Historic Toowoomba – the Ups and Downs of Showbiz

The Empire Theatre, Toowoomba We love the arts. Music, dance, musical theatre, film, literature…we love them all and enjoy expanding our horizons and experience of the arts whenever we can. Toowoomba has the largest performing arts centre in regional Australia, the Empire Theatre, and it has a fascinating history. We have attended many performances at …

The Empire Theatre Reopens

After a forced closure due to social distancing requirements, the Empire Theatre in Toowoomba has struck back at Covid 19 reopening to a series of small performances promoted as The Empire Strikes Back. As a Star Wars fan, I love the title. It's very apt. But this post is not about Star Wars but the …

Queensland Symphony Orchestra – Sounds from the Deep

On the weekend Bec and I went to see the Queensland Symphony Orchestra at the Empire Theatre for their performance of Sounds from the Deep. It has been many years since I have seen an orchestra perform live. As a very young child, I can remember  going to see an orchestra at the Festival Theatre …

The Bolshoi Ballet – Spartacus

Last month Bec and I went to see a simulcast of the Bolshoi Ballet’s performance of Spartacus. Performed in Brisbane’s Lyric Theatre in the Queensland Performing Arts Centre at Southbank, the performance was streamed out to regional centres across Queensland, including Toowoomba, Cairns, Mt Isa, Gladstone and Bundaberg. Interestingly Brisbane is the only Australian stop on …

Dangerous Liaisons

On Friday night I went to see Queensland Ballet’s performance of Dangerous Liaisons at our local Empire Theatre as part of their regional tour for 2019. If you have read the book by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in 1782, or seen the 1988 screen version starring Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer, then you …

A Night Out at the Theatre

I really love old buildings. I love the detail in the architecture, the arched windows and the sense of character that I often find missing in contemporary buildings. Toowoomba is blessed to still have many of its historic buildings and I love wandering around the city streets, bemused at the way they sit juxtaposed to …