In 1983 Helpmann directed Gounod's opera "Roméo et Juliette" in Sydney, and later in the year appeared there as the elderly Bosie in Justin Fleming's play about Oscar Wilde, "The Cobra", with Mark Lee as Bosie's young self. In 1984, together with Googie Withers and John McCallum, he toured in Ted Willis's play "Stardust", and joined his sister Sheila to record two episodes of the Australian soap opera "A Country Practice", which were shown in 1985. Early in that year he was in the US directing a revival of the operetta "The Mery Widow" for the San Diego Opera. In June, at the Sydney Opera House, he directed Joan Sutherland in Bellini's "I Puritani". His last stage appearances were as the Red King in "Checkmate", with the Australian Ballet, in Sydney in May 1986.