The best musical and theatre shows to see in Australia in 2024

You better shape up! Australia is getting a brand-new production of the musical hit that’s got groove, it's got meaning – it’s Grease. Grease returns to Australian stages in a multi-million dollar production featuring all those unforgettable songs from the movie. Just try to resist singing along to ‘Summer Nights’, ‘You’re The One That I Want’ and ‘Grease is the Word’. Stepping into the iconic roles of Sandy and Danny are Annelise Hall (The Marvellous Elephant Man, Aspects of Love) and Joseph Spanti (Friends! The Musical Parody and Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical)

Touring dates: Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne from January; Capitol Theatre, Sydney from March; and Crown Theatre, Perth from July

If you know exactly how many minutes are in a year (it's 525,600, in case you were wondering), then you'll be very excited to read these words: Rent has arrived in Australia. A new production of the legendary '90s rock musical premiered earlier this year as part of a national tour, the first since 1998. The multi-Tony Award-winning show, written by Jonathan Larson, follows a close-knit community of artists living in New York City's East Village as they navigate the joyous highs and crushing lows in an unrelenting city. Featuring catchy hits like 'Seasons of Love', 'Take Me or Leave Me' and 'La Vie Bohème', Rent is a rollercoaster of a musical that will have you gripping your sides with laughter and dancing in your seat, before wiping away tears during truly poignant theatrical moments. 

Touring dates: QPAC, Brisbane from January 27-February 11; Arts Centre Melbourne from February 17-March 7; Civic Theatre, Newcastle from March 15-17; His Majesty's Theatre, Perth from May 11-25; and Canberra Theatre from June 7-15

It’s a tale as old as time, but the Australian premiere of Disney Theatrical’s Broadway blockbuster Beauty and the Beast is getting a modern makeover. The enchanting tale – which Time Out Sydney crowned five stars – will be brought to life in a reimagined production from the producers of The Lion King, Mary Poppins, Aladdin and Frozen. Audiences can expect to be bedazzled by the cutting-edge technology, costumes and Broadway-style dance numbers paired with live orchestral scores by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. 

Touring dates: Capitol Theatre, Sydney in 2023; Lyric Theatre, Brisbane from February; and Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne from June

Described by its composer and lyricist, Australia’s own Tim Minchin, as sort of like “Matilda for grownups”, this Australian premiere burrows all the way down into the depths of despair and climbs triumphantly back out again, all within two snappy acts. As per the classic 1993 film starring Bill Murray, Groundhog Day takes place on a very big day in a very small Pennsylvanian town. Each year on February 2, a large rodent emerges from his burrow to predict when winter will end. The Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated Andy Karl stars as Phil Connors, the jaded weatherman who gets sucked into a time loop covering the perky celebration over and over (and over) again. Read more in Time Out Melbourne’s five-star review. 

Touring dates: Princess Theatre, Melbourne from February 2-April 7

A new Aussie cast defies gravity in an effortlessly charming 20th-anniversary revival of the Broadway hit. After celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Broadway premiere in Sydney and then flying into Melbourne for the third time in 15 years, Wicked will make its final stop at Perth’s Crown Theatre. This new Australian production is a testament to Wicked’s enduring popularity, and whether you’ve seen it dozens of times or you’re going in green, you’ll likely leave changed for good.

Touring dates: Sydney Lyric Theatre, Sydney until February 4; Regent Theatre, Melbourne from May 23; Lyric Theatre QPAC, Brisbane from September 12; and Crown Theatre, Perth from December 15

After a massive five-star debut in Melbourne, the West End and Broadway hit & Juliet is finally coming to Sydney – thanks to Australian producer Michael Cassel. This empowering feel-good show flips the script on the so-called greatest love story ever told, remixing Shakespeare’s ode to star-crossed lovers to imagine a world where Juliet Capulet’s story doesn’t end with sacrificing herself for her first love (that’s Romeo Montague, if you’re not following) – with a bunch of pop bangers and slick dance routines thrown in. The all-star Aussie cast is led by Lorinda May Merrypor in the title role, a proud Aboriginal and South Sea Islander woman with "faultless" vocals that will send a shiver down your spine. 

