In its 34th year of acknowledging excellence in the performing arts on the Melbourne stage during 2016, the Green Room Awards Association have announced the recipients of more than 60 awards at a star-studded ceremony at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre on Monday 27 March 2017.
Hosted by Patron, Julia Zemiro, the awards ceremony featured live performances by Otto & Astrid of Die Roten Punkte, Victorian Opera Youth Chorus Ensemble and Yumi Umiumare for her contribution to (Contemporary and Experimental Performance) to the Melbourne live performance scene.
Matilda The Musical continued its winning streak collecting 8 awards including best Direction (for Matthew Warchus), best Production, and the Betty Pounder Award for Excellence in Choreography; Opera Australia’s The Ring Cycle collected 6 awards including best Production, and best Direction for Neil Armfield; while MTC’s Miss Julie collected 3 awards including best Production, and Direction for Kip Williams.
Sisters Grimm’s (Ash Flanders and Declan Greene) co-production with Melbourne Theatre Company, Lilith: The Jungle Girl resulted in 3 awards in the theatre category including best Ensemble, New Writing/Adaptation for the Australian Stage, and best Set and Costume Design (for Marg Howell).
Flanders picked up 2 individual awards (Artiste and Writing) for Playing to Win, while Punctum’s COMPLETE SMUT Art Auction collected 2 awards including best Contemporary and Experimental Production, and Innovation in Participatory Performance.
Callum Francis took out best Male Lead for his portrayal of Lola in Kinky Boots, while Caroline O’Connor collected best Female Lead as Fanny Brice in The Production Company’s Funny Girl. In dance, best Ensemble Performance was shared by Sydney Dance Company (CounterMove) and Dancenorth (If_Was_), while Lilian Steiner picked up best Female Performer, and Benjamin Hancock, best Male Performer, for The Dark Chorus.
In addition to the 63 category awards presented, three special awards recognised the exceptional contributions of Jenny Hector (Technical Achievement Award), Richard Murphet (Lifetime Achievement Award), and Yumi Umiumare (2017 Geoffrey Milne Memorial Award.
For more information, visit: www.greenroom.org.au for details.
Image: Matilda the Musical (Melbourne 2016) – photo by James Morgan
Congratulations to the following Green Room Awards Winners:
CABARET:
Artiste
Ash Flanders – Playing to Win
Ensemble
Occasional Suburban Witch – Benn Bennett, Sarah Ward and Bec Matthews
Design
Paul Lim (Lighting); Lisa Fa’alafi (Costumes); Tristan Shelley (Set Design); Libby Harward (Grafiti Art) – Hot Brown Honey
Writing
Ash Flanders – Playing to Win
Original Songs
Jude Perl – Part of This Complete Breakfast
Musical Direction
Bec Matthews – Yana Alana Covered
Innovative Use of Form
Grumble: Sex Clown Saves the World
Production
Hot Brown Honey
Outstanding Contribution to Cabaret
Mark Jones
CONTEMPORARY AND EXPERIMENTAL PERFORMANCE:
Performer
David Woods – The Chat
Sound Performance
Crush – Dylan Sheridan and Sam Routledge
Design
Howl – Aphids
Tremor – Ashley Dyer
Curatorial Contribution
2016 Program – The Substation
Innovation in Contemporary Circus
Sediment – Company 2
Innovation in Participatory Performance
COMPLETE SMUT Art Auction – Punctum
Innovation in Experiential Performance
Imagined Touch – Jodee Mundy Collaborations
Production
COMPLETE SMUT Art Auction – Punctum
DANCE:
