Stage Production
Following the success of the film, Baz Luhrmann confirmed in 2002 that he was developing a Strictly Ballroom stage musical. Luhrmann said that his company, Bazmark Live, was working on the stage production, and that he had already started collaborating with a composer. He also hinted at possible locations where he would like his musical to be performed, but was unsure if he would direct. Strictly Ballroom was originally devised by Luhrmann as a play, and so it obviously has great potential as a stage musical. He said that he planned to launch the project in 2005 after he completed Alexander the Great.
Unfortunately, the last word from Luhrmann regarding this project was back in April 2003, and there has been no further information since. I can only assume this Strictly Ballroom stage production is 'on hold' for now.
If anyone has any
further information about this project, please contact
me.
In the meantime, feel free to read the articles I have managed to compile so
far:
Question and Answer - Baz Luhrmann
By Paul Wontorek, 7 April 2003, Click here for
original source
You're committing to bringing Strictly
Ballroom to Broadway. This piece has been with you for 20 years. Didn't it originate as a
stage piece when you were young?
I did as a play at drama school. Then I had my own opera and theater company at the same
time. So I did it as a play and then we did it at a theater festival in Czechoslovakia.
And I turned it into a movie-the other night, Bill Clinton said he's seen it six times. I
was very impressed. I thought, why didn't you say that when you were president? And now,
it's taking a final step back in full circle to become a musical.
Where did the idea of it come from?
I was at drama school and I was fascinated with this idea which I continued throughout the
Red Curtain Trilogy [which also includes Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge] of primary myth
uniting…that story shape that can play through time and geography placing it in
heightened creative worlds. And it's the stuff of which musicals are made but kind of more
to prevent metaphor. It's like Moliere, you present and archetypal character, you
celebrate primary human emotions but you have a sort of metaphorical idea underneath. I
was a ballroom dancer as a kid. I needed to set the show in a world that was exotic and
strange but close in that it could be Hollywood or it could be Washington. You know, the
fading star, the oppressive regime…
I know you've had a few workshops of the show recently. How far along are you?
I've done several workshops and I'm about to make a commitment about the musical team. I
won't say who they are because it'll be a big announcement and I need to make sure that
we're secure on everything. It's the project I'd like to do after Alexander the Great. So
I guess we'd get going in 2005.
Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom to Debut
in 2005
By Robert Simonson, 8 April 2003, Click here for original source
Baz Luhrmann directing on the set of the TV commercial shoot for
his production of Puccini's La Bohème. Photo by Lyn Hughes.
Baz Luhrmann will bring a stage version of his
film "Strictly Ballroom" to life sometime in 2005, the director told Playbill
On-Line.
"I am only a few weeks away from committing to a musical team," said Luhrmann,
who is now in New York casting for the U.S. tour of Broadway's La Bohème. "It will
be after `Alexander the Great,' so it will be around 2005."
"Alexander the Great" is Luhrmann's next film project. The movie will star
Leonardo DiCaprio as the legendary Macedonian conqueror, and co-star Nicole Kidman.
Luhrman said he recently returned from Jordan where he was scouting locations with the
King of Jordan in the royal's Black Hawk helicopter.
Since "Strictly Ballroom"'s release, observers saw the property — about a
fiery ballroom dancer who thumbs his nose at the ballroom community and takes an
unglamorous partner under his wing — as a perfect possibility for a Broadway worthy
musical.
"For 13 years every producer has chased it, like maniacally," Luhrmann
previously told Playbill On-Line. The goal, he said, would not be a conventional Broadway
theatre, but "to take a space and treat it as an environmental production."
Luhrmann said he's begun work on "Strictly Ballroom" with a composer, but he
declined to mention any names.
"You wouldn't believe the composers who have wanted to do this, since the [film's
release]," Luhrmann said. "Both pop — very famous, the most famous of pop
composers — and also the Broadway folk."
Luhrmann is also developing a stage version of his film "Moulin Rouge."
Baz Luhrmann Talks About Strictly Ballroom,
the Stage Musical — a Natural for NYC
By Kenneth Jones, 28 November 2002, Click here for original source
Tara Morice and Paul Mercurio starred in the
movie "Strictly Ballroom" - Photo: Miramax
Baz Luhrmann told Playbill On-Line that his theatrical producing company, Bazmark
Live, is developing his hit 1992 film, Strictly Ballroom, into a stage musical.
Since the picture's release, observers saw the property — about a fiery ballroom
dancer who thumbs his nose at the ballroom community and takes an unglamorous partner
under his wing — as a perfect possibility for a Broadway worthy musical. The picture
had a natural music-and dance setting, characters with heart and the sort of physical and
emotional transformation of character that you find in great musicals of the past.
"For 13 years every producer has chased it, like maniacally," Luhrmann told Playbill
On-Line. "We'll own it and control it, and the question is whether I direct it
or not. Everything we do is based on a life decision."
The most recent "life decision" of Luhrmann and designer wife Catherine Martin
is moving to New York to stage and oversee their hit production of La Bohème on
Broadway (previews begin Nov. 29 at the Broadway Theatre). Their take on the Puccini
classic was a sensation in their native Australia in the 1990s.
"We wanted to live in New York," Luhrmann said. "Strictly Ballroom
and Moulin Rouge, we're developing. It will take a while."
News of stage versions of his films, Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom,
has circulated for some months, but in the weeks leading to La Bohème, he shared
more information.
Is Strictly Ballroom, the musical, possible for a Broadway start?
"New York has a fabulous ballroom culture and history," Luhrmann said.
"There are a lot of spaces I'd like to do it in. Roseland would be great, or the
Hammerstein Ballroom would be great to do it in — that's a fabulous space."
The goal, he said, would not be a conventional Broadway theatre, but "to take a space
and treat it as an environmental production."
Luhrmann said he's begun work on Strictly Ballroom with a composer, but he
declined to mention any names.
"You wouldn't believe the composers who have wanted to do this, since the [film's
release]," Luhrmann said. "Both pop — very famous, the most famous of pop
composers — and also the Broadway folk."
Lurhmann added, "Everyone sees the natural potential of [it]. It's a dance musical
— song and dance."
The Australian-set movie starred Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice, Bill Hunter, Barry Otto, Gia
Carides, Peter Whitford and John Hannan.
