Jersey Boys top nominees
The Age
Wednesday February 17, 2010
THE musical Jersey Boys has scored 10 nominations in this year's Green Room Awards, with the winners to be announced on March 15 at the Arts Centre. The two leads, Bobby Fox as Frankie Valli and Scott Johnson as Tommy De Vito, are competing for best male artist.Other shows that scored well are the Melbourne Theatre Company productions, August: Osage County (nine) and When the Rain Stops Falling (eight), as well as the Malthouse Theatre's Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd (eight).As expected, Jane Menelaus and Robyn Nevin from Osage County are competing for best female performer, while Dan Spielman and Robert Menzies from the Malthouse's Knives in Hens have both been nominated for best male performer.A surprise in the awards is Simon Stone's independent Hayloft Project, which has eight nominations in the major companies category that include the MTC and Malthouse. Hayloft's tiny 3xSisters is a candidate for best production while Stone has received a nomination for best director for B.C.. He is up against rivals such as the MTC's Simon Phillips for August: Osage County, Chris Drummond for Rain, Geordie Brookman for Knives and Chris Kohn for Mudd.The Malthouse scored most nominations with 29, boosted by its hosting dance works such as Chunky Move's Mortal Engine and Splintergroup's Lawn.The MTC has a total of 21 nominations while Opera Australia has 23. The much smaller Victorian Opera scored 17. Both Opera Australia's A Streetcar Named Desire and Victorian Opera's Rembrandt's Wife have nine nominations.The lifetime achievement award winner is the contralto Lauris Elms, regarded as one of Australia's most important operatic artists of the past 50 years. The Arts Centre will present an exhibition about her from March 11 to June 13. The Australian Ballet leads the dance nominations with 12.
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