2015 Rob Guest Endowment Finalists Revealed

The six finalists for the 2015 Rob Guest Endowment, an award recognising an exceptional, emerging musical theatre performer, have been announced. They are Blake Appelqvist (West Side Story, new VCA Graduate), Daniel Assetta (Cats, Wicked), Hilary Cole (Carrie, Dogfight), Georgina Hopson (Into The Woods, The Pirates of Penzance), Rob McDougall (Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera) and Ashleigh Rubenach (Anything Goes, The Sound of Music).

Now in its 7th year, the Rob Guest Endowment Award is presented annually to an emerging musical theatre performer selected by a panel of industry experts. It seeks out Australia's brightest and most talented young rising stars by putting them through a gruelling audition process. Six finalists will showcase their talent at the Rob Guest Endowment Concert on Monday 9 November at the Sydney Lyric Theatre, and the winner will take home the highly coveted Rob Guest Endowment Award of $20,000 and a headshot package provided by Blueprint Studios. This year also sees the return of Melbourne's East End Theatre District Artist Development Award, a $5,000 prize and the Playbill Future Prospect Award, a cash prize of $1,500. The four remaining finalists will each take home $1,500.

The Rob Guest Endowment Technical Award in Honour of Sue Nattrass and The Rob Guest Endowment Musician Award will again be presented in 2015. Each of these awards, fully funded by the Capitol Theatre and Sydney Lyric, include a $10,000 cash prize intended to help the recipients become leaders in their field. The winners will be announced at the 2015 concert.

Past winners and finalists of the Rob Guest Endowment Award are performing in lead roles in musical theatre around Australia, including Kirby Burgess (Dirty Dancing), Angelique Cassimatis (The Rocky Horror Show), Andrew Cook (Matilda), Samantha Leigh Dodemaide (Anything Goes), Euan Doidge (Les Miserables), Edward Grey (Wicked) and Joshua Robson (Les Miserables).

The Rob Guest Endowment is proudly supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.

Tickets for this year's Gala Concert go on sale on 21 September via Ticketmaster.