Female Performer
Lilian Steiner – The Dark Chorus
Male Performer
Benjamin Hancock – The Dark Chorus
Ensemble Performance
CounterMove – Sydney Dance Company
If_Was_ – Dancenorth
Visual Design
Ben Cobham for Bluebottle (Set and Lighting Design) and James Sandri and Pete Brundle for PDA (Video System Design) – Lucid (Chunky Move)
Music Composition and Sound Design
Duane Morrison – Mermermer (Jo Lloyd and Nicola Gunn for Next Move 9 presented by Chunky Move)
Outstanding Work by an Emerging Artist/Choreographer
Thomas ES Kelly
Concept and Realisation
Lucid (Chunky Move)
INDEPENDENT THEATRE:
Performer (2 awarded)
Zoë Coombs Marr – Trigger Warning (Zoë Coombs Marr)
Jane Montgomery-Griffiths – Wit (The Artisan Collective)
Ensemble
Animal (inFlux in association with Theatre Works)
Lighting Design
Andy Turner – Animal
Set and Costume Design
Romanie Harper (AV, Set & Costume) – Conviction
Music Composition and Sound Design
Kelly Ryall (Sound Design) – Animal
Writing
Zoë Coombs Marr – Trigger Warning
Direction
Susie Dee – Animal
Production
Blood on the Dance Floor (ILBIJERRI Theatre Company and Jacob Boehme )
MUSIC THEATRE:
Female Lead
Caroline O’Connor – Funny Girl
Male Lead
Callum Francis – Kinky Boots
Female in a Supporting Role
Naomi Price – Ladies in Black
Male in a Supporting Role
Jack Chambers – Singin’ in the Rain
Lighting Design
Hugh Vanstone – Matilda the Musical
Set Design
Rob Howell – Matilda the Musical
Costume Design
Rob Howell – Matilda the Musical
Sound Design
Simon Baker – Matilda the Musical
Music Direction/Supervision
Stephen Amos – Matilda the Musical
Betty Pounder Award for Excellence in Choreography
Peter Darling – Matilda the Musical
Direction
Matthew Warchus – Matilda the Musical
Production
Matilda the Musical
OPERA:
Female Lead
Lise Lindstrom (Brünnhilde) – The Ring Cycle (Opera Australia)
Male Lead
James Johnson (Wotan/The Wanderer) – The Ring Cycle (Opera Australia)
Female in a Supporting Role
Eva Kong (Laura) – Luisa Miller (Opera Australia)
Male in a Supporting Role
Graeme Macfarlane (Mime) – The Ring Cycle (Opera Australia)
Conductor
Pietari Inkinen – The Ring Cycle (Opera Australia)
Design
Robert Kemp (Set) and Matt Scott (Lighting) – The Pearl Fishers (Opera Australia)
Direction
Neil Armfield – The Ring Cycle (Opera Australia)
Production
The Ring Cycle (Opera Australia)
THEATRE COMPANIES:
Female Performer
Rose Riley – The Glass Menagerie (Belvoir and Malthouse Theatre)
Male Performer
Rory Kelly – Trevor (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre)
Ensemble
Lilith: The Jungle Girl (Melbourne Theatre Company and Sisters Grimm)
Lighting Design
Mark Howitt – The Secret River (Sydney Theatre Company)
Set and Costume Design
Marg Horwell (Set & Costume Design) – Lilith: The Jungle Girl (Melbourne Theatre Company and Sisters Grimm)
Music Composition and Sound Design
David Franzke (Sound Design) and Ash Gibson Greig (Composition) – Picnic at Hanging Rock (Malthouse Theatre)
Digital Media Design and Integration
Miss Julie (Melbourne Theatre Company)
New Writing/Adaptation for the Australian Stage
Declan Greene and Ash Flanders – Lilith: The Jungle Girl (Melbourne Theatre Company and Sisters Grimm)
Direction
Kip Williams – Miss Julie (Melbourne Theatre Company)
Production
Miss Julie (Melbourne Theatre Company)
ASSOCIATION AWARDS:
Technical Achievement Award
Jenny Hector
Lifetime Achievement Award
Richard Murphet
2017 Geoffrey Milne Memorial Award
Yumi Umiumare