Baz Luhrmann's STRICTLY BALLROOM to Premiere on Stage in Sydney

Baz Luhrmann and NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell have today announced that the stage musical of the 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.