Ballarat wins Musical of the Year.

Ballarat Lyric Theatre has scooped Victoria’s Music Theatre awards for the second time in three years. A production of Les Miserables was lauded at the annual Guild Awards held at the Frankston Entertainment Centre last Saturday … taking five Guild awards including Production of the Year.
It was a night when regional theatres shone and Melbourne’s musical societies were left almost empty handed.
The mighty CLOC music theatre received 14 nominations for its productions of High Society and Miss Saigon, but took home no ‘bricks’
The host of the awards, PLOS, received no nominations and last year’s big winner Whitehorse Music Theatre also missed out on any commendations.
Pictured here is one of the surprise big winners.
The Leongatha Lyric Theatre only had the basic facilities of a school hall but stunned judges with its technical achievements for a production of The Witches of Eastwick. It won four awards in technical, costume, light and design categories.
Stage Whispers hears an outstanding local professional, Colin Mitchell, had some spare time and put it into his local amateur group.
Another impressive result came from a new theatre company the Old Scotch Music and Drama Club. For the second year in a row, the company formed from old boys from an exclusive Melbourne Private school took out the Music Direction prize. We hear the secret was a whopping 48 microphone sound desk, manned by a musician who blended each musician beautifully.
More details and pictures in the January February edition of Stage Whispers.

MUSIC THEATRE GUILD AWARDS 2009.

Production of the Year
Les Miserables, Ballarat Lyric Theatre

Direction
Stephen O’Neil, Les Miserables, Ballarat Lyric Theatre

Musical Direction (Joint Winners)
Ian Govan, Les Miserables, Ballarat Lyric Theatre
Ben Hudson, Jesus Christ Superstar, Old Scotch Music and Drama Club

Choreography
Leasal Liddle-Pirouet, West Side Story, Wonthaggi Theatrical Group

Settings
Colin Mitchell, The Witches of Eastwick, Leongatha Lyric Theatre

Lighting
Mystic Entertainmentz, Les Miserables, Ballarat Lyric Theatre

Wardrobe
Colin Mitchell, The Witches of Eastwick, Leongatha Lyric Theatre

Technical Achievement
The Witches of Eastwick, Leongatha Lyric Theatre

Male Performer in a Leading Role (Joint Winners)
Andy McCalman, Jean Valjean, Les Miserables, Ballarat Lyric Theatre
Shaun Kingma, Javert, Les Miserables, Windmill Theatre Company

Male Performer in a Supporting Role
Shaun Kingma, John Wilkes Booth, Assassins, Williamstown Musical Theatre Company

Female Performer in a Leading Role
Megan Coe, Nellie Forbush, South Pacific, NOVA Music Theatre

Female Performer in a Supporting Role
Annie Johnston, Little Red Ridinghood, Into the Woods, UMMTA (University of Melbourne Music Theatre Association)

Junior Performer in an Open Production
Ashlee Smith, Miss Adelaide, Guys and Dolls, Panorama Theatre Company

Gladys Moncrieff Award for First Performance in a Featured Role (Joint Winners)
Dace Kapsis, Daisy Hilton, Sideshow, Octave Theatre
Mara Kapsis, Violet Hilton, Sideshow, Octave Theatre

Cameo Performance
Alan Edmondson, Bishop of Digne, Les Miserables, Ballarat Lyric Theatre

Design Award
Colin Mitchell, flying scene / welding scene / moon scene, The Witches of Eastwick, Leongatha Lyric Theatre

Concert Performance
Forbidden Broadway Greatest Hits Volume One, SHooSH! Productions

Ensemble Award
The assassins, Assassins, Williamstown Musical Theatre Company