Interview With Kelley Abbey
‘… When things are unique, they’re always delicious too …’
Interview by Chris Duncan
Kelley Abbey is a name synonymous with Australian dance and musical theatre. A true industry icon, she has excelled as a choreographer, director, performer, and mentor, leaving an indelible mark across stage, film, and television. With a career spanning 40 years, her impressive credits include starring roles in Sweet Charity, Fame, and Billy Elliot, choreographing the Academy Award-winning film Happy Feet, and serving as Creative Director on Dancing with the Stars.
Now, Kelley is bringing her signature creative magic to a brand-new production of Guys & Dolls, choreographing the high-energy, dance-filled spectacle set to dazzle audiences at Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. Running from 21 March to 20 April 2024, this grand-scale outdoor production promises an unforgettable experience against the glittering backdrop of Sydney Harbour, complete with fireworks and a breathtaking set designed by Tony Award-winner Brian Thomson.
With a star-studded cast including international recording artist Cody Simpson (Sky Masterson), award-winning leading lady Annie Aitken (Sarah Brown), beloved song-and-dance man Bobby Fox (Nathan Detroit), and Hamilton star Jason Arrow (Nicely Nicely Johnson), Guys & Dolls is set to deliver big laughs, iconic show tunes, and exhilarating choreography under the stars.
I caught up with Kelley Abbey to talk about her approach to reimagining the dance for this legendary Broadway musical, the challenges of choreographing on such a massive outdoor stage, and why this production will be a must-see event for Australian audiences.
Chris Duncan: You’re working on the production of Guys & Dolls, which is staged on an outdoor platform that’s two and a half times larger than most theatre stages. How has that scale influenced your choreography, and what challenges has it brought up for you?
Kelley Abbey: Yeah, it’s a big challenge because it’s literally the size of a football field. You estimate how long it takes to get from one side to the other, but once you’re in the space, it doesn’t always work as planned. There’s a lot of adapting and flexibility required.
Another challenge is that the stage is on a steep rake, so there are many choreographic considerations. Plus, we’re not framed by a proscenium arch that naturally directs the audience’s focus. Instead, we have the harbor, ferry boats, and the whole city alive around us. That’s the magic of performing in this setting, but it also means we need to be incredibly compelling to keep the audience focused on the stage.
From a dance perspective, I tell my cast they need to have “super diction” in their movement. It’s like a javelin throw—you have to project your energy over a massive space. I always think about how to guide the audience’s eyes because, in this setting, they are in a wide shot rather than the close-up focus you’d get in a traditional theatre.
CD: Your choreography for this Guys & Dolls is entirely new for this production, correct?
KA: Yes, which is unusual. Often, these big classic Broadway shows come in with an international creative team, so we were really fortunate to build this version from scratch.
I actually saw Guys & Dolls when I first moved to Sydney—Nancy Hayes played Adelaide, and Ricky May was in it. I must have seen it four or five times! So, it’s a full-circle moment for me to now be choreographing the show.
In terms of reimagining the choreography, I had to consider how to make it work on the harbor stage while also honouring the period of 1950s Manhattan. I’ve been heavily inspired by Broadway jazz and legends like Hermes Pan, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Jerome Robbins. I’m borrowing elements from those classic Hollywood movies but giving them a fresh sensibility while staying true to the era.
For example, I’ve incorporated social dances from the 1950s—there’s some jitterbug in there—and classic Broadway choreography. A significant change is in the portrayal of the Hot Box girls. Traditionally, in Bushel and a Peck, they were dressed as chickens, but in our version, they’re in cowboy outfits with riding crops. They’re fiercer and sassier, with more agency in the story.
CD: So, you’ve really freshened it up while keeping the essence of the original.
KA: Yes, in a subtle way, because the book is still very much of its time.
CD: The cast features incredible talent, including Cody Simpson, Bobby Fox, and Jason Arrow. How did you tailor the choreography to highlight their individual strengths while maintaining a cohesive ensemble energy?
KA: That’s a great question! I always lean into what an actor naturally does well—their movement style, their body shape, and even how they deliver vocals.
Cody Simpson is an absolute star. I think people won’t know what to expect from him, but they’re going to be pleasantly surprised. He has this wonderful crooner quality, more in the style of Sinatra than traditional Broadway. So, I leaned into that with his movement and physicality, considering his lean, swimmer’s frame.
Bobby Fox’s character, Nathan Detroit, traditionally doesn’t dance much, but since Bobby is an incredible dancer, I gave him more movement. He’s brilliant in this role—so funny, slick, and completely understands the comedy of the piece.
