Winners of the 35th Annual Green Room Awards
Melbourne’s Premier Performing Arts Awards, April 9
The annual Green Room Awards were presented at Melbourne’s iconic Comedy Theatre on April 9th. The Green Room Awards are for everyone who works in the theatre across the disciplines of drama in its spoken word and not-so-spoken forms, opera, dance, music theatre, cabaret and hybrid.
Hosted by MCs Anni Davey & Maude Davey and featuring a dynamic array of performances from YUMMY, the Victorian Opera Youth Chorus Ensemble, and the Chasing Smoke ensemble from BLAKflip (the First Nations program at Circus Oz) this years’ Green Room Awards once again offered the Melbourne arts loving community a superb forum to celebrate their peers, and applaud the outstanding work being created.
Thanks to new sponsor ARUP, the recipient of the Technical Achievement Award, Jethro Woodward, was awarded $10 000 to assist with further professional development and future work. Lifetime Achievement Award winner Sue Giles also received a monetary prize of $5000 towards future endeavours.
The Geoffrey Milne Memorial Award this year was presented to Candy Bowers for her stellar, ongoing work championing diversity and inclusivity in the arts.
Major awards in the dance, cabaret and musical theatre genres were YUMMY (Best Cabaret production), Split by Lucy Guerin Inc (Best Ensemble, Duo or Trio, Best Choreography & Best Concept and realisation) and Aladdin The Musical (Best Music Theatre production).
All awards relevant to the dance, cabaret and music theatre genres are as follows:
CABARET
Artiste: Gillian Cosgriff – 8 Songs in 8 Weeks (Gillian Cosgriff, The Butterfly Club as part of MICF)
Ensemble: YUMMY – Valerie Hex, Karen From Finance, Tanzer, James Andrews, Beni Lola, Hannie Heldsen, Benjamin Hancock and Zelia Rose (YUMMY, Melba Spiegeltent as part of MICF)
Writing: Gillian Cosgriff – 8 Songs in 8 Weeks (Gillian Cosgriff, The Butterfly Club as part of MICF)
Original Songs: Jude Perl – Roommates: The Musical and Let’s Hang Out (Hot Mess Productions, The Butterfly Club, The Coopers Malthouse as part of MICF)
Musical Direction: Mark Jones – Cyrens (Melissa Langton, Amanda Harrison and Chelsea Gibb, Chapel Off Chapel as part of Melbourne Cabaret Festival)
Production: YUMMY (YUMMY, Melba Spiegeltent as part of MICF)
Outstanding Contribution To Cabaret: Ron and Margaret Dobell
DANCE
Female Performer: Lilian Steiner – Body of Work
Male Performer: Kimball Wong – Be Your Self (Australian Dance Theatre)
Ensemble, Duo or Trio: Split (Lucy Guerin Inc)
Visual Design: Fausto Brusamolino, Boris Morris Bagattini, Clare Britton, Victoria Hunt, Annemaree Dalziel and Justine Shih Pearson – TANGI WAI…The Cry of Water (Victoria Hunt)
Music Composition and Sound Design: Senyawa (Rully Shabara and Wukir Suryadi) – Attractor (Dancenorth and Lucy Guerin Inc.)
Shirley McKechnie Award for Choreography: Lucy Guerin – Split (Lucy Guerin Inc)
Concept and Realisation: Split (Lucy Guerin Inc
MUSIC THEATRE
Female Lead: Christie Whelan Browne – Vigil (Arts Centre Melbourne)
Male Lead: Charles Edwards – My Fair Lady (Opera Australia & John Frost)
Female in a Supporting Role: Robyn Nevin – My Fair Lady (Opera Australia & John Frost)
Male in a Supporting Role: Reg Livermore – My Fair Lady (Opera Australia & John Frost)
Lighting Design: Natasha Katz – Aladdin The Musical (Disney Theatrical Productions)
Set Design: Bob Crowley – Aladdin The Musical (Disney Theatrical Productions)
Costume Design: Gregg Barnes – Aladdin The Musical (Disney Theatrical Productions)
Sound Design: Michael Waters – My Fair Lady (Opera Australia & John Frost)
Music Direction/Supervision: Guy Simpson – My Fair Lady (Opera Australia & John Frost)
Betty Pounder Award for Excellence in Choreography: Casey Nicholaw – Aladdin The Musical (Disney Theatrical Productions)
Direction: Gary Young – Hello Dolly! (The Production Company)
Direction: Tyran Parke – Ordinary Days (Pursued by Bear)
Production: Aladdin The Musical (Disney Theatrical Productions)