Helpmann Award
Encyclopedia
The Helpmann Awards recognize distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in Australia's live performing arts sectors. The recognized disciplines include musical and physical theatre, contemporary and classical music, opera, and dance, with a comedy category introduced in 2006. The Helpmann Awards also incorporates the JC Williamson award (formerly the James Cassius Award) for outstanding contribution to the Australian entertainment industry.

The award, named after Sir Robert Helpmann
Robert Helpmann
Sir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer.-Early years:He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia and also boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. From childhood, Helpman had a strong desire to be a dancer...

, was established by the Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). It is similar to Broadway's Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

s and London's Laurence Olivier Awards
Laurence Olivier Awards
The Laurence Olivier Award is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre. Named after the renowned British actor Laurence Olivier, they are given for West End shows and other productions staged in London...

. The awards inaugurated in 2001 and are presented annually in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 Australia.

The official website lists the objectives of the awards 'to nationally and internationally serve and promote Australian live performing arts industry by recognising distinguished artistic achievement and excellence, ensuring the Awards are administered and made with integrity, ensuring the Awards are celebrated by the industry and the Australian community; and ensuring the Awards are the most prestigious awards in the industry and the highlight of each Season'.

The full name of the Awards is the Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia. The trophy was designed by silversmith
Silversmith
A silversmith is a craftsperson who makes objects from silver or gold. The terms 'silversmith' and 'goldsmith' are not synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product varies greatly as does the scale of objects created.Silversmithing is the...

 Hendrik Forster.

The Helpmann Awards were hosted by Simon Burke
Simon Burke
Simon Burke is an Australian actor. Burke began his acting career as a 13 year-old in the Australian film, The Devil's Playground for which he was awarded Best Actor at the 1976 Australian Film Institute Awards....

 from 2001-2006.

Since 2010, the awards have been broadcast live on arts channel STVDIO
STVDIO (TV Channel)
STVDIO is a subscription television arts channels available in Australia on the FOXTEL and AUSTAR platforms. that airs in Australia. The channel launched in April 2010, and is owned and operated by SBS Subscription TV, a subsidiary of free-to-air broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service.STVDIO is...

.

2006 Awards

For the first time, in 2006, the awards were telecast live to viewers around Australia, via FOX8
FOX8
Fox8 is an Australian cable and satellite channel available on Foxtel, Austar and Optus Television's subscription platforms...

.

In a landslide victory, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a one act musical comedy conceived by Rebecca Feldman with music and lyrics by William Finn, a book by Rachel Sheinkin and additional material by Jay Reiss. The show centers on a fictional spelling bee set in a geographically ambiguous Putnam Valley...

won the most coveted award of the night, up against Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...

and Dusty - The Original Pop Diva
Dusty - The Original Pop Diva
Dusty - The Original Pop Diva is an Australian jukebox musical based on the life of Dusty Springfield. The book of the musical was written by John-Michael Howson, David Mitchell and Melvyn Morrow...

. Tamsan Caroll won the Best Female Actor in a Musical for her portrayal of legend Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...

, and David Campbell won Best Male Actor in a Musical for his role in Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (musical)
Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the...

. Of the seven musical awards presented, Dusty won only two, while the big winner was The 25th Annual ... with five wins.

2011 Awards

The 2011 Helpmann Awards were held at the Sydney Opera House on Monday 1 August. Hosted by Jonathan Biggins.

External links

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