Brisbane Artists Nominees for Helpmann Awards.
The 2016 Helpmann Award Nominees were announced on Monday with simultaneous events in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth.
With Tim Minchin’s musical Matilda garnering the most nominations, Queensland has scored a fantastic number of nominations in this year’s Helpmann Awards. Out of the 41 categories, over 20 Queenslanders/Queensland companies were nominated for accolades.
Thuso Lekwape and Pacharo Mzembe were nominated for Best Male Actor in Supporting Role in a Play and Best Male Actor in a Play for La Boite’s Prize Fighter. The show itself is also nominated for Best New Australian Work, along with The Gallipoli Symphony and QTC’s Ladies in Black.
Ladies in Black also garnered nominations for Best Musical, Best Original Score (Tim Finn), Best Music Direction (Isaac Hayward), Best Direction of a Musical (Simon Phillips) and Best Costume Design (Gabriela Tylesova).
The Brisbane Powerhouse’s show Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs was nominated for Best Cabaret, Kate Miller-Heidke was nominated for Best Australian Contemporary Concert with MOFO 2016, Kate Miller-Heidke and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
It was great to see performing arts legend Simon Gallaher being nominated for Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for his role as the wizard in Wicked. It was also thrilling for QLD’s favourite youth theatre company Shake and Stir to be nominated for Best Regional Touring Production and Best Children’s Presentation with their presentation of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts.
Dancenorth earned two nominations for Best Choreography in Dance/Theatre Work (Kyle Page and Amber Hains), Best Female Dance Work (Amber Hains) and Best Ballet or Dance Theatre – all for Spectra. Expressions Dance also received a nomination for Best Male Dance Work (Daryl Brandwood) for The Host .
Brisbane Festival and Circa received nominations for Best Visual or Physical Presentation for Il Ritorno and Renee Flemming in Recital was nominated for Best Individual Classical Performance. Performance.
Brisbane Baroque Festival’s Agrippina garnered a number of nominations including Russell Harcourt and João Fernandes for Best Male in a Supporting Role in an Opera, Keri Fuge for Best Female in a Supporting Role in an Opera, Carlo Vistoli Best Male in an Opera, Ulrike Schneider for Best Female in an Opera, and Laurence Dale for Best Direction of an Opera with an overall nomination for Best Opera.
Best of luck to all nominees. The winners of the 2016 Helpmann Awards being announced on Monday 25 July at the Sydney Lyric Theatre. For more information, see the Helpmann Awards website.
