Australian production company Global Creatures has scored a record-breaking number of Tony Award nominations after the stage adaptation of Moulin Rouge picked up 14 nods overnight.
This is the most nominations an Australian production company has received in the history of the prestigious theatrical awards. The show only received one less nomination than Jagged Little Pill, the musical based on Alanis Morissette's 1995 album of the same name, which led the nominations.
Danny Burstein as Harold Zidler in the Broadway production of Moulin Rouge! The Musical.Credit:Matthew Murphy
Global Creatures chief executive Carmen Pavlovic said she and business partner Gerry Ryan felt vindicated after taking a punt on developing the show nearly 13 years ago.
"Well I am obviously very proud but also glad that Gerry and I were not going crazy back in 2007, when we decided to take a very big bet and decided to take a long term view of the company, and all the highs and lows, that creating new work involves," Pavlovic said.
The show picked up nominations in every music theatre category including best direction, best book, technical awards and acting awards as well as the best musical award.
Moulin Rouge producer Carmen Pavlovic.Credit:Matthew Murphy
The show is the first production Global Creatures, which is based in Sydney, has fully developed outside Australia following productions of Strictly Ballroom, Muriel's Wedding and King Kong which also played a short run on Broadway.
Pavlovic said the decision to develop and open the show, which is based on Baz Luhrmann's 2001 film of the same name, overseas was a difficult one but the nominations indicate the right one.
"It was a really hard decision to open Moulin Rouge out of Australia, there were a lot of emotional heartstrings being pulled there," she said. "But I felt it's a big, bold, brassy title and it would make a big, bold, brassy musical and it just felt right to start on Broadway."
Moulin Rouge's 14 nominations nearly doubles the best success of other Australian productions. The 1996 Broadway production of The King and I, produced by John Frost, earned eight nominations and won four; the 2004 Broadway transfer of The Boy From Oz earned five nominations including a win for Hugh Jackman for his turn as Peter Allen; Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical earned two nominations and won one and King Kong earned three nominations plus a special Tony Award for Sonny Tilders who designed the creature.
Concert promoter Paul Dainty with Tina Turner.
Moulin Rouge isn't the only Australian representation at the awards this year. Concert promoter Paul Dainty, who has toured Tina Turner to Australia a number of times, was on the producing team for Tina - The Tina Turner Musical and has been involved with the show since its inception. The show has earned 12 nominations including for best musical.
Dainty, who gave credit to the show's lead producer, Tali Pelman from Stage Entertainment in the Netherlands, said it was rewarding to have been part of the show's journey from the start.
"When I called initially to make enquiries there wasn't even a script at that stage, it was a conversation with Tina so it has been great to see it develop from the ground up," he said.
"In a sense we have been sitting on the sidelines watching it happen, Tali has been driving the process from the very beginning and it has been very exciting watching it's journey."
Dainty will bring the show to Australia most likely in 2022 when theatres have reopened and the logjam of shows waiting to play the country's limited theatre spaces has cleared.
Broadway has been shuttered since the coronavirus pandemic hit, meaning many shows were not eligible for Tony's consideration which Pavlovic said made the nominations success somewhat bittersweet.
"It's not the Tony Awards any of us dreamed of or imagined this year," she said. "There's a real question about how celebratory people feel at the moment, but at the same time I am incredibly proud to be part of this history making moment. This is the year and the Tony Awards that people will be talking about for decades."
Moulin Rouge is set to open in Melbourne in the middle of next year. A full list of nominees is available on the Tony Awards' website.
Nathanael Cooper is a senior culture writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age with a focus on music.
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2020-10-16 00:03:00Z
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