Sydney Festival has announced the comedy-musical Bananaland will play at Parramatta Riverside Theatres from 3 January.

Featuring a score by Kate Miller-Heidke and her collaborator-partner Keir Nuttall, direction by Simon Phillips (Muriel’s Wedding, Priscilla Queen of the Desert) and music theatre star Max McKenna (Muriel’s Wedding The Musical), this story of a punk rock protest band finding fame as a Wiggles-style act for under-fives recently premiered in the Brisbane Festival.

Max McKenna in Bananaland. Photo © Darren Thomas

Limelight reviewer Elise Lawrence wrote: “Bananaland celebrates the power of live performance and the unpredictable roller-coaster of being a working artist. It also has some thoughtful things to say about how we approach fear, chase our dreams, and set out to change the world … This is a bright and brilliant new Australian musical, bursting with colour and passion in both its message and delivery.”

For more information and tickets, visit the Sydney Festival website.