Array of premieres highlight MTC 2010

Geoffrey Rush will kick off the Melbourne Theatre Company’s 2010 subscription season by starring in The Drowsy Chaperone alongside Robyn Nevin, Grant Piro, Richard Piper, Shane Jacobson and Heidi Arena.

The musical won two Tony Awards and Melbourne Theatre Company boss Simon Phillips said he can’t wait to bring it to Australia.

“On a quiet Monday night in New York a few years ago, I slipped into the first preview of this musical without knowing anything about it,” Phillips said.

“For the next ninety minutes I sat enraptured by the most wonderfully mocking yet affectionate spoof of early Broadway musicals – a rich layer cake of homage piled on blancmange, with just a sprinkling of wistful insight. The overarching conceit that the musical is recreated for us by a Broadway fan as he plays the Original Cast Album is a stroke of comic genius. And speaking of comic genius, Geoffrey Rush (fresh from conquering Broadway himself) will conjure up a dazzling cavalcade of stars.”

The Melbourne Theatre Company 2010 season also features the world premiere production of The Swimming Club by Hannie Rayson, and the Australian premiere of J.T Rogers’ Madagascar.

Garry McDonald appears in The Grenade while Shakespeare’s Richard III will get a run, adding a major classic to the season.

David Mamet’s controversial and sexy Boston Marriage will star Pamela Rabe, while the Australian premiere of Dead Man’s Cell Phonewill star Matt Day.

David Williamson’s Let The Sunshine, which premiered at Sydney’s Ensemble Theatre next year, will play in August and star theatre veterans Jacki Weaver and John Wood.

A highlight is the Australian premiere of the overseas hit All About My Mother, while a new world premiere from Daniel Keene – Life Without Me – will be staged this time next year.

The season concludes with a Joanna Murray-Smith world premiere – Songs For Nobody, which will star Bernadette Robinson.

The MTC season features an array of world and Australian premieres and while it lacks the star power of the Sydney Theatre Company’s season, it is a stellar list of plays and musicals set to ignite Melbourne’s theatre scene.

You can check out the 2010 Sydney Theatre Company season here.