Celebrating Australia’s massive performance industry, the Helpmann Awards have unveiled a star-studded list of 2017 nominees, led by Book Of Mormon’s Melbourne stint, which picked up eight nominations.
The global success from the South Park masterminds – which is showing at Princess Theatre until September - has scored nominations for Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Female & Best Male Actor In A Musical and more, while a smorgasbord of homegrown talent gets some well earned praised alongside international superstars.
After scoring a prestigious book award last month his Working Class Boy memoir, Aussie icon Jimmy Barnes has picked up a nomination in the Best Cabaret category for its supporting stage show.
Over on the comedy front, Hannah Gadsby, Tom Ballard, Nazeem Hussain, Aunty Donna, Joel Creasey and Sammy J have been nominated, with Gadsby and Ballard picking up coveted titles at the recent Melbourne and Sydney comedy festivals.
Best Australian Contemporary Concert will see Missy Higgins, Flume, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier with QPAC go head-to-head, while international heavyweights Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Adele, Patti Smith and PJ Harvey receive nods in the Best International Contemporary Concert category.
Always a heated debate, Best Contemporary Music Festival will boil down to Laneway, Bluesfest, MONA FOMA and WOMAdelaide, all of which had massive 2017 events.
Paul Kelly and Camille O'Sullivan will fight Book Of Mormon for Best Original Score with their acclaimed Ancient Rain stage show.
“This year has been a remarkable year for live performances in Australia reflecting a vibrant industry with more than 18 million people attending shows across the country and ticket revenues of $1.4 billion,” LPA Chief Executive Evelyn Richardson said.
The 2017 winners will be unveiled at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre on 24 July on the set of Kinky Boots.
Check out the Helpmann Awards’ website for the full list of nominees.
Comments