Then there’s Jason Arrow—his performance in Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat is phenomenal. Everyone knows him as the rap-heavy lead in Hamilton, but his vocals in this are going to surprise people. He has a gospel-soul feel to his voice, so I incorporated that into his movement.
Overall, the choreography extends beyond just the dance numbers—it’s also in the physicality of the characters. The humour in Guys & Dolls is very stylized, so everything has to be physically heightened to pop off the stage.
CD: Musical theatre is all about the synergy between storytelling, music, and dance. How does the choreography elevate the narrative in key numbers like Luck Be a Lady and Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat?
KA: Choreography should always advance the story. A great musical escalates emotionally—scenes lead into songs, and songs build to a point where you have to dance. The best musicals blend these transitions seamlessly.
In Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat, Jason Arrow’s character, Nicely Nicely Johnson, is trying to convince the mission folk that he’s had a religious epiphany, but he’s really just spinning a tall tale. The number builds into a gospel-style frenzy, where even the mission characters get caught up in the energy. It’s a huge crowd-pleaser, and we even have encores built in!
Luck Be a Lady is interesting—it’s often perceived as a big male dance number, but in reality, the “crapshooters ballet” is the big dance sequence. Luck Be a Lady is more about staging and building tension. The gamblers are desperate for Sky Masterson to roll the dice, and the energy is like a boiling kettle about to explode. There’s also the emotional weight of Sky wanting to win—not just for the money, but to prove himself to Sarah Brown. That’s where the stakes come in.
CD: You’ve worked across an incredible range of projects in your career—from film (Happy Feet) to television (Dancing with the Stars), as well as arena tours and theatre. How does your approach to choreography shift when working in an outdoor opera setting versus a more traditional stage?
KA: Because it’s an open space, you have to consider the sheer size of it, the lack of a proscenium arch to frame the action, and how that impacts the delivery of movement. Then there’s the ramp, the weather—all of it factors into how I build the choreography.
I also have to create a wet-weather version of the show. If it rains, I have to pull out lifts and tricks that become unsafe. Every performer has a second pair of shoes—wet-weather shoes—because sometimes the dew on the stage can be even worse than rain when it comes to slippage. They wear volleys when it’s wet, so we always have to make a call at the top of the show: are we in regular show shoes, or do we switch to the volleys?
This show is unlike anything else! It’s a completely unique experience, and you know when things are unique they’re always delicious too and because of that, it comes with its own set of challenges.
CD: Especially with a raked stage, I imagine?
KA: Yes! And even though the floor is textured for grip, it’s still something we have to be mindful of every night. That’s why we assess conditions before every performance.
Honestly, it’s bonkers, crackers, crazy grapes—I don’t know of anywhere else in the world where they do something like this! But that’s what makes it special. When something is unique, it’s always exciting.
Last night, for example, I was sitting there during tech, watching Annie Aitken and Cody Simpson sing their duet. The lighting was perfect, the stars were shining, the water was shimmering—it was just magic. Absolutely magical.
CD: I imagine working with props in an outdoor setting would also be a challenge. How do you ensure those transitions look seamless, as they would in a traditional theatre?
KA: Oh, absolutely. There are some big things that fly in and out of the set—I probably can’t say what they are, but they’re big! That adds another layer of complexity because there are crew members tethering and manoeuvring these huge set pieces, which then become part of the on-stage action.
It’s all about navigation. We have to make sure the choreography works seamlessly around these moving elements while keeping everything safe.
And that’s the thing—musical theatre doesn’t usually exist in an open-air setting like this. They’ve done West Side Story and Phantom of the Opera on the harbour before, but it’s still rare. It’s a lot to manage, but it’s also what makes this production such a phenomenal experience.
CD: Beyond Guys & Dolls, you’ve played a pivotal role in shaping Australian dance and musical theatre. What excites you most about the future of the industry, and what advice do you have for young dancers aspiring to follow in your footsteps?
KA: The future excites me just as much now as it did when I was eighteen. The opportunities for expansion, growth, artistic expression, and storytelling are endless. And storytelling is paramount—it’s essential to people’s healing.
Art is healing. If we didn’t have it, where would we be? Just look at what we all turned to during COVID—we needed music, films, books, theatre. That’s why I believe live theatre will never go out of date, even in our fast-paced, digital, swiping world. Nothing can replace the live exchange of energy between a performer and an audience.
