BWW Preview: MUSICAL AWARDS GALA 2017 at Beatrix Theater Utrecht

The new year has just started, which means that it's time for a lot of awards. One of the first awards ceremonies of the year is the Musical Awards Gala, the Dutch equivalent of the Tony Awards. This means we can look forward to a lot of upcoming prizes and special performances but most of all an amazing opportunity to get to know Dutch musical theatre.

One of the most important awards is the audience awards, which is entirely determined by the public. After an initial set of 25 musicals the three final nominees are "The Bodyguard", Disney's "The Lion King" and "Soldaat van Oranje" (Soldier of Orange). Though the Bodyguard and The Lion King are well-known Broadway and West-End musicals, Soldaat van Oranje is the musical crushing all Dutch records. The musical has currently played more than 2000 sold-out shows (never done before in the Netherlands) in more than six years and has had more than 2 million visitors, breaking the old record of the Phantom of the Opera which had 1.8 million visitors. The musical is based on the true story about the Dutch resistance fighter Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema during World War 2. The musical already won four awards during the 2011 ceremony, received a special award in 2013 and won the audience award in 2015 and 2016. The Bodyguard premiered in September 2015 and won last year's award for best large musical and Romy Monteiro, who plays Rachel Marron, won the upcoming talent award. The Lion King premiered last October and is thus eligible for this year's awards. The production has gathered four nominations, including best large musical.

All other awards are determined by a group of judges consisting for example TV presenters, a photographer, a journalist, a director and so on. They determined the nominees for all other awards. The musicals nominated for best musical are "The Lion King", "Ciske de Rat" and "De Gelaarsde Poes" (large musical) and "Chez Brood", "Dansen met de Vijand" and "In de ban van Broadway" (small musical). Original musicals and revivals are not separated for the awards. However, small and large productions are split up into two categories for the prizes for actors and best musical. All nominations are listed below:

Leading actress in a large musical:

• Joanne Telesford (Amandla! Mandela)

• Keja Klaasje Kwestro (De Gelaarsde Poes)

• Vera Mann (Sweeney Todd)

Leading actor in a large musical:

• Alex Klaasen (De Gelaarsde Poes)

• Danny de Munk (Ciske de Rat)

• Jorrit Ruijs (Disney's The Lion King)

Leading actress in a small musical:

• Anne-Mieke Ruyten (Opvliegers)

• Brigitte Heitzer (Nonsens)

• Loes Luca (In de ban van Broadway)

Leading actor in a small musical:

• Paul Groot (Robert Long)

• Stefan Rokebrand (Chez Brood)

• Mike Weerts (Dansen met de vijand)

Supporting actress in a large musical:

• Marjolein Teepen (Sweeney Todd)

• Eva van der Gucht (SKY de Musical)

• Ellen Evers (Ciske de Rat)

Supporting actor in a large musical:

• Freek Bartels (Beauty and the Beast)

• Dick van den Toorn (De Gelaarsde Poes)

• Steve Beirnaert (Disney's The Lion King)

Supporting actress in a small musical:

• Rosa Reuten (Chez Brood)

• Leny Breederveld (In de ban van Broadway)

• Bianca Krijgsman (In de ban van Broadway)

Supporting actor in a small musical:

• Jeremy Baker (Robert Long)

• Owen Schumacher (Chez Brood)

• Tibor Lukács (Chez Brood)

Upcoming talent:

• Valéry van Gorp (Dansen met de vijand)

• Lisse Knaapen (SKY de Musical)

• Jeffrey Italiaander (HAIR)

• Silver Metz (Ciske de Rat)

• Gaia Aikman (Disney's The Lion King)

Best script/lyrics/translation:

• Bart Chabot (Chez Brood)

• Nathan Vecht (In de ban van Broadway)

• Erris van Ginkel (Dansen met de vijand)

• Alex Klaasen (De Gelaarsde Poes)

• Don Duyns (De Gelaarsde Poes)

Best music/arrangements

• Ad Van Dijk (Robert Long)

• Jeroen Sleyfer (Chez Brood)

• Fons Merkies (Vals - Thrillermusical)

• Jeroen Sleyfer (Ciske de Rat)

• Marco Braam (Sweeney Todd)

Best director/choreographer

• Victor Löw (Chez Brood)

• Pieter Kramer (De Gelaarsde Poes)

• Daan Wijnands (De Gelaarsde Poes)

• Paul Eenens (Ciske de Rat)

• Keone en Mariel Madrid (SKY de Musical)

Best design:

• Ascon de Nijs (Chez Brood)

• Thomas Rupert (In de ban van Broadway)

• Marc Heinz en Stefan Dijkman (In de ban van Broadway)

• Niek Kortekaas (De Gelaarsde Poes)

• Sabine Snijders (De Gelaarsde Poes)

Best large musical:

• De Gelaarsde Poes - RO Theater

• Ciske de Rat - Stage Entertainment Nederland

• Disney's The Lion King - Stage Entertainment Nederland

Best small musical:

• Chez Brood - Bos Theaterproducties

• Dansen met de vijand - Stichting Janke Dekker Producties

• In de ban van Broadway - DeLaMar Theater

The awards ceremony will take place on Thursday January 12 at 9.25 pm (CET) and will air live on Dutch national television (NPO1). Until that time, enjoy the opening performance of last year's ceremony:

For more information about the awards, visit http://www.musicalawards.nl (website in Dutch).

Photo credit: AVROTROS/Mischa Schoemaker

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