Riverside Theatre is set to undergo a dramatic transformation with its seating capacity to more than double. It's hoped the expanded theatre complex will attract the best of Broadway and the west end to Sydney’s second CBD for the first time.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 After nearly four decades, Paramatta's Riverside theatres have outgrown their home.
00:07 One of the joys and problems we have with Riverside at the moment is that we're fully occupied most of the time.
00:12 So we have so much demand for bookings here that we can't service.
00:16 To address that, Riverside is getting a $188 million facelift.
00:21 The existing 760 seat playhouse will be refurbished,
00:25 while the rest of the building will be demolished to make way for a new 1,500 seat Lyric Theatre,
00:30 a 420 seat Drama Theatre and an 80 seat Cinema,
00:34 meaning seating capacity in the theatre complex will more than double.
00:38 The new Riverside Theatre will be a world class performing centre,
00:41 welcoming over 400,000 visitors each year.
00:44 Producer Rodney Rigby has brought numerous Broadway musicals to Australian stages,
00:50 but never to Western Sydney.
00:52 He says expanded theatre will be a game changer when it opens in four years.
00:58 Right now I have three musicals in my slate that I cannot bring to Western Sydney.
01:05 All that changes in 2028 when the new theatre opens.
01:11 But the future of another Paramatta institution remains in doubt.
01:16 The old Picture Palace, the Roxy Theatre, is still languishing.
01:20 That is the subject of a business case at the moment.
01:23 Just a short walk along the banks of the Paramatta River,
01:26 another major arts project is taking shape.
01:29 Paramatta Powerhouse is set to open late next year.
01:33 It's hoped the sites will become the focus of a world class arts and cultural hub.
01:38 The whole precinct will complement one another, it will all come together.
01:41 Another step in the transformation of Sydney's second CBD.
01:45 [birds chirping]
01:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]