
9point = A Joyful Noise — Jan 10, 12 and 13, 8pm, Opera House Concert Hall. $25 to $40. A night of gospel music featuring: The McCollough Sons of Thunder, a US gospel brass band which blends early blues and jazz with Southern spirituals; and mmit Powell and The Gospel Elites, a San Francisco blues-based group described as the "gospel group of the year".
Because some events dont come cheap, it's worthwhile checking out Cheaptix in the Macquarie Street mall for any specials.