The tables will turn at the Canberra Theatre Centre next year when patrons will be given the chance to dine on stage at an event to mark the venue's 50th birthday.
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The gala dinner is one of three events to celebrate the centre's golden anniversary in a season packed with 16 shows to suit theatregoers of all tastes.
The two other "bonus shows" in the theatre's milestone year would be three-time Helpmann Award-winning musical Sweet Charity and The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra, director Bruce Carmichael said.
"The fact we've managed to get it [Sweet Charity] to Canberra is a bit of a coup for us," he said.
"And we don't normally put orchestras in our season but we were thrilled to do that."
The gala dinner in May will offer about 300 patrons the opportunity to dine on the stage while being entertained by a cabaret-style performance.
"They will be able to sit on the same stage as some internationally acclaimed performers," he said.
Mr Carmichael said the anniversary events would not be the only highlights in 2015, but admitted it could be a challenge to find shows to suit everyone.
"We're aspiring to reflect the talent that's been on stage over the past 50 years," he said.
"It is interesting squeezing in enough entertainment as well as the stories that need to be told."
Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen hosted Monday night's season launch ahead of their performance in Ghosts in the Scheme; a production by the theatre's resident arts company, Big hART, which will bring the story of the Snowy Mountains scheme to the stage in September.
The Australian Ballet will return to the stage with Giselle in May; 50 years after it became the first company to perform at the theatre's opening.
In February, Mother & Son starring Noeline Brown in the role made famous by Ruth Cracknell, and Sweet Charity would start the 2015 season with a bang, Mr Carmichael said.
Sweet Charity star Verity Hunt-Ballard, known for the "polar opposite" title role in Mary Poppins, said the musical was a darker yet funny take on the 1966 Broadway show based on the Federico Fellini film.
"It's really nice to be able to bring it to Canberra; often the big budget shows don't come to Canberra," she said.
"It's a new era for musicals, a new outlook for an older genre."
Mr Carmichael admitted it could be difficult to attract big productions to Canberra because of audience numbers.
"It is about us making commercial producers feel confident enough to come to Canberra and that's down to how willing Canberrans are to buy tickets," he said.
Other season highlights would be another "dazzling" show, Beyond, from "cutting-edge" Brisbane circus group Circa, Mr Carmichael said.
But drama lovers will also be catered for with several productions, including Black Diggers, charting the stories of Aboriginal soldiers who fought in World War One 100 years after the outbreak of war.