SPOTLIGHT FEATURE: Prime Time Broadway - Honour Productions

Stories in the Spotlight

Prime Time Broadway returns to Honour Productions this June with a stacked setlist and a cast ready to step into the spotlight. This year, the musical theatre showcase strips things right back.

There is no single theme, no elaborate choreography, and no attempt to force the songs into one neat narrative. Instead, Prime Time Broadway places its performers centre stage, quite literally, with the cast remaining onstage throughout as each number blooms into its own self-contained story.

The 2026 setlist is a mix of contemporary musical theatre favourites, lesser-known gems, emotional solos, playful duets, and group numbers. The program celebrates the breadth, humour, heart, and vocal thrill of musical theatre. Ahead of the season, we spoke with director Sheryl-Lee Secomb and several cast members.

A Stripped-Back Spotlight

Under the direction of Sheryl-Lee Secomb, this now-annual showcase will embrace simplicity this year, placing the focus firmly on the performer.

“Alone in a spotlight, the focus is on the artist, the music and the story. The result is unpretentious and relatable. Each song works in our format because we focus on the individual performer and how they connect with the song. When you remove most of these songs from their musical theatre context, you find wonderful storytelling that finds a whole new life in the everyday world of our performers and audiences,” Sheryl-Lee shared.

“By interrupting expectations, our aim is to break down the wall between audience and artist,” Sheryl-Lee said, describing the atmosphere as one where “it feels like the audience is sitting in our living room with us, everyone just enjoying wonderful music, laughs and storytelling.”

That sense of connection also shapes the way songs were chosen. Some performers requested specific numbers. Some are singing their audition pieces that were too good to leave behind. Others were matched with songs by the creative team.

Opening Up the Room

Stephanie Lee-Steere opens the show with ‘What’s Inside’ and ‘Opening Up’ from Waitress, two songs she says “capture the heart and spirit of musical theatre from the very first moments.”

Even without the sets and costumes of a full production, Stephanie feels the strength of Sara Bareilles’ music and storytelling is enough to “instantly create that world for the audience.” She is especially drawn to the emotional honesty of Waitress, describing the score as “a beautiful balance of vulnerability, humour, and strength.” It’s a perfect choice for the “start of a journey through lots of different stories and styles across Broadway.”

Finding the Courage to Sing

For Sally Jacobs, her audition song ‘The Life I Never Led’ from Sister Act carries deep personal meaning. Its themes of fear, courage, and self-discovery sit close to her own life.

“In 2021, I made the decision to return to singing, to reconnect with something I once loved and had devoted so much of my life to. The journey toward recovery brought many tears and challenges as I faced perfectionism, fear of failure, self-doubt, and the feeling of never being good enough. But slowly, I began to find my voice again.”

For Sally, the song “speaks to the parts of ourselves we hold back, the dreams we silence, and the risks we don’t take. But at its core, it is also a song about courage. It’s about choosing to be brave enough to step into the unknown, to take chances, and to truly live, because life is too precious to spend on the sidelines.”

For Merryn Holder, the show offers a chance to explore one of musical theatre’s great survival songs: ‘I’m Still Here’ from Follies. “I’m delighted to perform this Sondheim classic,” she said. “Talk about a challenging song!” The number, sung by a former showgirl reflecting on a life of triumphs, knocks, reinventions, and sheer persistence, is one Merryn feels requires lived experience.

“One needs to be of a certain age to sing this song with conviction. As I am now in my golden years, I relish the opportunity to act out this life story. I look forward to sinking my teeth into this song.”

The showcase will also feature younger performers tackling material from 13 the Musical and Tuck Everlasting, bringing even more shades of courage and discovery into the room.

A Song for an Angel

For Laura Fois, ‘To My Angels’ from SuperYou is both a personal choice and a tribute.

“I heard ‘To My Angels’ randomly on YouTube and it spoke to me. It is one of those songs that represents struggles, and I feel it can talk to anyone struggling with absolutely anything. It’s a scream for help in solitude but singing that makes you feel heard.”

Laura first worked on the song with her vocal teacher, Loic Valmy, during a difficult time in her life.

“I wasn’t well,” she shared. “I had to stop taking classes and before I could go back, Loic suddenly, heartbreakingly and unexpectedly, passed. This is the last song I took to him, and I knew it needed to be performed somehow,” Laura said.

Prime Time Broadway, with its focus on individuality and personal storytelling, felt like the right place to bring it forward. “So here I am, with this beautiful song, which is a shared story and an homage to my teacher and everything he taught me.”

Yearning For More

Kinta Suryadarma brings ‘Wild Uncharted Waters’ from the live-action The Little Mermaid into the program, reimagining a song originally written for Prince Eric, and one she describes as having “such aggressive yearning.”

For Kinta, the song’s appeal lies in its cinematic sweep and “visceral feelings of longing and chasing something you can’t fully explain yet.” Taking it out of its original context has allowed her to make it her own: “it’s about wanting more from life, taking risks, following your instincts,” she said.

Gender-bending the number has also opened up more room to play. “I can’t just follow what Jonah Hauer-King does in the movie, because clearly I’m not a guy,” she laughed. “It leaves a lot of room to explore different colours and dynamics that make it feel more authentic and comfortable for me vocally.”

