LADIES IN BLACK to Tour Australia in 2017

Ahead of tomorrow night's Helpmann Awards, Queensland Theatre Company has announced that the smash hit musical and six-time nominated Ladies in Black will tour nationally in early 2017, taking in Sydney and Canberra with encore seasons in Brisbane and Melbourne.

From the adaptation of Madeleine St John's 1993 novel, The Women in Black, this acclaimed production has been brought to life by Australian screenwriter Carolyn Burns and internationally-acclaimed director Simon Phillips (Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Love Never Dies) with original music from legendary singer songwriter, Tim Finn OBE (Split Enz, Crowded House).

The world premiere of Ladies in Black, the stylish story of fashion, friendship and 1950s Australia took place in Brisbane in November 2015 with the frock-fest signalling a stunning and triumphant return of musical theatre for the company.

Ladies in Black has been nominated for six Helpmann Awards including Best New Australian Work, Best Director of a Musical, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, Best Music Direction and the coveted Best Musical.

The critically acclaimed show features over 20 original songs written by Tim Finn and a stunning range of some 30 custom-designed and created dresses and suits. The genesis of Ladies in Black actually happened at the Brisbane Airport - Tim Finn was famously looking for a book to read, bought The Women in Black and on reading it, was compelled to call Simon Phillips and plant the seed for a stage production. On the plane, he started writing the music. The rest is history.

The cast and all dates and further detail will be announced at the national launch event to be held on August 15 in Sydney.

With a dash of delicate comedy, Ladies in Black is a magical modern-day fairytale set in a stylish department store - F.G. Goode - in a city on the cusp of becoming cosmopolitan: Sydney is crossing the threshold between the stuffy repression of the 1950s and the glorious liberation of the 1960s. Donning a distinguished black dress, the bright-eyed, bookish school leaver Lisa is about to join the ranks on the sales floor of the city's most prestigious department store - temporarily, of course. Her domineering dad intends to railroad her into a career as a secretary, but Lisa has grander schemes in mind. In that summer of innocence, a world of possibilities opens up as she befriends the colourful denizens of the women's frocks department - there's Patty, embroiled in her marital strife; the lovelorn and unlucky Fay; and the exotic, compelling European refugee, Magda, mysterious mistress of the model gowns, who takes Lisa under her wing. From the Christmas rush to the chaos of the sales, these women stand shoulder to padded shoulder and together learn lessons in life, love and longing - and at the end, it's not just the fancy frocks that are forever altered.