Poppins dominates Green Room Awards

Recipients for the 2010 Green Room Awards were presented last night The Famous Spiegeltent at the Arts Centre, Melbourne. 

Recipients for the 2010 Green Room Awards were presented last night The Famous Spiegeltent at the Arts Centre, Melbourne. 

The Green Room Awards, in their 28th year, are the awards for excellence on the Melbourne professional stage.  All productions having their première in Melbourne in the calendar year are eligible. 

The hit musical Mary Poppins scooped the Musical Theatre awards, collecting nine awards out of twelve in its category, including Direction and Choreography. Verity Hunt-Ballard, who plays Mary Poppins, was the recipient of the Green Room Award for Female Artist – Leading Role for her star turn in the production.

Another strong performer on the night was the feisty cabaret production Yana Alana and the Paranas in Concert, which won six of the eight Cabaret awards.

Collaboration was often the key to success in the theatre awards, with the productions Moth (jointly staged by the Malthouse Theatre Company and Arena Theatre Company) and Thyestes (a collaboration between the Malthouse and independent company The Hayloft Project) extremely successful in the Theatre – Companies category. Conversely, the Melbourne Theatre Company demonstrated that a clear vision from a single production house could also lead to success, with the MTC’s production of Richard III picking up the awards for Male Actor, Female Actor and Direction in the same category.

The independent and hybrid theatre sectors remained as strong as ever, showcasing the range of small companies and venues operating in Melbourne.  Opera Australia dominated the Opera awards, and NSW-based companies Bangarra Dance Theatre and the Sydney Dance Company performed well in the Dance category, though Chunky Move also had a strong showing.

The Lifetime Achievement Award – made to a person who has enriched the performing arts in Melbourne through long service, and whose achievements have had a lasting impact on a younger generation of practitioners – was presented to Carillo Gantner AO.

“2010 was a year in which creativity continued to flourish on Melbourne’s stages, from exciting new works like playwright Declan Greene’s powerful and confronting Moth to the passionate new choreography of Stephanie Lake,” said the Green Room Awards Association’s President, Richard Watts.

“Melburnians should be rightly proud of the depth of talent this city has to offer; talent which the Green Room Awards celebrate and recognize.”