Eight Sydney Stage Shows to Add to Your Cultural Hit List in 2022

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton has taken the world by storm ever since it first hit Broadway in 2015, becoming a bona fide cultural phenomenon that created a revolutionary movement in theatre and sparked global discussions around culture, politics and education.

On paper, the subject matter may sound a little dry. The production tells the story of Caribbean-born immigrant Alexander Hamilton, who rose to become one of America’s Founding Fathers. But Miranda’s energetic lyrics and music, which spans hip hop, R&B, soul and traditional show tunes ensure that it’s anything but. You’ll be captivated by cabinet rap battles, hip hop-heavy duels and big gutsy ballads about Hamilton’s complicated love life.

If you want to be in the room where it happens, you’ll need to act quickly: Hamilton will end its Sydney run on February 27, 2022. A number of additional holiday performances have recently been added to the bill, so whether you want to treat yourself or someone else, make sure you don’t miss out.

Image: Daniel Boud, supplied by DNSW.

Already an enormous success on Broadway, West End and in Melbourne, the Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical Come From Away brought its remarkable true tale to Sydney. Based on real events, the acclaimed production full of undeniable charm, heart and terrific performances can be experienced at the Capitol Theatre until January 30, 2022.

If you aren’t familiar with the musical’s plot or the actual events that inspired it, it’s an exceptional story. In the week after the September 11 attacks in 2001, 38 planes were unexpectedly ordered to land in the small Canadian town of Gander, Newfoundland. The move saw around 7000 air travellers grounded in the tiny provincial village ordinarily home to less than 12,000 residents.

Since officially premiering in San Diego in 2015, Come From Away has become a global hit, picking up a Tony Award as well as multiple Olivier Awards for its West End run. It’s been a hit at home, too — when it first opened in Melbourne in July 2019, it became the Comedy Theatre’s most successful musical in the venue’s 91-year history.

Image: Jeff Busby.

Girl From the North Country has become one of the most critically acclaimed productions of our generation since debuting in London in 2017.

Making its Australian premiere at the 2022 Sydney Festival, and kicking off from Wednesday, January 5 at the recently unveiled new Theatre Royal, Girl From the North Country takes place in a guesthouse in the US state of Minnesota in 1934. The story revolves around owner Nick, who is deeply in debt; his wife Elizabeth, whose mind is fraying; and their pregnant daughter Marianne — as well as a bible-slinging preacher and a boxer endeavouring to make a comeback.

The entire show uses Dylan’s tracks, including everything from ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and ‘Hurricane’ to ‘Slow Train’ and ‘I Want You’, all weaved throughout a story of American life during the Great Depression.

Image: Tristram Kenton

What’s better that seeing a world famous opera on a regular stage? Watching one come to life on a floating theatre on Sydney Harbour. The 2022 season of Opera Australia’s annual program will star someone who wore a mask long before the rest of us. Yes, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera will take to the floating stage from March 25–April 24, 2022.

Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour is extremely popular, with more than 400,000 people attending since its 2012 premiere. In short: get in quick, because this will be one of the hottest tickets in town.

Image: Hamilton Lund

First, it was a popular 80s big screen comedy starring Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Then, it became a five-season television sitcom led by Parton’s real-life younger sister. In 2009, 9 to 5 made the leap from screen to stage — and finally the production will make its Australian premiere in the Capitol Theatre in February 2022. Because you just can’t stop a good story about female empowerment in the workplace!

Ahead of its time when it first reached cinemas, this tale of three women who take on their sexist, egotistical and all-round despicable male boss is obviously still highly relevant today. Before #TimesUp and #MeToo, workmates Doralee, Violet and Judy decided to turn the tables by kidnapping their abusive supervisor and reforming their office.

The same story applies in 9 to 5 The Musical, as penned by the original film’s screenwriter Patricia Resnick — just with more songs. The Australian version will star Caroline O’Connor as well as Eddie Perfect as the workplace’s controlling boss. With Parton herself writing the score — and earning Tony and Grammy nominations for her efforts — you can also expect plenty of feel-good tunes.

Image: Pamela Raith Photography

For Sydney Festival 2022, this race-conscious Australian retelling of Edward Albee’s classic urbane psychodrama is adding a fascinating chapter to the storied history of one of the most acclaimed theatrical works of the 20th century.

Based on the play that first starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the story takes place over the course of a single evening in the apartment of academic couple George and Martha, who invite their new colleagues Nick and Honey over for a drink following a faculty party. What follows is essentially a booze-fuelled cage fight between the hosts as the night takes a dark turn.

For the Sydney Festival run, acclaimed First Nations director and actor Margaret Harvey takes the reins for a thoroughly contemporary reimagining of this classic title, with a multicultural cast adding new layers of perspective on the enduring themes. The result is a race-conscious and uniquely Australian perspective that explores identity, illusion and desire.

Image: Caitlyn Miles (CommonState)

Marvin Hamlisch’s love letter to the theatre has, since its 1975 debut, become one of the musical theatre cannon’s most enduring and beloved productions on its way to becoming one of the longest-running productions in Broadway history.

As part of Sydney Festival 2022, this co-production between Darlinghurst Theatre Company and Riverside Theatres will take its audience into the world of backstage to unveil the struggles of Broadway performers, exploring themes of exploitation, racism and sexism. It’s the original meta text!

The short Sydney Festival run promises to be a vibrant and punchy one. It’s backed by some of the biggest names working in Australian musical theatre today, including Helpmann-nominated choreographer Amy Campbell (In the Heights, Funny Girl) and musical supervisor Andrew Worboys (Rent, American Psycho).

Image: Robert Catto

Umbrellas at the ready, Sydneysiders. Spoons full of sugar, too. In the most supercalifragilisticexpialidocious news you’ll hear all day — and all year as well — the Mary Poppins musical is making its way to the Lyric Theatre in May 2022.

Over its upcoming run, theatre fans can look forward to a new version of the show that last graced the city’s stages — and won eight Helpmann Awards — back in 2011. Since Disney and theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh first teamed up with writer Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) to bring Mary Poppins to the theatre in 2004, the production has won four Olivier Awards and a Tony as well.

Image: Johan Persson