THE first British staging of Strictly Ballroom The Musical will be premiered at the West Yorkshire Playhouse from November 30 to January 21 next year.

Based on the Australian musical created by Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin from Luhrmann's award-winning 1992 film, this new production in Leeds will be directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie, while Terry Johnson joins the creative team to adapt the original book.

The show presents the inspiring story of a championship ballroom dancer who defies all the rules to follow his heart, played out to such numbers as Love Is In The Air, Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps and Time After Time, alongside new songs by Sia, David Foster and Eddie Perfect.

Strictly Ballroom The Musical is co-produced by West Yorkshire Playhouse and Global Creatures, the producers behind Walking With Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular, How To Train Your Dragon and King Kong.

It follows in the footsteps of this winter's musical in the Playhouse's Quarry Theatre: artistic director James Brining's co-production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which is now on a year-long tour of Britain and Ireland.

"'We're delighted to be collaborating with international producers Global Creatures to create the next incarnation of Strictly Ballroom The Musical," said James Brining. "I have loved the film since I first saw it and I’m thrilled that we'll be working with a world-class creative team here in Leeds and creating the first UK staging of this musical for our 2016 Christmas show."

Looking ahead to the new show, Baz Luhrmann said: "'One of the great joys for us was to take a story that began as a play when I was at drama school and return to our homeland in Australia to birth the musical stage version with all our original collaborators. Now that it’s been born, Strictly Ballroom must go on.

"It’s wonderful that one of the new bright lights of the English theatre, Drew McOnie, who himself was fan of the film at a young age, is taking the show to realise it in a new way, for new audiences, and oversee its continued growth.'

York Press:

Drew McOnie

McOnie enthused: "The film Strictly Ballroom has had such a huge impact on me. It inspired me as an eight-year-old dancer to follow my choreographic instinct and gave me the desire to explore the many different ways of communicating ideas through dance.

"The opportunity to bring that passion and personal connection to the next stage of Strictly Ballroom's journey means the world to me and having Baz Luhrmann's support is a dream come true."

Carmen Pavlovic, chief executive officer of Global Creatures, said: "'Baz Lurhmann’s Strictly Ballroom is such an important touchstone for so many of us and creating the new musical with Baz and Catherine Martin in Sydney was a joy.

"Now I am so excited that Strictly Ballroom The Musical will make its debut in England in partnership with the creative might of West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds and helmed by Drew McOnie.

"Baz and I were thrilled to discover the dazzling Drew McOnie, who is a brilliant talent and I believe the perfect person to continue building on Baz and Catherine’s vision and remarkable achievement."

Strictly Ballroom The Musical received its world premiere at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in April 2014, followed by seasons in Melbourne and Brisbane last year.

The uplifting and courageous tale originated as a stage play devised by Luhrmann with a group of students at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney in 1984. Eight years later, his film version caught the eye at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Prix de Jeunnesse and was runner-up for the Palme D’Or. Three BAFTA awards followed in 1993 en route to Strictly Ballroom taking more than $80 million at the box office.

"From a small student play to my first motion picture and now a theatrical stage musical, Strictly Ballroom has been an almost 30-year journey for me," said Luhrmann. "I've often marvelled at how this story, born so long ago, has been in my life for so many years and has managed to touch, move, entertain and uplift so many different people from so many different backgrounds.

"I think the simple truth is that, despite all the sequins, outrageous hairdos and classic Hollywood musical plotting, the simple message that ‘there isn’t only one way to cha cha cha’ and that ‘within us all we have the true potential to dance through life with our own steps’, is something that appeals to all of us. The message that life doesn’t have to be strictly ballroom is something I hope our audiences will carry with them as they dance down the aisles."

Drew McOnie's theatre credits include Bugsy Malone at the Lyric, Hammersmith, national tours of Oklahoma! and Hairspray and The Sound Of Music and Chicago at Curve in Leicester. His new dance thriller production of Jekyll And Hyde will be premiered at the Old Vic, London, in May.

Further details of the Playhouse production, including casting, will follow. Tickets have gone on sale on 0113 213 7700 or at wyp.org.uk