John Farnham's classic album Whispering Jack gets the musical theatre treatment in the Sydney Theatre Company's upcoming season.
The 2026 program is the first under artistic director Mitchell Butel, who took over from Kip Williams in late 2024 and will direct Whispering Jack: the John Farnham Musical.
"It's probably not the normal thing you'd see in a STC program, but we're really excited about what new audience we can bring to the company with a work as widely appealing as this," Butel said.
At the time Farnham recorded the album in the garage of his suburban Melbourne rental, his career was in the doldrums.
But with Whispering Jack and its hit single You're The Voice, he made a return to the music charts, the album becoming the highest-selling by a local artist in Australia.
"To see this part of my story brought to life on stage is an adventure that might just require you strapping on your seatbelt!" the singer said in a statement.
"For me it has always been about the songs. From Sadie to You're the Voice, I am forever grateful for both these songs and the people who connect with my music."
Produced with Michael Cassel and Gaynor Wheatley, the musical marks the 40th anniversary of the album and will premiere in November 2026.
"This is more than a new musical – it's a celebration of an artist who defined generations and a moment in time that changed Australian music forever," said Cassel.
Gaynor Wheatley said her late husband, renowned music manager Glenn Wheatley, believed in John Farnham at a time when no one else did.
"John's legacy deserves nothing less than this kind of theatrical celebration," she said.
Other highlights of the STC's 2026 offering include the world premiere of the latest work from celebrated playwright Suzie Miller.
Strong is the New Pretty looks at the formation of the Australian Rules national women's league, starring Lucy Bell, Sheridan Harbridge, and Amy Ingram.
The season opens with Tony-and Pulitzer-winning play Purpose directed by Zindzi Okenyo, in the first production of the Broadway hit to be performed outside the US.
A third entirely new work is Jane Harrison's Bennelong in London, starring Googoorewon Knox and Guy Simon and directed by Ian Michael.
It's the tale of a young actor preparing for an audition, who imagines the young Bennelong, who was abducted by Governor Arthur Phillip's men in 1789 and eventually became the first Aboriginal man to visit Europe and return.
Butel's approach as artistic director so far has been fuelled by "thousands" of coffees and dinners with artists, to find out what the nation's top stage talent wants to work on.
"Whenever you force people into a certain project or show, it's never as good as when people come together around an idea and go, I'm desperate to do this work," he said.
One of those was actor David Wenham, who will star in An Iliad, an adaptation of the Homeric poem from the Robert Fagles translation, accompanied by live music.
The STC will also mark almost four decades since its premiere of AIDS crisis drama The Normal Heart, with a staging at the Sydney Opera House.
And there's the stage debut for UK mega-hit screenwriter Steven Moffat, the writer behind Doctor Who, Sherlock and Douglas is Cancelled, with his play the Unfriend.
