Major Musicals Movements

With several new announcements and developments recently, it is time for our favourite segment: Major Musicals Update!


Currently Running:
Rock Of Ages: 1 month in Brisbane, then unknown
Mary Poppins: Brisbane season, then Perth and Asia
Love Never Dies: 3 months in Syd then closing
Jersey Boys: New Zealand before Australian Capitals

Opening 2012
Annie: East Coast and Perth tour,
A Chorus Line: Adelaide, Melbourne, Singapore & Sydney, then Australian tour to Brisbane & Perth
An Officer & A Gentleman: Sydney & Melbourne
Legally Blonde: Sydney from September
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: Sydney from November
South Pacific: Australian Tour
Strange Bedfellows (hopefully...)

Opening 2013
Addams Family: Sydney March, followed by tour to all Australian Capitals
Strictly Ballroom: Sydney September
Ghost: Melbourne August
King Kong: Melbourne's Regent
The Lion King: Sydney's Capitol late 2013

Still rumoured:
Sister Act
Book of Mormon
Shrek
Les Mis

Theatre-by-Theatre

Sydney:
Opera House
South Pacific: August- September 2012

Capitol Theatre
Love Never Dies: from the 8th of January - April 1st 2012

A Chorus Line: July 20th - 5th of August

Next to Normal: September 2012 - October 2012
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: November 2012
Addams Family: March 2013

Lion King: December 2013

Lyric Theatre
Annie: 28th of December - 28th of March 2012
An Officer & A Gentleman: May - August (TBC) 2012
Legally Blonde: Late September 2012 onwards
Strictly Ballroom: September 2013

Royal
Nothing major at this stage

Melbourne

Theatres TBA

Legally Blonde
Strange Bedfellows


Regent Theatre
Annie: 24th of May - July 2012
King Kong: Early 2013

Her Majesty's Theatre
A Chorus Line: 4th of February to the 10th of March

An Officer & A Gentleman: Depending on success of Sydney, approx August/September
Ghost: August 2013

The Princess Theatre
Moonshadow: May 2012
South Pacific: October 2012


Brisbane
QPAC
Mary Poppins: 27th of December - March 17th
Annie: April 7th - Mid May 2012
Opera Australia Season: May - June

Jersey Boys: 13th July - September
A Chorus Line: 16th November - 2nd December
South Pacific late 2012/early 2013



Perth
Burswood Theatre
Mary Poppins: from March 2012

Annie: Dates TBA, but until September 30
Jersey Boys: TBA

A Chorus Line: October 20th

Adelaide
Festival Theatre
A Chorus Line: December 31st - January 2012
Jersey Boys: October 26th 2012
South Pacific: TBA

Full cast of A Chorus Line

The full cast of the upcoming production of A Chorus Line has been revealed, with a mix of well known performers and up and coming performers.

Zach: Josh Horner
Larry: Gerrard Carter
Don: Mark Hill
Maggie: Stephanie Grigg
Mike: James Maxfield
Connie: Leah Lim
Greg: Rohan Browne
Cassie: Anita Louise Combe
Sheila: Debora Kirzak
Dianna: Karlee Misipeka
Bobby: Ashley McKenzie
Bebe: Monique Salle
Judy: Renee Armstrong
Al: Will Centurion
Kristine: Sian Johnson
Val: Hayley Winch
Mark: Scott Morris
Paul: Euan Doidge
Roy: Mitchell Hicks
Tom: Jakob Ambrose
Frank: Mark Strom
Butch: Joel Hewlett
Lois: Samantha Dodemaide
Vicky: Amber Jean Thomas
Trisha: Meghan O'Shea

Alice Ramshaw - Dance Captain

Heath Keating - Swing

Producer: Tim Lawson
Director/Choreographer: Baayork Lee
Musical Director: Peter Casey

Congratulations to everyone. The show opens on New Year's Eve in Adelaide, then moving to Melbourne on the 4th of Feburary.

