Australian musical theatre is set to hit a post-pandemic high note with a record seven shows playing on Sydney stages, three major productions to hit Melbourne, and the genre’s surging popularity buoyed by a new generation of young super fans.
For the first time in decades, all Sydney main stage theatres are fully booked this weekend with an array of Broadway revivals, West End stalwarts, and Australian originals playing to 40,000 people.
This weekend in Sydney, Wicked is previewing at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre ahead of its Thursday opening, Beauty and the Beast is at the Capitol, Miss Saigon at the Opera House, Elvis the Musical at the State Theatre, Tina at the Theatre Royal, and The Dismissal The Musical at the Seymour Centre. Even Sydney Fringe has embraced the bespoke cabaret musical with its Spiegeltent offering of The Marvellous Elephant Man, conceived and composed by three Australian musicians, and Hayes Theatre is running a cosy crime musical, Murder for Two.
In Melbourne, the return season of Moulin Rouge! The Musical is soon to be joined by La Cage aux Folles, Mamma Mia, Grease, and Chicago.