Baz Luhrmann looking for New York stage star to lead his Australian Strictly Ballroom cast

Moviemaker Baz Luhrmann is looking to cast a New Yorker as his leading lady in the Australian theatre run of his musical Strictly Ballroom. The director is returning to the stage Down Under once all his promotional work for The Great Gatsby is complete and the film has opened in China this weekend (begs30Aug13) – and he’s determined to find the next great musical lead in the Big Apple.
He tells BroadwayWorld.com, “I’m trying to cast (character) Fran and I’m gonna have a go at doing some casting in New York. I’ve done a lot of casting, and I’ve done a lot of work on it in the last month in Australia. We did a little, kind of mini-workshop, and we’ve got another one coming up.
“It is advancing and we are very much moving towards our opening, which is in March-April next year.”
If the show is a hit Down Under, Luhrmann is hoping to stage the musical, which is based on his 1992 film, on Broadway.