Greek dancer Phoebe Panaretos will be participating in Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom The Musical, which will open in Melbourne in January 2015, at Her Majesty’s Theater.
Besides Phoebe Panaretos, who has taken the lead role of Fran in the musical, another Greek woman, Sophia Katos will be taking the role of Liz Holt.
Strictly Ballroom is the story of a championship ballroom dancer who defies all odds and follows his heart. Baz Luhrmann was first inspired to write the play in 1984, along with a group of students at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). The play was turned into a movie in 1992, with Greek-Australian Gia Carides in the role of Liz Holt.
“We are pretty excited that there are two Greek girls in the lead, and for me, playing the role Gia Carides made famous is a real privilege,” said Sophia Katos, commenting on her casting as Liz.
Furthermore, she adds, “Baz gives you the freedom to not feel like you have to copy anything. Obviously it has to be those characters and that’s what the audiences love and what I love, but he’s cast it so that our natural energies are where they have to be.”
The 2015 production of Strictly Ballroom The Musical will be staged by the original movie crew, with Baz Luhrmann as co-writer and director, John O’Connell as co-writer and choreographer, and Catherine Martin as costume designer.
“From a small student play to my first motion picture and now a full-blown theatrical stage musical, Strictly Ballroom has been an almost thirty-year journey for me. I have often marvelled at how this story, born so long ago, has been in my life for so many years and has managed to touch, move, entertain and uplift so many different people from so many different backgrounds. I think the simple truth is that, despite all the sequins, outrageous hairdos and classic Hollywood musical plotting, the simple message, that there isn’t only one way to cha cha, and that within us all we have the true potential to dance through life with our own steps, is something that appeals to all of us,” noted the director.
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