In the 1960s Des McAnuff played guitar and wrote songs to meet girls. Subsequently life became a little more complicated for the multi-talented writer/ director. His long-standing commitment to the Shakespeare Festival Theatre at the other Stratford - in Ontario, Canada - has won him many plaudits and he is now director emeritus of the La Jolla Playhouse in California where so many important projects have germinated, including his Tony Award-winning production of The Who's Tommy and the forthcoming musical adaptation of Doctor Zhivago with a score by Lucy Simon.

Zhivago opens in Sydney, Australia, in February. McAnuff's Broadway shows have garnered a staggering 18 Tony Awards, including a clutch of them for the long-running Jersey Boys. Now he's turning to opera and makes his debut at the English National Opera, opening the new season with Gounod's Faust. He talks about the magic synthesis of music and drama and why it's not such a leap from Jersey Boys to Wozzeck or Faust.

Listen to this episode

• The ENO's new production of Faust opens on 16 September
• Doctor Zhivago opens at the Lyric Theatre, Sydney, on 19 February, 2011
• Find out more about Des McAnuff
• Find out more about La Jolla Playhouse, California