‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and ‘Melk’ are the big winners of the Musical Awards, which were presented on Wednesday evening in the AFAS Theater Leusden. The productions each won five awards, including best major musical and best small musical respectively. The musical prizes were awarded for the 22nd time on Wednesday.
Jesus Christ Superstar was the biggest contender of the evening with fourteen nominations, sometimes several in one category, and managed to cash in on five nominations. The musical won in the categories best major musical, best male lead in a major musical (Lucas Hamming) and best direction (Ivo van Hove). On stage, musical producer Albert Verlinde ‘bows deeply’ to the cast of his musical Jesus Christ Superstar.
Milk cashed in on five of the nine nominations, which, like Jesus Christ Superstar, sometimes included multiple nominations in one category, in total. The production received the prize for best small musical, best original Dutch musical and best script. Mamma Mia! managed to win two of the eleven nominations, namely in the categories of best female lead in a major musical (Brigitte Heitzer) and best ensemble.
Anouk Beugels, director of Milk, didn’t see the win coming at all. “Also because Melk had already stopped, so it was already a bit out of my system,” she said after receiving the award.
Best Leading Small Musical
The prizes for best leading roles in a small musical went to Suzan Seegers (Piaf) and Laus Steenbeeke (The Mole and the Bird of Paradise). Lottie Hellingman won the award for best supporting actress for her contribution in The landlady. Edwin Jonker won this prize among the men for his role in Jesus Christ Superstar. “I worked very hard for it and I’m having a great time,” he says after receiving the award. Edwin even calls the prize ‘the crowning glory’. The prize for emerging talent went to Lisa Schol for her role in Milk.
Furthermore won Boni In the categories of best choreography and best costumes, the prize for best set went to The trip! and won the prizes for best lighting and sound design Jesus Christ Superstar. The award for best music went to Milkwhich also won in the best music and lyrics category. The man from La Mancha won in the best translation category.
A professional jury consisting of Hilde Scholten, Jamai Loman, Henriëtte Tol, Maurice Luttikhuis, Joy Kreiken, Arno Gelder and Dianne Zuidema determined the nominations. The trip was voted best musical by the public, the audience award for best family musical went to The three piglets.
