Arts Centre Melbourne’s beloved annual daytime performance programme, Morning Melodies, is set to return in 2024.
The 2024 line-up features Lucy Durack, Rohan Browne, The Australian Ballet School, Orchestra Victoria, and more, between February and December. Hamer Hall will showcase established stars and emerging talents across jazz, ballet, musical theatre, orchestral performance, and variety spectaculars.
Morning Melodies began in 1985, as film screenings in Arts Centre Melbourne’s Playhouse Theatre. Performer Betty Pounder and producer Sandy Graham had wanted to make good use of an otherwise empty theatre on a Monday morning.
Leading lady of the stage Lucy Durack kicks the year off. She’s the voice behind Glinda The Good Witch in the original Australian production of ‘Wicked’, as well as Elle Woods in ‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’. She’ll be lending her voice to both theatre and jazz classics. . . Including ‘Popular’ and ‘For Good’ (‘Wicked’), ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ (‘Carousel’), and more.
Jazz band The Syncopators are up next, celebrating their 40th anniversary. The group will be joined by vocalist Fem Belling.
Multi award-winning vocalist Nina Ferro will be accompanied by her eight-piece band to breathe new life into the voices defining the 20th century. . . From Tina Turner to Helen Reddy, Madonna to Bille Holiday.
Image © Jason Heller
From breathtaking contemporary, to the beautifully traditional, The Australian Ballet School makes their return to Morning Melodies with ‘En Pointe’, a celebration of the art of ballet.
Next up is Victorian College Of The Arts celebrating the best of Broadway’s songbook, in a programme specifically created for Morning Melodies. It’s an opportunity to see a 30-strong ensemble perform great love songs, ambitious ballads, and astounding choruses.
Audiences can next enjoy a highly interactive performance, in ‘Bring It Home’, with Karen Davitt and her band All Day Fritz. It features original tunes, old favourites, and a line-up of special guests including Brian Nankervis, Patrick Cronin, Rebecca Barnard, Wilbur Wilde, Alison Ferrier and more.
Then, fresh from his role as Lumiere in the stage production of ‘Beauty And The Beast’, Rohan Browne returns for a retrospective performance of the great big sounds of our time, including ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’, ‘Night & Day’, ‘Unchain My Heart’, ‘It’s Not Unusual’ and more.
Just in time for the holiday season, the cherished staple ‘Christmas Melodies’ will make its return as well.
“Morning Melodies is Melbourne’s annual quintessential live performance experience. Each performance in this year’s programme is a distinctive and exciting showcase of the breadth of talent so deserving of a stage,” Arts Centre Melbourne CEO Karen Quinlan AM says.
Tickets are on sale 7 December.
Arts Centre Melbourne Morning Melodies 2024 Programme
Monday 12 February
Lucy Durack
Monday 4 March
The Syncopators
Monday 15 April
Nina Ferro
Tuesday 28 May
En Pointe – The Australian Ballet School
Monday 17 June
Orchestra Victoria with Andrea Lam
Monday 19 August
Victorian College of the Arts
Music Theatre Showcase
Monday 21 October
Bring It Home
Monday 18 November
Rohan Browne
Monday 9 December
Christmas Melodies
