Highland Arts Theatre releases 2024 summer performance lineup

SYDNEY — The Highland Arts Theatre (HAT) in Sydney has announced its summer lineup of shows.

As it celebrates its 10th anniversary running from its Bentinck Street location in Sydney, five shows will grace its stage and other venues between June and August.

The ABBA-infused musical Mamma Mia — based on the Swedish pop quartet’s music and the movie it inspired — will open the season with shows from June 20-23 at the Savoy Theatre, a coproducer of the show.

At the HAT’s mainstage, an encore of The Sea Shanty Show will run on June 28-29. It’s a co-production with Kitchen Fest 2024. It debuted in 2022 but the show was revised for 2023, prompting a return this summer. It features a score entirely composed of sea shanties.

Between July 11-14, Jack and the Beanstalk: A Musical Comedy Pantomime — one of the most popular shows last summer — will run once again at the HAT mainstage. The show puts a comedic spin on the Jack and the Beanstalk fairytale while combining it with pop music from over the last 50 years.

The fourth HAT summer show will be a co-production with Sacred Heart Downtown on George Street, which will host Dream: Dinner and a Show. Based on the 1950s musical of the same name, it debuted at the HAT in 2016. The show will include a threecourse dinner, with guests encouraged to dress in 1950s attire and stay for a sock hop after the performance. It will run from July 21-26.

The final summer production will be Spongebob The Musical: Youth Edition. Presented by the

HAT Academy production class, it will be performed for the first time from July 31-Aug. 4 and is derived from the Broadway musical but geared for children.

Tickets for the five shows, as well as previously announced performances, are available on the HAT website, over the phone and at the box office.