{"id":2886,"date":"2026-03-18T04:42:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.uked.com.au\/?p=2886"},"modified":"2026-04-30T06:57:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T06:57:30","slug":"hit-ukulele-musical-coming-to-sydney-in-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uked.com.au\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/hit-ukulele-musical-coming-to-sydney-in-june\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian Stenlake to star in Sydney premiere of ukulele musical"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ian Stenlake, one of Australia\u2019s most popular performers, will star in the Sydney premiere of Uked! \u2013 The first play-along ukulele musical<\/em>, at Bondi Beach from 18 June.
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Presented by the Bondi Theatre Company from June 18-28, Stenlake performs alongside charismatic singer-songwriter and actor Josephine Birch<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Uked!<\/em><\/strong> is Melbourne playwright Jane Cafarella\u2019s love letter to the humble ukulele.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018<\/strong>I wrote the show for all the Karlas out there, and to celebrate the humble ukulele\u2019s ability to bring people together \u2013 and as an antidote to the daily misery of the news.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the hilarious and poignant story of Karla, played by Birch. Dumped on her 50th<\/sup> birthday by her violin-playing boyfriend, Karla buys a ukulele and joins a dating site, learning that love and the ukulele have a lot in common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show premiered in Melbourne to sell-out audiences in 2019, and in Auckland, NZ, in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audience members can sit back and enjoy the show OR they can bring their ukes and sing and play- along too! A screen displays all the chords and lyrics, so no-one misses out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ian Stenlake will play thirteen different characters – including all of Karla\u2019s YouTube ukulele teachers and love interests<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best known for starring in the TV series Stingers<\/em> and Sea Patrol<\/em> and seen most recently at the Sydney Opera House in The 39 Steps<\/em>, Stenlake took up the ukulele during Covid to entertain his child.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a fun instrument to play for family sing-alongs – and so much more portable than a piano!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josephine added \u201cI love the ukulele; it\u2019s got that Hawaiian feel and what better place to play it than at Bondi Beach?\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An uplifting interactive musical about finding love after 50, Uked!<\/em> will provide a much-needed tonic for Bondi \u2013 being staged right on the beach at the Bondi Pavilion Theatre. Cafarella said the musical resonates with many people. \u201cI wrote the show for all the Karlas out there, and as an antidote to the misery of the news.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who have always wanted to tread the boards, can register to be on stage for a cameo appearance playing Karla\u2019s fellow club members. Register at info@bonditheatrecompany.com.au<\/a> (Eight places per performance).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uked!<\/em> is directed by London-trained Ali Bendall. Bondi Theatre Company is an independent theatre company, founded by theatrical agency David Spicer Productions to promote Australian writers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The season includes a bonus concert by north coast YouTube ukulele teacher Stuart Eadie (Stukulele) with his daughter Rosie and plays jointly with the comedy My Fair Lawyer <\/em>by local writer Tony Laumberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are ten performances of Uked! <\/em>at the Bondi Pavilion between June 18 and 28. Come along\u2026 and strum along!   Bookings: <\/strong>www.bonditheatrecompany.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

View video trailer at Bondi Beach: <\/strong>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dUqYS5o1kPg<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Media: for more information, interviews, great images, review tickets and more, contact
Geoff Sirmai Arts Publicity m: +61 412 669 272\u00a0 e: <\/em><\/strong>geoff@sirmai.com.au<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kristin Harris (RUTH, BAND), Josephine Birch (KARLA), Ian Stenlake (EVERYONE ELSE!) and Jamie Burgess (JOEL, BAND), at Bondi Beach. Photos: Geoff Sirmai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what audiences said about the Victorian premiere of Uked! <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MUST SEE! Take your uke, join in, sing or smile along! A GREAT NIGHT! Laughed a lot.\u2018 \u2013 Michelle Robie, Castlemaine, Vic.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018If you only get to indulge in one ukulele fantasy this year, make sure it\u2019s this one. A great night out!\u2018 \u2013 Kim Burns Music<\/strong>.<\/em>\u2018Gave in, going again!  please don\u2019t miss this!\u2018 \u2013 Kaye Nankervis, Bendigo.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ian Stenlake to star in hit play-along ukulele musical alongside charismatic actor\/singer Josephine Birch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"essential-blocks-fullwidth-template.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[53,52,54],"class_list":["post-2886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uked","tag-play","tag-uked","tag-ukulele"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uked.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uked.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uked.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uked.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uked.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2886"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/uked.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3070,"href":"https:\/\/uked.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886\/revisions\/3070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uked.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uked.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uked.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uked.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}