I just had occasion to visit the QTix website, where one can purchase tickets for shows at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and various other Brisbane venues. I was immediately reminded that the site is quite unfriendly. It features just a few shows on the front page and then invites users to search for what else is on offer. All very well if you know what you're looking for, but not very helpful if you just want to have a quick look at what's on offer. Yes, you can just search by genres, but surely a significant number of people might just want to browse the "shop window" and, as a result, could end up buying tickets for something quite different to what they were originally looking for.

I now know how Papa Bear felt after the Goldilocks home invasion. Someone not only had been sitting in my chair for the opening night of Dusty at the Lyric Theatre last night, they were still in it - and they weren't going to budge because they had a ticket for the very same seat on the very same night. Nobody could tell me how it happened and the usher, who was overstretched as it was looking after two doors, was clueless as to what to do (so she just started looking after other people instead). I'm just glad a friend of mine was also there, and that his wife had got sick at the last moment and was unable to come. I sat in her place instead.

Just as Phantom of the Opera reaches the record for the most-performed musical on Broadway, rumours are gathering pace that the show will be making a return to the Australian stage. Also rumoured is a touring arena version of the evergreen Les Miserables. Just confirmed for a Brisbane run is Fiddler on the Roof, starring Topol.