It’s 23 years since Muriel Heslop said goodbye to dead end Porpoise Spit and headed for the bright lights of Sydney with an ABBA song in her heart and the dream of a fairy-tale wedding that would transform her dreary life. Now Muriel is retracing her steps, but this time she’s doing it on stage as PJ Hogan’s iconic 1994 Australian film Muriel’s Wedding is adapted into a new musical with a book by Hogan himself and additional songs by Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall, alongside the ABBA hits that famously feature in the movie.

Produced by Sydney Theatre Company and Global Creatures (the company behind the recent musicals Strictly Ballroom and King Kong), Muriel’s Wedding the Musical opens next month in a keenly anticipated production directed by Simon Phillips.

Muriel's Wedding The Musical, Sydney Theatre CompanyMadeleine Jones and Maggie McKenna in Muriel’s Wedding The Musical. Photo © Nic Walker

“There are certain films that just zing in your head as musicals. There’s something about the spirit of the way they’ve been shot and the energy behind them,” says Phillips in an STC podcast. Muriel’s Wedding has always struck him as one...