CriticalDance Forum

Sydney’s unfinished overture
Billy Adams for The Sunday Herald reports on the inside story of Sydney Opera House, destined for an overdue transformation by a creator so obsessed by the building he plans to haunt it after his death.


Routinely lauded as the eighth wonder of the world, Sydney Opera House’s magnificent sails continue to hide one cringing embarrassment: its interior.
What lies beneath the glorious shell-shaped masterpiece has long been decried as cheap and tacky, described by one critic as having “all the charm of a provincial bingo hall”.

But now – just short of the iconic building’s 30th birthday – the first tangible signs of redemption have emerged.

Plans were unveiled last week for the initial phase of a multi-million dollar project aimed at transforming the old house to how it was supposed to have looked in the first place. More poignantly, it marked the righting of a great wrong and a comeback story to beat them all.

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Sydney's icon celebrates without hero of grand design
Architect comes out of retirement to shape Opera House's future. By David Fickling in Sydney for The Guardian


At the celebrations to mark the 30th anniversary of its opening tonight, the Sydney Opera House will be awash with ballet, opera, pop music and champagne. Only one thing will be missing: Joern Utzon, the Danish architect who designed it.

Two million people visit the iconic building every year, but Utzon has never set eyes on his masterpiece. The Australian authorities have tried everything to get the reclusive architect to return to the building he left unfinished in 1966, after a falling-out with the New South Wales state government.

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Funding vagaries seem to have stalled this project. Sharon Verghis reports in the Sydney Morning Herald:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Utzon-utzoff-Opera-House-facelift-sags/2005/03/31/1111862537124.html