When you’re on stage, you send an energy out that physically reaches people—it hits them in the chest. And then something incredible happens: we, as an audience, respond. We clap, we cheer, we make noise, and that energy rains back down on the performer, fuelling them to give even more. That cycle of give and receive, between artist and audience, is irreplaceable. It’s why live theatre continues to be so powerful and why we need it in our lives.
If someone has never seen a musical before, they may be swept up in the story, but when that story is combined with music, it becomes something even greater. That’s why I’m excited for more storytelling, for more new stories to be told. The industry will always keep evolving and expanding, and I find that incredibly exciting.
I always tell people—never underestimate what we do as performers. For two and a half hours, we are giving someone an escape, a break from whatever is happening in their life. And we don’t always know how much that means to them. That time in the theatre might be exactly what they needed at that moment.
Performing is a powerful thing. It has existed since the dawn of time and will continue to evolve, but its essence—the ability to connect, to move people, to heal—will never change.
CD: What advice would you have for young dancers aspiring to follow in your footsteps?
KA: I think leaning into what makes you unique is an ever-evolving lesson and experience for everybody. We’re all peeling away layers to discover who we truly are and learning to be okay with that, and that looks different at different times in your life. So, it’s important to continue leaning into that.
It’s also about making sure that failure and rejection aren’t seen as negatives. We need to remove the stigma from those words because, in reality, they’re an essential part of the process. I always say that practice is a controlled form of failure. If we can shift our mindset to see failure and rejection as part of our practice, they become tools for growth rather than setbacks. The people who embrace that are the ones who ultimately succeed. Anyone who has found success has failed many, many times.
I think in today’s world, especially with social media, it’s easy to look at someone’s journey and assume things happened overnight. But that’s almost never the case. The people who have longevity in this industry are the ones who have failed multiple times, kept working at it, refused to take ‘no’ for an answer, and continued to push, grow, and evolve.
Another important thing is never getting to a place where you feel too safe or complacent—where you think, “Oh well, I’ve made it here, and I’m happy with that.” The journey of an artist is to keep learning, to keep pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, because that’s where passion lives. If you don’t push yourself, it’s easy to stagnate. You might think, “Everything is okay,” but if your heart isn’t really singing, that’s a sign you need to shake things up. Maybe you need to challenge yourself with something new—a different skill, a fresh way of thinking, a new approach to your dancing, or even a different mindset. It’s about constant expansion.
One of the biggest things for performers is transitioning from full-time training to the professional world. In school, everything is structured for you, but once you leave, you have to learn how to self-motivate. That’s why so many full-time students struggle after graduating—they have to figure that out for themselves. In this industry, we have to be highly self-motivated, and how we show up for ourselves every day—mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically—varies for every single person.
It’s important to share your journey with others, to talk about what works for you. It might resonate with some people and not with others, and that’s okay. The key is asking yourself, “How do I turn up for myself every day? How do I push myself forward?” That motivation has to come from a place of self-love and the way you view yourself. The lens you look through shapes everything.
CD: What’s next for you? I know you’ve been juggling Dancing with the Stars alongside Guys & Dolls—what’s on the horizon?
KA: Yes! I’ve been working on both since November, so I’ve been splitting my time between them. Dancing with the Stars just wrapped, and I had an incredible team supporting me, including Sarah Boulter and Michelle Barr.
Next, I’m taking a well-earned break! But I may be back for another season of Dancing with the Stars later in the year, and Light the Way is coming up as well. So, plenty ahead!
A Theatrical Spectacle Not to Be Missed
With an all-new choreographic vision, a world-class cast, and the magic of Sydney Harbour as its stage, Guys & Dolls at Handa Opera is shaping up to be one of the most exciting theatre events of the year. As Kelley Abbey explains, the show balances classic Broadway charm with fresh, dynamic movement, all while embracing the sheer scale and spectacle of an open-air production.
From dazzling dance numbers to show-stopping musical moments, this production delivers an immersive experience unlike any other. Whether you’re a musical theatre devotee or a first-time attendee, Guys & Dolls is set to be a thrilling night of entertainment under the stars.
Don’t Miss Out – Book Your Tickets Now!
Season Dates: 21 March – 20 April 2024
Location: Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, Fleet Steps, Mrs Macquaries Point, Sydney
Tickets & More Info: Opera Australia – Guys & Dolls
Secure your seats now and prepare to be transported to 1950s Manhattan in a spectacular, larger-than-life world of romance, comedy, and show-stopping dance!
