00:00 After nearly four decades, Paramatta's Riverside theatres have outgrown their home.
00:07 One of the joys and problems we have with Riverside at the moment is that we're fully occupied most of the time.
00:12 So we have so much demand for bookings here that we can't service.
00:16 To address that, Riverside is getting a $188 million facelift.
00:21 The existing 760 seat playhouse will be refurbished,
00:25 while the rest of the building will be demolished to make way for a new 1,500 seat Lyric Theatre,
00:30 a 420 seat Drama Theatre and an 80 seat Cinema,
00:34 meaning seating capacity in the theatre complex will more than double.
00:38 The new Riverside Theatre will be a world class performing centre,
00:41 welcoming over 400,000 visitors each year.
00:44 Producer Rodney Rigby has brought numerous Broadway musicals to Australian stages,
00:50 but never to Western Sydney.
00:52 He says expanded theatre will be a game changer when it opens in four years.
00:58 Right now I have three musicals in my slate that I cannot bring to Western Sydney.
01:05 All that changes in 2028 when the new theatre opens.
01:11 But the future of another Paramatta institution remains in doubt.
01:16 The old Picture Palace, the Roxy Theatre, is still languishing.
01:20 That is the subject of a business case at the moment.
01:23 Just a short walk along the banks of the Paramatta River,
01:26 another major arts project is taking shape.
01:29 Paramatta Powerhouse is set to open late next year.
01:33 It's hoped the sites will become the focus of a world class arts and cultural hub.
01:38 The whole precinct will complement one another, it will all come together.
01:41 Another step in the transformation of Sydney's second CBD.
01:45 [birds chirping]
01:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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