• Global musical success Hamilton broke Australian sales records before its first show last week, with more than 250,000 tickets sold.
• The musical is playing in Sydney before expanding to other states.
• Australia’s musical theatre scene is seeing a return to normalcy, while New York and London’s theatre districts are still shuttered.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

The Australian production of “Hamilton” broke box office records before the show’s first curtain on Wednesday with more than 250,000 tickets sold.

With New York’s Broadway and London’s West End closed — though vaccinations are ramping up in both cities — Australia’s musical theatre market is showcasing a tentative return to normalcy.

The show’s original Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller confirmed it was a record for musical theatre ticket sales in Australia in an appearance on The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald’s Please Explain podcast last Thursday.

“We’re not just confident [that audiences will see the show], we are sure of it because we know how many tickets we have sold,” he said.

“It’s the largest advance in the history of Australia.”

The production’s media blitz in recent weeks raised awareness, but tickets have been selling steadily for months and are currently sold out until late May.

More than $40 million has been spent at the box office since tickets for the show went on sale in August, and the show will open at the Sydney Lyric Theatre next week to full houses.

The live performance industry as a whole generates considerable revenue in Australia; almost $2.2 billion in 2018 (the last time a comprehensive study was published) and it’s growing.

It saw an uptick of almost 15% between 2017 and 2018, with NSW generating the highest share of live performance revenue, around 34.9%, followed by Victoria.

London’s West End is hoping to reopen in the northern hemisphere spring and in New York word is that some shows are looking at autumn — that’s a full year and a half since doors were open.

Lights up but only in Australia

Actors are back onstage, and audiences are back in seats, but only in Australia.

While New York and London theatres stay shuttered, a raft of new musicals are underway in Australia, including “Come From Away” and “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” in Melbourne, plus “Frozen” in Sydney.

Australia, normally a secondary market for big-ticket shows developed in New York and London, has become a pandemic pioneer as international producers look for insights as to how they might also successfully ramp up productions.

“Hamilton” is scheduled to join “Frozen” next month in Sydney, and “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” is preparing for an August start in Melbourne.

To make it work, actors are being COVID-tested regularly, while attendees are complying with NSW’s QR code check-ins and are admitted on a staggered schedule. Furthermore, after the show, the cast are skipping the traditional mingling with fans for selfies.

Part of the reason for Australian musical theatre’s bounce back has been intense pressure by the Australia’s theatre industry.

It began lobbying for a return in June 2020, with the industry creating its own nationwide coronavirus safety plan with epidemiologists to persuade officials to let theatres reopen.

“Hamilton” was one one of the first productions to get approval from NSW Health to stage 100% capacity performances, in comparison to the live music industry, which is still struggling against restrictions on full capacity at music venues everywhere but Queensland.

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