When she said goodbye to the small town of Porpoise Spit for the bright city lights, Muriel Heslop had no idea what was waiting for her: a starring role in an original musical at one of Australia’s most celebrated theatres.
The much-loved 1994 Australian film Muriel’s Wedding has been reimagined in the present and reworked for the stage by the film’s writer-director, PJ Hogan (My Best Friend’s Wedding, Confessions of a Shopaholic), for a world premiere at Sydney Theatre Company in November 2017.
The announcement of the adaptation – which follows successful stage productions of Priscilla and Strictly Ballroom – came at Thursday launch of the STC’s 2017 program, which has been helmed by the company’s interim artistic director, Kip Williams, after the unexpected departure of Jonathan Church in May.
Featuring original music by Kate Miller-Heidke and Kier Nuttall, along with classic Abba songs including Waterloo and Dancing Queen, Muriel’s Wedding: The Musical will follow Muriel from Porpoise Spit to Sydney, where she “ends up with everything she ever wanted – a man, a fortune and a million Twitter followers. That’s when things start to go really wrong.”
Big cheers from the crowd in the room for Muriel's Wedding the Musical!!! #sydneytheatreco pic.twitter.com/dg0YcVMVf0
— SydneyTheatreCompany (@SydneyTheatreCo) September 8, 2016
Featuring a “huge cast and a live band”, the production will be directed by Simon Phillips, who brought Priscilla to the stage in 2006, and whose work includes the Helpmann award-winning musical Ladies in Black.
Announcing the news on Facebook, Miller-Heidke said working on the production was “an honour and a thrill”.
“Muriel’s Wedding is a masterpiece of storytelling,” she said. “It means so much to me and to so many people.”
