Strictly Ballroom Has North American Premiere
From the award winning visionary Baz Luhrmann, creator of Moulin Rouge!, Romeo & Juliet and The Great Gatsby, comes Strictly Ballroom, a brand new musical for the stage inspired by his classic film.
Strictly Ballroom has opened at the Princess of Wales Theatre Toronto for a two month run starring Sam Lips as Scott Hastings, Gemma Sutton as Fran and Tamsin Carroll as Shirley. The Musical was based on a stage play and Film originally developed by Luhrmann and others while he was studying at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney in the mid-1980s, and the play was later expanded for a successful season at Sydney’s Wharf Theatre in 1988 and in 1992 the movie was released and was a great world wide success.
Strictly Ballroom was adapted into a stage musical and premiered at the Sydney Lyric theatre April 12th 2014. Strictly Ballroom tells the story of an Australian ballroom dancer, Scott Hastings, and his struggle to establish his personal style of dance in his way to win the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix Dancing Championship. Scott’s steps are not strictly ballroom. Scott comes from a family with a history of ballroom dancing and has been training since childhood. Scott’s mother Shirley teaches ballroom dancing, and his father Doug meekly handles maintenance chores at the dance studio.
Directed and choreographed by Olivier Award winner Drew McOnie and featuring songs from the hit film including Love Is In The Air, Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps and Time After Time, this dazzling new musical is the perfect show for all the family this Spring.
Reviews
Toronto Star
Toronto Sun
The Globe and Mail
Cast
Sam Lips – Scott Hastings
Gemma Sutton – Fran
Tamsin Carroll – Shirley Hastings
Richard Dempsey – JJ Silvers
Julius D’Silva – Barry Fife
Charlotte Gooch – Tina Sparkle
Richard Grieve – Les Kendall
Liam Marcellino – Wayne Burns
Stephen Matthews – Doug Hastings
Fernando Mira – Rico
Eve Polycarpou – Abuela
Lauren Stroud – Liz Holt
Gary Watson – Ken Railings
Jade Albertsen – Vanessa Cronin & Ensemble
Michelle Bishop – Pam Short, Natalie & Ensemble
Zak Nemorin – Merv, Clarry & Ensemble
Freya Rowley – Kayleen West & Ensemble
Luke Jackson – Rory West, Nathan Starkey & Ensemble
Courtney-Mae Briggs – Emily Waters & Ensemble
Javier Santos – Jonathan Drench & Ensemble
Alexzandra Sarmiento – Muriel Shunt & Ensemble
James Bennett – Tommy Arbunt & Ensemble
Selina Hamilton – Stephanie Shanks & Ensemble
George Hinson – Liam Lamb & Ensemble
Chris Bennett – Swing
Rebecca Lisewski – Swing
Lindsay McAllister – Swing
Dale White -Swing
