For fans of The Wharf Revue, there's bad news, good news and better news.
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The bad news is, this is the penultimate Wharf Revue to be presented under the auspices of the Sydney Theatre Company.
The good news is, the show's creators - Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott - plan to produce and tour the show themselves thereafter.
And the even better news for fans is there are still two more Wharf Revues to go before that - including this one. Canberra is one of the Wharfies' favourite towns and the Playhouse one of its favourite venues.
Next year's revue will be the 20th, an apt landmark to make the break.
Forsythe says, "Technically this is its 20th year - it started in 2000 under Robyn Nevin. She instigated it and supported it all the way through her term at the Sydney Theatre Company."
He says the separation will give the STC an opportunity to find something new of their own to program while he and his colleagues will have more flexibility to tour for longer and to more locations than they can now.
"We'll make something of it."
But that's in the future.
In this year's revue, with the all too timely subtitle UNR-DACT-D, Forsythe says, "I'm the sole original member - Jonathan's not doing it, Phillip's not doing it."
Forsythe will be joined on this tour by Andrew Worboys (musical director and occasional actor in the show), Simon Burke, Lena Cruz and Helen Dallimore.
Given the 50-50 split between men and women this year, in a show that's generally dominated by men, both creatively and in the cast, it's appropriate one of the numbers in the show is the Diversity Tango.
It's sung by Filipina performer Cruz in top hat and tails a la Marlene Dietrich.
It's the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts-trained actor's first time in the revue and she's a particularly welcome addition to the cast this year.
Forsythe says, "Last year we were asked to take out a couple of sketches."
The problem was a "yellowface" one: the STC didn't want non-Asian actors playing Asian people such as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The Wharfies tried to argue they weren't doing a play but simply caricatures of public figures - both men and, sometimes in drag, women - but lost the argument.
Forsythe says there is a great problem in Australia with casting in ethnic roles and what the boundaries for cross-race casting are, particularly when suitable actors aren't available
"We're still trying to work that out," he says, hoping that eventually "It won't be so rigid."
This year, though, they can send up politicians like Kim and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to their hearts' content - and with Cruz in the cast, they will.
Xi and Russian leader Vladimir Putin will team up for a couple of vaudeville-style acts, including a song about how they will rule the world to the tune of the old comedy number Mr Gallagher and Mr Shean and jokes about US President Donald Trump.
The American leader, not surprisingly, is given the Wharf Revue treatment - and is a particular object of scorn for Forsythe offstage.
"He's a complete and utter disgrace," he says. By comparison, he says, Trump's Republican predecessor George W. Bush, although something of a puppet for Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, was a man of dignity and decency.
Although Trump is a gift that keeps on giving for comedians, he says, "He's a gift I'd happily give up."
Forsythe is slightly less scathing about the current British leader. Boris Johnson will sing a song about how wonderful it is to be prime minister. Forsythe calls him "a great clown ... The world would be better off without him but we're better off with him."
Morrison, he says, comes off relatively well compared to either.
"We're very moderate and lucky in many ways," he says.
Although he might not agree with what the Prime Minister says or does, he thinks Morrison's conduct is within the bounds of decency and dignity. He thinks that the government is trying to do what it thinks is best for the country.
"How well they do it is another question," he says, though he adds, "I wouldn't swap our situation for the US or Britain."
Not that the Australian government is spared in the show.
"ScoMo gets a good going over," Forsythe says, adding that as always, those in power are the main focus.
Not that it's all one way: shadow minister for immigration Kristina Keneally and Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton face off in song to the tune of 9 to 5.
"Bob Hawke puts in an appearance," Forsythe says - he will play the former prime minister.
"He's in Heaven looking back at his time on Earth - he's reflective."
A takeoff of the musical Cabaret will feature Burke as radio broadcaster Alan Jones, playing the MC, and Forsythe as Pauline Hanson acting in the role of Sally Bowles.
Forsythe says the revue has grown over the years and over time the makers have learned how to edit and refine it.
"We need to be short and sharp," is one lesson, Forsythe says, but he adds they can also occasionally add something a little more thoughtful and not just go for laughs.
Apart from the revue, Forsythe, like the others, has his own pursuits.
Besides acting, he's written a play, "a gentle drama" titled The Last Man Standing, about an old man who wants to stay in his house when developers have bought all the others on his street.
"I'm currently trying to get it produced."
- The Wharf Revue 2019: UNR-DACT-D is on at The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, November 12-23. canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.