Touring dates: Sydney Lyric Theatre from February 27-June 2

You do the crime, you pay the time, and there’s no denying that this all-time fave Bob Fosse musical, with music by John Kander and lyrics by co-writer Fred Ebb, has gone the distance. One of the longest-running Broadway successes of all time, it’s blazed an enviable trail since debuting in 1975, searing bangers like ‘All That Jazz’ and ‘Razzle Dazzle’ into our brains. It never goes out of fashion, so we’re itching to see Zoë Ventoura and Lucy Maunder burn it up as wicked-good double act Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart.

Touring dates: Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne from March 23; Capitol Theatre, Sydney from June 9; and Canberra Theatre from September

Since Hugo Weaving became the blockbuster king in The Matrix and The Lord of The Rings franchises, he’s settled back into mostly making indie Australian films. He will now step back onto the Sydney Theatre Company stage, as joined by Irish legend Olwen Fouéré – recently seen as the menacing matriarch in season two of The Tourist. In this sure-to-be gripping co-production with Dublin’s venerated Gate Theatre, they’ll tackle Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard’s rarely-seen political thriller.

Touring dates: Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney from April 13-May 18

Musical royalty descends on Australia as British soprano superstar Sarah Brightman re-teams with The Phantom of the Opera impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber to revive his musical adaptation of the classic Golden Age of Hollywood movie. She portrays faded silent film star Norma Desmond, yearning to reclaim her former glory with the aid of down-and-out writer Joe Gillis, played by local star Tim Draxl. Staged by Opera Australia, this will be EXTRA, and a must-see for sure.

Touring dates: Princess Theatre, Melbourne from May 21; Sydney Opera House from August 28; and Festival Theatre, Adelaide from August 4

STC artistic director Kip Williams bedazzled Australian audiences with his genius, technologically enhanced reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s nightmare vision, The Picture of Dorian Gray, with Sarah Snook stepping into Eryn-Jean Norvill’s big shoes for London’s West End run. He then tackled Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and completes his gothic horror trilogy with Julius Caesar star Zahra Newman inhabiting every character from Bram Stoker’s vampiric delight. We’re bloodthirsty for it.

Touring dates: Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney from July 2-August 4

Were you in ‘The Room Where it Happens’ when Hamilton had its Australasian debut in Sydney? Well, if you missed out on seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hip-Hop-infused musical masterpiece (or you just want to see it again, and again) you’re in luck. Producers Jeffrey Seller and Michael Cassel recently announced that the Tony, Grammy, Olivier and Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway hit is returning to the Harbour City, with an encore season opening at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in July, 2024. We’re quite simply ‘Helpless’ with excitement.

Touring dates: Sydney Lyric Theatre from July 30-October 31

Whoopi Goldberg had us laughing in the (church) aisles with her epic performance in the 1992 movie Sister Act, and now it's time to do it all again – with more pizzazz! Praise be, the hilarious and heavenly stage musical inspired by the cult flick is finally heading Down Under. After receiving all the praise and five Tony award nominations on Broadway, Sister Act will be hitting up London’s West End (again) in May this year before touring Sydney and Melbourne.

Touring dates: Capitol Theatre, Sydney from August; Regent Theatre, Melbourne from November; and Lyric Theatre QPAC, Brisbane from February 2025

What if the Spice Girls did a concept album about King Henry VIII’s wives and Baz Luhrmann directed the concert video? That, in a nutshell, is Six’s vibe: an up-tempo, empowering, all-singing, all-dancing account of the lives of the six key ladies in the Tudor monarch’s orbit. Much like Hamilton before it, the pop musical is making history buffs out of legions of musical theatre tragics, and making musical theatre tragics out of pop and hip hop lovers.  The conceptual space is a rock concert with the wives reimagined as a girl group bickering over who will get to be lead singer. It’s decided that whoever suffered the most at the hands of their mutual ex should take the crown, as it were, and so the six compete with their tales of woe, told as irresistibly catchy dance floor bangers. 

Touring dates: Comedy Theatre, Melbourne from August 2024; Theatre Royal Sydney from October 2024; and QPAC, Brisbane from January 2025

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been a literary classic for more than two centuries, with many folks recognising the book as the first-ever science fiction novel. This year, a faithful yet cutting-edge adaptation of the classic horror just completed a sold-out run in Brisbane, where it proved to be a monster of a show. Now it's headed to Melbourne and Sydney, where fans can anticipate a high-tech, 21st-century production, complete with strobe lights, pyrotechnics and a cinematic score. Add in more than 140 square metres of LED video panels and complex automation and you’ve got yourself a visceral glimpse into the mind of a madman. 