Mini shows updates.

Just for some quick news on several shows.

The cast of the Adelaide and Melbourne seasons of A Chorus Line is to be announced very soon, but it has been revealed Debora Krizak will play Sheila, with Josh Horner to play Zack, Renee Armstrong as Judy Turner and Anita Louise Coombe as Cassie. Rehearsals start in November.
The show will play from New Year's Eve in Adelaide before transferring to Melbourne's Her Majesty's Theatre from early February 2012.

Mary Poppins last night bid farewell to four cast members - Christina Tan, Justin Anderson, Troy Sussman and Anna Lee Robertson. Taking their places are Jodie Harris, Glen Oliver, David Spencer and Jennifer Peers respectively. Natalie Gamsu will soon be taking over the role of Miss Andrew from Judi Connolli and Monica Swayne (Swing/Mary understudy) will also be joining the company in the near future.

At Love Never Dies, Ben Lewis is back playing the Phantom after a recent illness following the DVD filming. During this time both of his understudies, Matt McFarlane and Tod Strike have been playing the coveted role.

Legally Blonde has been pushed back to September 2012 and is now expected to play in the Lyric theatre, after speculation it would play the Capitol. A formal announcement of casting is not expected to be made until February.


The Addams Family and King Kong are both currently auditioning, with King Kong looking for more cast members for their Workshops and possible future seasons. Esther Hannaford and Queenie van de Zandt are both participating in the current workshop.

Addams Family is currently auditioning for leads for their 2013 season. Ensemble auditions are not until mid 2012.


The Asian tour of Wicked is in negotiation with Equity regarding contracts and conditions. This follows an unfortunate trend of sub-standard tours through Asian countries. A tour of Kiss Me Kate earlier this year ended abruptly when producers went bankrupt, owing artists many performance fees.

Joining the cast will be Glen Hogstrom as Dr. Dillamond and Anne Wood as Madame Morrible. Joining the ensemble is Justin Anderson, straight from Mary Poppins, Luigi Lucente from Jersey Boys, Chris Scalzo from Zhivago and Claire George as ensemble/Glinda understudy. Former ensemble member Deanna O'Leary is also rejoining the company for the tour, again the ensemble.

An Officer and A Gentleman Official Casting

The casting for An Officer and A Gentleman was officially announced today.
Several of the names mentioned in our August casting blog post have succeeded in winning roles.

These include Ben Mingay and Amanda Harrison in the lead roles of Zack Mayo and Paula Pokrifki respectively. Kate Kendall and Alex Rathgeber were also announced as landing roles. Ensemble casting will be announced soon, but we understand Bert La Bonte will play the role he originated in the workshop, that of Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley.
Zahra Newman has also been cast in the ensemble.

Mary Poppins Cast Updates

This week is set to be a busy one on Cherry Tree Lane.

6 months into the Sydney season and it is time for a significant cast change.

As we have reported earlier, Verity Hunt-Ballard is taking time off in order to recover from an injury. We believe it is a repetitive strain injury (RSI) to her shoulder caused from the harness required to fly and constant use of the umbrella.
Scarlett Strallen has been flown in to help out before the Brisbane season. She watched a performance last weekend and will start rehearsals this week.
She will play the leading role between Wednesday the 5th of October and Sunday the 27th of November.

Marina Prior has now left the company, with Pippa Grandison taking over as Mrs Banks, playing her first 'unofficial' performance last week.

Several ensemble changes are also about to happen.
Glen Oliver will come from Wicked to replace Justin Anderson, with Justin heading on the Wicked Asian tour.

Jennifer Peers will replace Anna Lee Robertson as Miss Lark, understudying Miss Andrew

David Spencer will replace Troy Sussman as Von Hussler, also understudying Mr Banks and the Park Keeper.

Jodie Harris is replacing Christina Tan in the ensemble, as well as Mrs Banks, Miss Lark and Bird Woman understudies.
Monica Swayne will be an onstage swing and new understudy for Mary Poppins.

