By Justin RouillonTuesday 1 Aug 2023TheatreReading Time: 3 minutes
Main Image: The Heeler family at the world premiere of Bluey’s Big Play at QPAC’s Playhouse (Image: Darren Thomas).
Call a family meeting, but don’t bake any brownies though! Brisbane’s favourite Heeler family is returning home to Brisbane!
Bluey fans across south east Queensland will be champing at the bit to secure tickets this Friday for Bluey’s Big Play, when it returns to QPAC’s Playhouse in Brisbane for an exclusive season from December 30th 2023 to January 20th 2024.
The live show has been touring internationally since November last year, when Bluey and the Heeler family first took to US stages, with sold out performances at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York.
Those New York shows also coincided with Bluey being featured in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, as well as Dave McCormack and Melanie Zanetti, voices to Bandit and Chilli Heeler, appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Rose Myers is the Director of Bluey’s Big Play, and also the Artistic Director of Windmill Theatre Company; a company that specialises in producing theatre for children, teenagers and families, and worked closely with Bluey creator Joe Brumm to bring Bluey from the screen to the stage.
Bluey’s Big Play Director Rose Myers, attending the US premiere at Madison Square Garden (supplied).
Rose said that it had been a real treat for some of Bluey’s cast and crew to attend the US premiere, and see first hand how loved the show was internationally.
“We know that Bluey is beloved here in Australia, but it really hits you when you go somewhere like America and you see that the love for the show is equal over there; there’s so many Americans who really love the show.”
“The response to Bluey’s Big Play was just phenomenal from the get go. When you see entire families dressed up, including the grandparents, and to be in an auditorium with that many people all sharing in the joy of Bluey, it was very special for them.”
And the love for Bluey didn’t just stop with the fans, with Rose saying there were some unexpected invitations for the team.
“It was a really wild time in New York, we were invited to the United Nations! Can you imagine taking Bluey the puppet to the United Nations?
“The experience really was quite amazing and we were all on such a high.”
Image Credits: Darren Thomas.
Rose said that the UN visit really made the team feel as though they were representing Australia on the global stage, as well as being ambassadors for Australian arts and culture.
“Everyone does feel really proud of the success because it is a uniquely Australian show, and it’s great to show off our puppeteers skill levels.
“But what’s also been fantastic is that Andrew Kay and BBC Studios, the producers of the stage show, really recognise the artistry behind Bluey the animation, and they went to such extreme lengths to make sure that the same artistry was represented in the theatrical show.”
And what of the return to Bluey’s hometown of Brisbane after taking the international stage by storm? What can audiences expect when the show returns to QPAC?
“I know that everyone in Brisbane is incredibly proud of the success of Bluey. One of the exciting things about the return is that the show was created during the COVID lockdowns, and was a great effort to actually get the show onto the stage after theatres had been locked down.”
“One of the results was that we couldn’t have a lot of the audience interactivity that we had hoped for, but a lot of that interaction has now been built into the show including a keepy uppy game!
“And of course the show has been really refined after it has now played to well over a million people.”
Bluey’s Big Play The Stage Show runs exclusively at QPAC’s Playhouse from December 30th 2023 to January 20th 2024.
Tickets go on sale for all performances on Friday 4 August at 9.00am. To book go to qpac.com.au or phone 136 246.
Listen to the full interview with Rose in the audio player at the top of the page.