Touring dates: Princess Theatre, Melbourne from August 23; and Theatre Royal Sydney from September 28

Dear Evan Hansen is the raw, moving and inspiring story of a socially anxious high schooler who is suddenly thrust into the spotlight when he inadvertently invents an important role for himself at the centre of a local tragedy. If you were let down by the 2021 movie adaptation of this much-loved musical, just wait til you get a load of what STC is going to achieve with the input of the Michael Cassel Group (the company that brought Hamilton and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to our shores).

Touring dates: Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney from October 12-November 17; Arts Centre Melbourne from December 2024; Canberra Theatre Centre from February 2025; Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide from April 2025

With Jonathan Glazer’s startling holocaust film The Zone of Interest lauded at awards ceremonies this year, there’s a remarkable opportunity to catch a new stage version of his seriously trippy body-snatching alien invasion movie, which starred Scarlett Johansson. Malthouse’s artistic director Matthew Lutton will conjure its menacing spirit, working from a new adaptation of the Michel Faber novel by celebrated playwright Pamela Carter. We’re hanging for it if it’s anything like Lutton’s astounding take on Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Touring dates: Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne from October 11-November 3

Jesus Christ! The messiah will return to rock the Australian stage when Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s celebrated musical Jesus Christ Superstar arrives in Oz later this year, following huge acclaim and sold-out seasons in London, as well as an extensive tour of North America. The Olivier Award-winning reimagined production of this celebrated rock musical will open in Sydney in November, where the original Australian production began in 1972, ahead of stops in Perth and Melbourne. International recording artist Javon King will star as Jesus, alongside triple threat Michael Paynter in the role of Judas and vocal powerhouse Mahalia Barnes as Mary. 

Touring dates: Capitol Theatre, Sydney from November 6–December 29; Crown Theatre, Perth from February 2025; Princess Theatre, Melbourne from March 2025

Feminist Australian writer Miles Franklin was all about leaving the door open. She established this nation’s most prestigious literary prize in her will. A colossal figure looming large over the Australian scene, her beloved novel about a young woman determined not to marry was made into a seminal film starring Judy Davis alongside Sam Neill by Gillian Armstrong, so consider us thrilled to see new MTC artistic director Anne-Louise Sarks directing a new pop-rock musical take featuring Six star Kala Gare.

Touring dates: Southbank Theatre, Melbourne from November 7–December 18

Folks of a certain generation bore witness to all manner of really weird shit in this much-loved kids’ TV show about the Twist family, who lived in a lighthouse oft bothered by strange and unusual creatures. Not least of all, the propeller-headed fish who whizzed oldest kid Bronson around the bay by his whatsit. For real. We can only imagine that this new musical, penned by Paul Hodge as inspired by the show and author Paul Jennings’ random and awesome source books, will whirl our way round the twist.

Touring dates: QPAC, Brisbane from November 12-December 1

You get two literary titans for the price of one in South Australian playwright Samuel Adams’ highly anticipated adaptation of Peter Carey’s best-selling Miles Franklin-winning novel, itself a mischievous rewiring of Charles Dickens’ classic, Great Expectations. Featuring The Normal Heart star Mark Saturno in the title role, alongside James Smith, Jacqy Philips and rising star Ahunim Abebe and directed by Geordie Brookman, this should be a pre-Christmas cracker.

Touring dates: Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide from November 15-30

Tomorrow couldn’t come faster – or more like 2025 – when Annie is set to make its grand return to Australia. Based on the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, first published in 1924, this family-friendly musical has gone on to become one of the most awarded and loved productions of all time. Bet your bottom dollar that there'll be sun when the musical brightens up the stage of Sydney’s Capitol Theatre in March 2025, marking its first return to Australia since 2012.

Touring dates: Capitol Theatre, Sydney in March 2025

Many fantasy series have come and gone, but it seems that there is no escaping the pull of the one to rule them all. Middle-earth is about to collide with the Harbour City, with the news that The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale is set to make its Australian debut in Sydney. Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved epic trilogy, the stage production will premiere with a strictly-limited season, just in time for the 70th anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring (the first book in the trilogy) hitting the shelves.

Touring dates: State Theatre, Sydney from January 7, 2025