Following sold-out seasons in London’s West End and the United States, and a record-breaking tour across Australia and New Zealand in 2025, BIG Live’s critically acclaimed Dracula: Ballet at its Darkest will return home for 65 performances across Melbourne and Sydney.
The Australian-born production will play 35 performances at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne, from 10 September to 25 October, alongside two Sydney engagements: eight performances at the State Theatre from 22 to 27 September, followed, due to overwhelming demand, by 22 additional performances at the Capitol Theatre from 7 to 29 November 2026.
The Capitol Theatre extension adds 22 performances to the originally announced eight-show State Theatre engagement, taking Dracula’s Sydney season to 30 performances in total.
It will also return a major production to dates made available after the cancellation of Beetlejuice: The Musical, supporting work for artists, technicians, venue teams and the wider live-performance economy.
The additional Sydney performances have been welcomed by Foundation Theatres, with Chief Executive Graeme Kearns placing the expansion in the context of the wider pressures facing the Australian live performance sector:
“The industry relies on producers with the confidence to invest, adapt and continue bringing ambitious works to our stages. It is particularly significant to see an Australian founded company developing work here, building an international audience for it and then bringing that success home.
Productions of this scale sustain artists, musicians, technicians and theatre workers, while giving audiences compelling reasons to experience great live performances. We are delighted to welcome BIG Live back to the Capitol Theatre with Dracula.”
In Melbourne, the season also marks BIG Live’s return to Her Majesty’s Theatre during the venue’s 140th anniversary year.
Chief Operating Officer, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Quan Tu, said:
“In our 140th year of proudly entertaining Melbourne audiences, Her Majesty’s Theatre is delighted to welcome BIG Live back to our stage with Dracula: Ballet at its Darkest. We are proud to present an Australian-created production that has grown into a genuine international success, performing on major stages across the United Kingdom, the United States, Asia and Australasia.
Its bold storytelling, exceptional artists and impressive theatrical scale make it a particularly exciting production to welcome back to Melbourne.”
For BIG Live, the 65-performance return is part of a wider story of Australian investment and international growth. Founded in Brisbane and operating without government funding, the independent company is on track to sell more than 400,000 tickets across its productions in 2026, with more than 200,000 people expected to see Dracula during its 2026 international tour alone.
Executive Director and Co-founder, BIG Live, Khalid Tarabay, said:
“There’s no question the touring landscape is challenging right now, but there is also real cause for confidence. The response to Dracula – both across Australia and on major international stages – shows that when work genuinely resonates with people, the demand is there.
We are proud to support Australian talent and to prove that Australian-led productions can hold their own anywhere in the world. As an independent company, we have built BIG Live around audience demand, long-term employment and the confidence to move quickly when opportunities arise.”
For Artistic Director and Co-founder Joel Burke, the Australian seasons are also a creative homecoming for a production developed in Brisbane and now established on major international stages:
“Dracula was created in Brisbane with the belief that ballet can deliver the same emotional intensity, scale and excitement as any major theatrical production. We wanted to create something cinematic, immediate and unapologetically theatrical – an experience that could connect with devoted ballet audiences while also bringing people into the theatre who may never previously have considered seeing a ballet.
To see an Australian-created production welcomed by audiences in London, the United States and Asia, and now returning for these major seasons at home, is enormously rewarding.”
BALLET AT ITS DARKEST
Choreographed by BIG Live Artistic Director and Co-founder Joel Burke, Dracula: Ballet at its Darkest is a bold, cinematic re-imagining of Bram Stoker’s gothic classic – a visceral exploration of forbidden love, grief, obsession, immortality and sacrifice.
The production features a powerhouse cast of artists with experience at the Mariinsky Theatre, English National Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, The Australian Ballet, Queensland Ballet and other leading companies.
BIG Live principals Ervin Zagidullin and Abbey Hansen perform as Dracula and Mina Harker, with internationally renowned guest artist Adamzhan Bakhtiyar appearing at selected performances.
Set within a world of gothic grandeur created by award-winning CTS Design, Dracula is driven by a powerful score led by Emmy Award-winning composer Jason Fernandez and featuring masterpieces by Bach, Rachmaninov, Mozart, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns and Debussy.
Dracula’s 2026 international tour has included the London Palladium, Sadler’s Wells, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre and Singapore’s Esplanade Theatre, before returning to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Further international performances are scheduled for Hong Kong and Bangkok in January 2027.
ABOUT BIG LIVE
BIG Live was founded by Joel Burke and Khalid Tarabay with a singular ambition: to make the transformative power of ballet accessible, thrilling and relevant to audiences worldwide. Frustrated by the limited and unstable career pathways available to talented ballet artists, the co-founders created BIG Live as a platform for stable, long-term artistic employment.
Operating entirely without government funding, BIG Live is one of the world’s fastest-growing ballet companies and the fastest-growing and one of the highest-selling ballet companies in the Southern Hemisphere. Its story-led productions combine rigorous classical technique with the pace, theatricality and emotional clarity of contemporary live entertainment.
BIG Live’s repertoire includes Dracula: Ballet at its Darkest, The Great Gatsby, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker and Ballet International Gala – the largest event of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. The company has productions and touring dates in development and secured across Australia, Asia, the United Kingdom, Europe and North America through 2027 and 2028.
BIG Live has also launched BIG Live Screen, a new live-entertainment business supporting musicians and orchestral performance. Its first Australian production, Interstellar Live, will present Christopher Nolan’s complete film with Hans Zimmer’s score performed live by a 65-piece orchestra in March 2027.
Dracula: Ballet at its Darkest is presented by BIG Live runs 10 September – 25 October in Melbourne at Her Majesty’s Theatre. It then runs in Sydney from 22 – 27 September and 7 – 29 November 2026. See full dates below.
Tickets available at the links below.
Website: https://bigliveco.com/performances/dracula/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/bigliveco/
Images supplied.
2026 Australian Tour Dates:
Melbourne 10 September – 25 October, Her Majesty’s Theatre Tickets
Sydney 22 – 27 September, State Theatre Tickets
Sydney 7 – 29 November, Capitol Theatre Tickets
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