Cast announced for Helpmann Award-winning musical Ladies in Black tour

Ladies in Black - Image by Rob Maccoll

There’s nothing quite like the news that a new Australian musical is receiving not just recognition and critical acclaim, but also more life, and today, we get to celebrate just that. As previously reported Ladies in Black, which premiered at Queensland Theatre Company and also enjoyed a season in Melbourne, will tour nationally in 2017.

Ladies in Black – Image by Rob Maccoll

The tour will open in Sydney in January 3 2017 as part of Sydney Festival. It will then return to Brisbane and Melbourne, and, following these encore seasons, will arrive in Canberra from March 27.

The musical, directed by Simon Phillips, is a new take on Madeleine St John’s 1993 novel The Woman in Black. The stage version is written by Carolyn Burns and features music by singer-songwriter Tim Finn (Split Enz, Crowded House). It’s a story of fashion, friendship and women in 1950s Australia. It picked up the Helpmann Award this year for Best New Australian Work (having received five other nominations).

Cast returning to the show include relative newcomer Sarah Morrison, Bobby Fox (Jersey Boys), Carita Farrer Spencer (Seven Types of Ambiguity), Kathryn McIntytre (Much Ado About Nothing), Greg Stone (Once), and Kate Cole (Sweet Charity).

New to the cast are Natalie Gamsu (Strictly Ballroom) as Magda, Madeleine Jones (Once) as Patty, and Ellen Simpson (Molly) as Fay.

Cassie Tongue

Cassie is a theatre critic and arts writer in Sydney, and was the deputy editor of AussieTheatre. She has written for The Guardian, Time Out Sydney, Daily Review, and BroadwayWorld Australia. She is a voter for the Sydney Theatre Awards.