SONDER Will Make World Premiere Musical at The Old Fitz Theatre

The world premiere of a modern queer one-man musical, Sonder, will open at the Old Fitz Theatre in May. Set inside a pulsing nightclub that fractures into memory, ritual, and reckoning, Romeo confronts the moments that taught him to disappear and the choice to stay. Sonder is a coming-of-age musical that refuses neat resolution, asking instead what it takes to remain in your body when love, truth, and belonging have felt dangerous. Blending live electronic music, ancestral chant, Mau Rākau, and raw storytelling, the piece moves between ecstasy and stillness, intimacy and chaos.

Written by Riki Lindsey and Mitchell Sloan, directed by Alexander Berlage, with movement direction by Fetu Taku, this world premiere new Australian musical is a bold and unflinching work of contemporary music theatre. This is not about redemption. It is an act of presence. Visceral, poetic, and quietly devastating.

Riki Lindsey says “I was driven to create Sonder after watching people in my life move through moments that completely destabilised them, and then slowly learning new ways of rebuilding and transforming. It made me question what it really takes to stay present in your own body when love, identity, and belonging have all felt unsafe. Bringing this brand new Australian musical to life at the Old Fitz Theatre feels incredibly special. It's an intimate space that allows the audience to sit right inside the world of the piece, there's nowhere to hide, and that's exactly what this story asks of us.

At its core, Sonder is about the patterns we inherit, the ways we learn to survive, and the choice to stay even when everything in you wants to run. It's deeply personal in feeling, but not autobiographical. It's a story shaped by observation, by whakapapa, and by the people I've witnessed navigating love and pain in their own lives. I hope audiences walk away from our production feeling like they've experienced something far incredibly unique and visceral, something that will live on in the mind and body. More than anything, I hope it reminds people that there are many ways to tell a story, by pushing the boundaries of what a musical can be through modern music, staging, and perspective.”

Alexander Berlage says “I'm absolutely thrilled to be returning to the Old Fitz to premiere this bold and intimate new work. Sonder is something truly special. Riki Lindsey and Mitchell Sloan have created a piece that feels both electric and immediate, blending the pulse of a nightclub with a deeply human story about culture, identity, and queerness, and what it means to stay present in yourself when the world asks you to disappear.

It's rare to come across a work that feels this fresh and form-breaking. There's a rawness and urgency to it that really stayed with me, and I think audiences will feel that too, particularly in the way it holds space for complex, layered experiences of self and belonging. It honestly feels like a glimpse into the future of Australian music theatre, and I can't think of a better place than the Old Fitz to share this premiere, it's the perfect space for a work that is so up close, so personal, and so alive.”

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