ABC GOES BEHIND THE SCENES AT MURIEL?S WEDDING THE MUSICAL

Posted by JuliaMertens on May 8th, 2017

It’s not every year that a major new Australian musical opens, so there’ll be plenty of people interested to see what’s happening behind closed doors at Sydney’s Roslyn Packer Theatre this November.

image: Cheap Wedding Dresses

The ABC and Screen Australia today announced they’re funding Making Muriel, a new behind-the-scenes documentary covering the making of Muriel’s Wedding The Musical, to screen on ABC TV later this year.

The documentary will be directed by Nel Minchin, who last year made Matilda and Me about her older brother Tim Minchin’s musical theatre success. Several of the same team members at In Films will work on this documentary.

“Muriel’s Wedding is a quintessentially Australian story that launched the careers of Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, P.J. Hogan and Jocelyn Moorhouse, and gifted us with countless one-liners that have become embedded in our cultural lexicon,” said Liz Stevens, Senior Manager Documentary at Screen Australia. “Supporting Nel Minchin to make her solo-directing debut was a no-brainer for us and we know audiences will cherish the opportunity to reconnect with this classic story all over again.”

P.J. Hogan, who wrote and directed the original film will be one of the major focuses of Making Muriel as he adapts his own script for the stage.

The documentary will not only cover the making of the new musical, but reach back into archival footage to uncover how one of Australia’s most unlikely cultural icons, Muriel Heslop, came to be, 23 years ago.

Muriel’s Wedding The Musical is co-produced by Sydney Theatre Company and Global Creatures (King Kong, Walking With Dinosaurs, Strictly Ballroom) and will open in Sydney this November.

It features an original score by Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall and will be directed by Simon Phillips. Casting is yet to be revealed.

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