‘Shane Warne’ the musical awarded

The musical received six awards, including those for best musical.

Sydney: ‘Shane Warne’ the musical has won the Helpmann Award for best new Australian work.Although the production was a big hit at the awards ceremony at the Opera House yesterday, its May run in Sydney had to be closed earlier than expected.

The biggest winners were the 12 million-dollar musical blockbuster ‘Wicked’ and the Sydney Theatre Company`s eight-hour epic ‘The War of the Roses’. Both musicals received six awards, including those for best musical and best play respectively. The director of ‘The War of the Roses’, Benedict Andrews, won the award for best direction of a play, and two of its actors, Ewen Leslie and Marta Dusseldorp, were recognised for their supporting roles. Sydney Theatre Company`s former artistic director Robyn Nevin, upstaged her successor, Cate Blanchett, by winning the award for best female actor as the blood-stained Queen Hecuba in Barrie Kosky`s stark version of Women of Troy. The award for best male actor in a play went to Ben Winspear for his role in ‘Baghdad Wedding’ for Company B. Bille Brown and Sharon Millerchip bagged the awards for best lead actors in a musical for Monty Python`s ‘Spamalot’ and for ‘Chicago’, respectively. Posthumous awards went to the ‘Wicked’ performer, Rob Guest, and the music director of Opera Australia, Richard Hickox. Guest, who died during Wicked`s run, won best supporting male actor in a musical. Hickox won for his music direction in the opera ‘Billy Budd’. ANI