New and upcoming musicals in Melbourne

Jesus Christ! The messiah will return to rock the Melbourne stage when Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s celebrated musical Jesus Christ Superstar arrives in Melbourne early next year, following huge acclaim and sold-out seasons in London, as well as an extensive North American tour. The Olivier Award-winning reimagined production of this celebrated rock musical will land at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre in March 2025, as part of a national tour.

For the uninitiated, the gist is this: written by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, Hadestown is a genre-defying musical adaption of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, set in a dystopian steampunk-esque underworld, set to an evocative score that blends New Orleans-style jazz and blues with modern American folk music – with a live brass band on stage, to boot. The show won eight Tony Awards when it opened in 2019, including Best Musical, and is still playing to packed houses five years later.

From the moment the curtain rises, it’s clear this is a large-scale musical with all the belles, whistles and big bucks. Visual splendour is the MO here – think kaleidoscopic costumes, gasp-inducing illusions and spectacular lighting – and it’s easy to see why this show broke box office records at Brisbane’s QPAC.