2017 Sydney Theatre Awards Nominees

Muriel’s Wedding Musical Dominates Nominees for 2017 Sydney Theatre Awards

Gala Ceremony | Monday 22 January

Celebrating the year in theatre on stage in Sydney has seen nominations in 35 categories spread across 51 productions during 2017 – with musicals once again featuring heavily and holding Sydney-siders affections – with Andrew Hallsworth and Cameron Mitchell both receiving double-nods for the category of Best Choreography.
Leading the list with a record 12 nominations is Muriel’s Wedding, produced by the Sydney Theatre Company and Global Creatures, followed by Sydney Theatre Company’s Cloud Nine and Only Heaven Knows from Luckiest Productions and Hayes Theatre Co, both on nine nominations. Calamity Jane, produced by One Eyed ManProductions in association with Neglected Musicals and Hayes Theatre Co, was awarded eight nominations, while both The Trouble With Harry from Siren Theatre Co and Seymour Centre, and Assassins from Hayes Theatre Co received seven nominations. Red Line Productions’ A View From The Bridge received six nominations.
The Sydney Theatre Awards are presented annually by a group of leading theatre critics to celebrate the strength, quality and diversity of theatre in Sydney. The Sydney Theatre Reviewers consist of Elissa Blake (Audrey Journal, formerly Fairfax), Jason Blake (Audrey Journal, formerly Sydney Morning Herald), Dee Jefferson (ABC, formerly Time Out), Deborah Jones (The Australian), Jo Litson (The Sunday Telegraph, Limelight), John McCallum (The Australian), Ben Neutze (Time Out, formerly Daily Review), Diana Simmonds (Stagenoise), Cassie Tongue (Time Out, The Guardian) and Suzy Wrong (Suzy Goes See).
The reviewers all felt 2017 was a very strong year for Sydney theatre. Elissa Blake said, “For me, this year was about the rise of the independent theatre scene. The difference in quality and ambition between the funded and unfunded theatre companies in Sydney has shrunk to the point where it is becoming minimal. Our best artists and our emerging artists are now working in both spaces, smashing the gender roles, telling all kinds of new Australian stories, cracking open audiences’ hearts and minds.”
“It is encouraging to note the number of women coming to the fore following a push to raise awareness of the lack of gender equity in Australian theatre. This year, three of the four nominations for both Best Direction of a Mainstage Production and Best Direction of an Independent Production have gone to women. Clearly there is more to be achieved in terms of gender parity, and a lot more to de done in terms of ethnic diversity in our theatre, though improvements are slowly being made,” Jo Litson said.

The nominations relevant to Musical Theatre productions in 2017 are:

BEST PRODUCTION OF A MAINSTREAM MUSICAL
Beautiful (Michael Cassel, Paul Blake, Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Mike Bosner)
Kinky Boots (Michael Cassel by arrangement with Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig)
Ladies in Black (Queensland Theatre, Sydney Festival and Sydney Lyric)
Muriel’s Wedding (Sydney Theatre Company and Global Creatures)
BEST PRODUCTION OF AN INDEPENDENT MUSICAL
Assassins (Hayes Theatre Co)
Calamity Jane (One Eyed Man Productions in association with Neglected Musicals and Hayes Theatre Co)
Only Heaven Knows (Luckiest Productions in association with Hayes Theatre Co)
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Dean Bryant (Assassins)
Richard Carroll (Calamity Jane)
Simon Phillips (Muriel’s Wedding)
Shaun Rennie (Only Heaven Knows)

2017 Sydney Theatre Awards
Monday 22 January, 6pm
Everest Theatre
Seymour Centre

For full list of nominations visit www.sydneytheatreawards.com