Sydney to Host World Premiere of Strictly Ballroom — The Musical

By Events New South Wales, PRNE
Saturday, May 21, 2011

SYDNEY, May 23, 2011 -

Baz Luhrmann and NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell have today announced that
the stage musical of the iconic Australian film Strictly Ballroom will have
its world premiere and first run in Sydney at the Lyric Theatre from
September 2013.

"Today I'm very pleased to announce Baz Luhrmann and producers Carmen
Pavlovic
and Gerry Ryan of Global Creatures have chosen Sydney over London
and New York for the world premiere of the much anticipated, Strictly
Ballroom the musical," Mr. O'Farrell said.

A worldwide cinema hit, Strictly Ballroom re-ignited interest in ballroom
dancing both in Australia and internationally.

"Producers in London and New York have been pursuing the rights for
Strictly Ballroom for many years. It is a major theatrical coup that Sydney
has secured the premiere ahead of Broadway and the West End," he said.

"Securing the Strictly Ballroom premiere demonstrates Sydney's
re-emergence as the number one city for first run musicals in Australia," he
continued.

Originally devised in Sydney at NIDA, creator Baz Luhrmann said the
decision to premiere Strictly Ballroom in Sydney was a natural one for a
quintessentially Australian story with global appeal.

Mr. Luhrmann said, "Of all of my shows, Strictly Ballroom is the most
personal. From escaping into the world of competitive ballroom dancing as a
child, and my mother going on to be a dance teacher, through to the formative
moment at the National Institute of Dramatic Art when a group of talented
students and I brought together the classical myth of triumph over oppression
and placed it in this world of suburban theatre, the first production of
Strictly Ballroom was born.

"It's a simple show, with a simple truth, and a simple heart, that seems
to have grown and grown and now completes the circle of its journey,
returning to the city where it all began, Sydney, as an all-singing
all-dancing musical production."

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said this announcement shows that Sydney is
not only Australia's global city, close to major tourism markets across the
Asia Pacific, but the home of the creative industries in Australia.

"Last week we announced Sydney was chosen for the Australian premiere of
The Addams Family. This is in addition to the recent and highly successful
first run of Doctor Zhivago, as well as the first run premiere of Legally
Blonde, which will open in Australia in June 2012, with more announcements to
be made in the near future," he said.

Vision of Baz Luhrmann's video message announcement and HD re-mastered
Strictly Ballroom footage is available for download at:

    URL:  www.ismedia.tv/download/strictlyballroom
    User: ISMstrict
    Pass: ballroom2011

At Events NSW, Kate Pembroke, +61-408-486-404, kate.pembroke at eventsnsw.com.au

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