And finally Philip Quast has been cast in Yes, Prime Minister, so will also not be continuing on the Australian Tour.

Trouble on Cherry Tree Lane

Mary Poppins star Verity-Hunt Ballard has injured herself. The full implications of her injury are unknown, however it is a shoulder injury and was not sustained during a specific performance. She will be taking a period of time off from the show to attempt to fully recover before the tour. It is believed a performer from the West End will be flown in to help out during this time. Once her replacement has been rehearsed, Verity will most likely not be performing in the show for the next 6 weeks.

Marina Prior is also set to leave the show on Sunday the 25th of September, with Pippa Grandison replacing her for the remainder of the Australian tour.

Edit: We have now been informed that Scarlett Strallen will be the one flown in to perform while Verity is recovering.

Another Musicals Update

Hairspray will be closing on the 25th of September, 2 weeks earlier than initially announced. The show has been playing to houses of 400-500 people, well under their capacity of about 2,000. Cheap seats are now available everywhere, go and see it before it's too late.
While producers are looking to tour the show internationally, for now the show will go into storage.


An adaption of Doctor Zhivago is currently auditioning for a Korean language version. The show will be adapted and recast for performance in Korean. Us here at the MI are just very glad we don't have to do a Russian accent in Korean...

The King Kong workshop had a setback recently when the rig collapsed. It is not believed anyone was injured, however it is inconvenient. The workshop was held recently, with Lisa-Marie Parker in the lead role of Anne.

A new musical, Dream Lover, based on the life of Bobby Darin is in workshops this week, being directed by Simon Phillips. Actors in the workshop include Hugh Sheridan as Bobby, Christy Sullivan, Robert Grubb, Sheridan Harbridge, Trisha Noble, Christen O'Leary

Legally Blonde casting is still underway, however quite a few roles and most of the ensemble has now been cast. There are quite a few performers also currently on hold for it. A formal cast announcement will not be made until February. The venue for the show has been subject to much rumour of late. It is becoming more and more likely to play in the Lyric theatre instead of the Capitol.

Rock of Ages will be closing on Sunday the 6th of November in Melbourne. It will do a very quick turnaround to get into QPAC in Brisbane by the 12th. It will play about a month in Brisbane moving into Sydney's Royal from about the 14th of January.

Love Never Dies will close on he 18th of December, with final tickets on sale now. It will open in Sydney's Capitol on Friday the 13th of January. The cast and creatives are getting ready for a DVD recording of the show to happen next week.

As we tweeted several months ago Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is expected to open in Melbourne in late 2012, produced by Tim Lawson.
Tim is currently auditioning for A Chorus Line, which is expected to open in Adelaide late 2011.
Sister Act will also make it's Australian premiere in Melbourne in 2012, according to Theatrepeople.com.au


John Frost announced the full cast of Annie earlier this week. It includes Lisa Bluthal, Tony Farrell, Anna Freeland, Todd Goddard, Emma Hawthorne, Luke Joslin, Jayde Kirchert, James Lee, Samantha Riley, Stephanie Silcock, Brianne Turk, Rod Waterworth, Jack Webster and Matt Young.
This is in addition to the other cast members already announced: Anthony Warlow, Nancy Hayes, Todd McKenny, Chloe Dallimore, Julie Goodwin and Alan Jones.
It will open in Brisbane in April and Melbourne's Regent Theatre in May 2012.


September will see the release of both the MTC and STC seasons. Rumour suggests STC will possibly picking up the MTC's production of Next to Normal. STC will be launched on the 23rd of September and MTC on the 27th of September.

Mary Poppins will close on the 17th of December in Sydney before a 6 month tour to Brisbane and Perth. An international tour is on the cards but Adelaide is not expected to have a season at this stage.

And finally Wicked will play it's last Australian show this Sunday evening, 3 years after first opening in Melbourne. The show will head to Singapore in December.