Cassie Midgley is performing ‘Say the Word’ from The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown, a song that began as her audition piece and has now found its way into the show. “It holds a really special place in my heart,” Cassie said. She was drawn to the writing of Kerrigan and Lowdermilk, particularly their “incredible ability to capture the nuance and complexity of human emotion in a way that feels deeply real,” she said.

For Cassie, ‘Say the Word’ stands out because it does not rely on a huge dramatic declaration of love. Instead, she said, “the emotions are quieter, more uncertain, more complicated, but that doesn’t make them any less raw or meaningful. Real life is often like that. Sometimes it’s confusion, hesitation, longing, overthinking, hoping someone will finally say what you need to hear.”

The yearning does not stop there, with Cassie also performing ‘Will He Like Me’ from She Loves Me, and Ashlie Beauchamp bringing the beautifully anxious ‘When He Sees Me’ from Waitress to the stage.

When the Harmonies Hit

For Maddi Halvorson, ‘When the Chips Are Down’ from Hadestown brings something different to the setlist: groove, attitude, and tight three-part harmony.

“I love to bring a really fun number with strong female harmonies to Prime Time,” Maddi said. “‘When the Chips Are Down’ is so unique with its deep and rich vocal texture… it’s so satisfying to perform live.” Maddi saw Hadestown in Sydney last year and has been hooked ever since. “I have been obsessed with every song in the show,” she said. “I love to see strong alto roles!”

The show will also feature some very fun duets, trios, and quartets, including ‘Love You till the Day’ (It Shoulda Been You), ‘The Doctor is In’ (Charlie Brown), ‘Been a Long Day’ (How to Succeed), and ‘What You Got’ (Freaky Friday), proving there is nothing quite like musical theatre characters trying to communicate.

Full-Circle Moment

This writer, Samantha Hancock also has her own little place in this year’s show.

“What keeps bringing me back to Prime Time is the community of it all: the kindness in the room, the intimacy of the format, and the chance to hear people express themselves through songs that genuinely mean something to them.”

This year, I will be performing ‘Thank You for the Music’ from Mamma Mia!, which feels very full circle. “ABBA was part of my life long before I ever played Sophie Sheridan (my first role in a musical), and returning to this song now feels like revisiting a younger version of myself with a lot more life behind me.”

“I am dedicating the song to my singing students, and to my late uncle, who passed on his instruments, his love of music, and so much of his joy for life to me. In that way, he still lives on in me through music. ‘Thank You for the Music’ is a song about gratitude, and at this point in my life, music really is my whole world. It is my career, my hobby, my first love, my escape, and my freedom.”

More Than a Setlist

That is the heart of Prime Time Broadway. It is not just a list of songs. It is a room full of performers stepping forward with pieces that mean something to them, whether that meaning is funny, nostalgic, technically satisfying, quietly vulnerable, or deeply personal.

Among them, Laura Bye will perform ‘How Did We Come to This’ from The Wild Party, another audition song that has found its way into the showcase. Drawn to the song’s musicality and the chance to shape it for her own range, Laura hopes audiences connect with the question at its centre: “how did we come to this?” For her, that question reaches beyond the musical itself and into “the bigger picture of the world at the moment, including the ways politics and the environment have come to dictate so much of our lives.”

There will also be plenty of moments designed to thrill, surprise, and make you laugh. Kirsten Brown will take on ‘Watch What Happens’ from Newsies, so come along and watch whether she runs out of oxygen while attempting this non-stop song! There will be dramatic moments too, including songs from the more overlooked worlds of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules. While Jacob Ewan and James Hogan bring ridiculous humour to their solos from Freaky Friday and She Loves Me.

Basically, if your preferred flavour of musical theatre is emotional devastation, vocal gymnastics, character comedy, or Disney grandeur, you should be well looked after. Some songs will be familiar. Some may be brand new discoveries. And with the cast onstage together throughout the show, each moment becomes part of something shared. The result is a showcase built not just around repertoire, but around connection: to character, to story, to memory, to music, and to the joy of performing in a room full of people who love this stuff just as much as each other.

For Sheryl-Lee Secomb, that shared feeling is what she hopes audiences take away.

“We love it when audiences leave our theatre talking about how they feel. They’re often surprised by the level of excellence in performance, the fact that the cast is diverse, and the whole experience is much more than something they witness; they feel seen. And our fabulous live band usually blows them away!”

Bring your love of musical theatre, your curiosity for hidden gems, and possibly your singing voice. With this many musical theatre people in one room, you never know when audience participation may come calling!

The full setlist is already available to peruse, and the 2026 cast features Ashlie Beauchamp, Cassie Midgley, Emily Egan, Emma Parkinson, Emma Watts, Jacob Ewan, James Hogan, Jamie Cripwell, Jordan Atiga, Jordana Johnstone, Kinta Suryadarma, Kirsten Brown, Laura Bye, Laura Fois, Leon Sparrow, Maddi Halvorson, Merryn Holder, Mike Zarate, Natarlia Pouli-LeFale, Sally Jacobs, Samantha Hancock, Stephanie Lee-Steere, and Yzabel Santos.

Prime Time Broadway plays at Honour Productions (3/61 Holdsworth Street, Coorparoo), for four shows across 13 and 14 June 2026.

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE