Hamilton has finally recommenced its Australian premiere season at the Sydney Lyric Theatre. The production will move to Melbourne in March 2022, but a return to Sydney is all but confirmed.
“We would all like to return as soon as possible. I’m hopeful and the good thing is everybody is keen to make it happen,” said Australian producer Michael Cassel, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Hamilton is the most commercially and critically successful new musical of its era. After dominating Broadway and London’s West End, the musical opened in Sydney on 27th March, 2021. Demand for tickets went through the roof, but Sydney’s three month lockdown and contiguous social distancing requirements forced the cancellation of 130+ performances.
Hamilton finally reopened last Tuesday, 19th October—at 75% audience capacity—and will remain at the Sydney Lyric until Sunday, 27th February before relocating to Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne.
Cassel said he was offered a contract for a six-month return to the Lyric in 2023, but turned it down in the hope of securing a longer run. “We would like to return for a minimum of nine months,” the producer said (via SMH).
NSW Arts Minister Don Harwin would welcome its return to Sydney: “Theatre brings tourism, jobs, and excitement to a city and this government is committed to making sure Sydney is the Broadway of the Southern Hemisphere,” he said.
Hamilton has won every award you can think of since launching in 2015, including multiple Tonys, Emmys, Laurence Olivier Awards and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
