Green Room Awards round-up
Best male performer in a musical meanwhile went to Charles Edwards for his role in My Fair Lady. The Opera Australia/John Frost co-production also received accolades for supporting female (Robyn Nevin) and male (Reg Livermore), as well as sound design, music direction and music direction.
But it was the Disney import Aladdin that won best musical, on top of a number of production awards including for lighting, set and costume design, and the Betty Pounder Award for Excellence in Choreography (Casey Nicholaw).
A visual treasure: Ainsley Melham in Disney's Aladdin.
Photo: Deen van Meer
Opera Australia won every single award in its category, leaving Victorian Opera and Melbourne Opera empty handed. King Roger was the main attraction, including for best female lead (Lorina Gore) and best male lead (Michael Honeyman).
In the dance and independent sectors there were clear standout ensembles.
Melbourne dance company Lucy Guerin Inc continued its stellar run after also cleaning up at the Helpmanns in July and having works picked up by major interstate festivals.
Melbourne-based choreographer Lucy Guerin.
Photo: Eddie Jim
Guerin won the Shirley McKechnie Award for Choreography, and an award for concept and realisation for Split, starring Lilian Steiner and Melanie Lane, who also won for best ensemble performance. Steiner won best female dancer for her overall body of work. Kimball Wong won best male dancer for Australian Dance Theatres Be Your Self.
Indonesian duo Senyawa took home best music composition and sound design for Attractor, a collaborative dance work by Lucy Guerin Inc and Dancenorth. Attractor previously won Helpmann awards for best dance production and best choreography.
Little Ones Theatre made waves in the independent theatre category. Dan Giovannonis adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas book of short stories, Merciless Gods, won awards for best writing and for best performer (Jennifer Vuletic). The company also won gongs for set and costume design for The Happy Prince, and for direction (Stephen Nicolazzo) for the same play.
Rawcus/Theatre Works Song For a Weary Throat picked up three awards, including best production, best ensemble and best music composition/sound design.
In the major theatre companies section, Kate Mulvany was awarded best female performer for her critically acclaimed performance in the title role of Bell Shakespeares Richard III while Paul Blackwell won in the male category for Faith Healer (Melbourne Theatre Company/Belvoir). Tasmania Performs took home three awards for its comedy-drama The Season, which appeared at Melbourne Festival, including best new writing, best direction, and best production.
A lifetime achievement award was presented to theatremaker Sue Giles.
For the full list of winners go to greenroom.org.au.
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Hannah Francis is Arts Editor at The Age.
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