In the late 70s, a film took the world by storm – Saturday Night Fever. With an epic soundtrack that held the record for bestselling album of all time until Michael Jackson’s Thriller was released, the soundtrack consisted of iconic tracks from the Bee Gees including ‘Stayin’ Alive’ and ‘Night Fever’. The album would go on to be certified 16x Platinum.
Twenty years later, the film and its catchy tunes inspired a musical theatre production. Set as a jukebox musical that consisted of songs from the film, plus a few extras, the stage musical would become a massive hit.
With original book by Nan Knighton, Arlene Phillips, Paul Nicholas and Robert Stigwood, and music and lyrics by the Bee Gees and other artists, a new Australian production has recently taken to the Melbourne stage. Produced and directed by Drew Anthony, Saturday Night Fever recently opened at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre on Saturday 10th of January 2026. I must admit, I have never seen the film, nor the stage production before. However, I am familiar with the music, so I was excited to see how Saturday Night Fever would come together. After all, who doesn’t love the Bee Gees and famous tracks such as ‘If I Can’t Have You’, ‘You Should Be Dancing’ and ‘How Deep Is Your Love’.
Saturday Night Fever is set around the central character of Tony, played by Ethan Churchill, his struggles with normality and wanting to break free from the expectations of his family. Tony escapes reality at the club, dancing the weekend away. However, when the chance to win big from a dance competition presents itself, Tony discovers more about himself, those around him, and soon realises what really matters.
This musical is quite the rollercoaster of emotion. From the highs of the catchy songs, accompanied with the cast’s skilful dancing and mesmerising choreography, to the incredible lows and darkness of the stories that lie within the book. I was taken a back, shocked even, by some of the moments in the narrative. Saturday Night Fever doesn’t shy away from topics domestic violence, sexual violence, some very vulgar language and deeply flawed characters.
The book is very dated, but that is the point. It is a period piece now. A documented moment in time when life wasn’t very nice at all. And whilst a lot of what is contained within Saturday Night Fever can easily be repeated or modernised, it is a reminder that whilst society has grown over time, in a lot of ways, it hasn’t really grown at all. This is what makes this production of Saturday Night Fever so brave and fantastic!
The ensemble is filled with a wide range of extremely talented dancers and vocalists that fill out the club dancefloor, bringing the disco vibe to life. Portraying Tony’s family are Chelsea Plumley and George Kapiniaris as parents Flo and Frank Manero respectively. The pair, along with Amileya Moro as little sister Linda, put on a mixture of comedy and classically flawed family dynamics with an abusive father and mother just doing her best. We also have Matthew Casamento as Tony’s brother Frank Jnr that quite literally has a fall from grace.
Nightclub singers Bianca Baykara, Clara Harrison and Thalia Osegueda Santos are vocally brilliant and slay the stage with their presence, each having their own moments to steal the limelight with their killer pipes and vocal runs. The trio of divas are flawless and provide much-needed good vibes.
Izzi Green as Annette and Regan Barber as Stephanie Mangano portray the key female counterparts to lead character, Tony. Both are incredible dancers with great acting chops to boot.
Rounding out the ensemble cast are Tony’s friends with Sam Hamilton as Bobby C, Dimitri Raptis as Double J and Ewan Herdman as Joey. Each portraying the boyish immature teenage persona well, with Hamilton shining as a scattered and worried individual that isn’t sure how to handle the issues in his life. Sam Hamilton also has the most epic solo of the entire musical with a beautifully haunting rendition of ‘Tragedy’. The raw emotion that Hamilton exudes in this performance is phenomenal.
Finally, there’s Ethan Churchill as Tony Manero. Like the rest of the characters in this tale, Tony is deeply flawed and frustrated with his life. So much so that at times, I even wanted to shout from my seat to verbally slap the character into line. He struggles between being the ‘bros bro’ amongst his friends, to the struggling with not being the perfect son at home. But where Churchill’s Tony really shines is on the dance floor. Led by dance captain Katrina Bickerton and choreographers James and Suzi Rolton, Churchill burns the floor throughout the whole show and how he isn’t gasping for air after each number, I will never know.
From the slower and more intimate moments between Tony and Stephanie in the rehearsal studio, to the high-octane numbers in the club, this whole cast bring the Saturday Night Fever vibes to life, leading to cheers and thunderous applause from the Athenaeum seats.
The stage and set design are simple, yet very effective. The stage floor is a classic light up disco floor replicated with modern LED technology. The cheers from the audience as the stage lit up for the first time gave me chills. However, seated in the stalls, you may not get the full effect. Set wise, there isn’t one but rather a large digital screen designed by Aquxiel Studios that seamlessly and cleverly transitions between scenes.
However, when it comes to the lighting design is lacking at times. Mostly due to the lack of luminance on the lead actor during the dance numbers. Often, I could barely see Ethan Churchill up front. Although I could see follow spots in use during other parts of the show, I was surprised they were not in use to light up the cast more. It wasn’t all bad though, with some key vocal moments and acting segments of the production being well lit.
There were also some issues with the sound. From mic packs not switched on in time for dialogue to be heard, to a loud pop towards the tail end of the show, unfortunately during a ballad. However, these are issues that could easily be fixed with some tweaking.
Audio/visual misgivings aside, Saturday Night Fever is a surprisingly good production. Having never seen the show on stage before nor the film, it was nothing like I had expected. The dark narrative is a timely reminder that the world has changed and yet in some other ways, society has not. The dance breaks are synonymous with how we uses vices as a form of escapism, whether it be going out to a party, zoning out to your favourite album, watching your favourite series or movie, or doom scrolling on the couch, we all want to escape reality every now and then, and in Saturday Night Fever, when Tony goes to the disco, they are welcome breaks from the dark storyline.
Saturday Night Fever is a wonderful surprise that will leave you wondering, “Am I doing enough?” in life. The dance numbers are epic and I guarantee, the vocal performances bring the house down.
Proudly presented by Drew Anthony Creative, Saturday Night Fever is now on at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre until the 25th of January 2026.
For more information and ticketing, visit:
https://www.athenaeumtheatre.com.au/shows/saturday-night-fever
Photography by Grant Alexander.
