The Musical Awards will be presented on Wednesday. Who are the contenders?

The prize party of the Dutch musical, the Musical Awards Gala, has been around for 25 years. In this quarter of a century, another generation of actors got up, many new Dutch productions were developed and plenty of performances were imported from abroad. The Jukebox musical achieved international success Mamma Mia!,,  » Soldier of Orange became a long -term hit with an innovative turning decor, and a more diverse palette of actors and stories made its appearance.

But musical is also a genre that continues traditions and honors icons. You can see that in the nominations over the years. Musical titles often come back and become concepts that the theater audience can go again every few years. This season, for example, that was the case with nominees Saturday Night Fever,,  » Shrek and Elisabeth – All productions that were previously visible on the Dutch stages.

Musical star Pia Douwes proves that icons remain on a pedestal in this theater genre. She has been nominated in the ‘Best Female Leading Role in a Great Musical’ category, but that was also 25 years ago, with the same leading role in Elisabeth. (Although that role is now split and the young version of the empress is played by Danique Danée, a big contender for the award up -and -coming talent.) Douwes grabbed the prize in 2000, because Liesbeth List won for her role as Edith Piaf. This year she will also have a hard time. She has strong opposition from Vajèn van den Bosch and Nienke Latten as sisters Elsa and Anna in Disney musical Frozena production that is likely to throw high eyes during the gala. On Wednesday, the TV broadcast can be seen on NPO 1, live from the AFAS Theater in Leusden.

Accessible entertainment

This year, Stage Entertainment, the company that since its foundation in 1998 by Joop van den Ende, has led to enormous growth in the Dutch musical offer, is the leader in the number of award nominations. That no longer happened since 2022 – at the time thanks to high -quality productions such as Aladdin,,  » Tina and a reprise of Hazes-Musical He believes in me. Now Stage Entertainment has collected a total of twenty nominations: ten for the spectacular family musical Frozen (with nominations for music, script and translation) and ten for the hysterical medley party Moulin Rouge! (among other things best male leading role, direction and choreography).

Moulin Rouge! and Frozen Both offer accessible entertainment. These are simple stories: you don’t have to count on depth as a visitor; On visual spectacle, tight choreographies and ‘catchy’ songs. For families there was more to experience this season on the stages: the young audience could not only go on Frozen-Hit ‘let it go’, but also to Shrek (7 nominations, especially for ‘creatives’ such as the translator, choreographers and decor designer). Was for the adult audience Saturday Night Fever (6 nominations) A low -threshold choice, where the makers have indeed tried to sketch a realistic picture of the Brooklyn of the 1970s – a world full of violence, drug use and discrimination.

Season with good acting

Ultimately, this year it will probably not be an internship title, which goes home with the most prizes. That will probably be ElisabethThe musical about Empress Sissi by Albert Verlinde Theater. That producer also won most awards last year. Elisabeth Has twelve nominations and stands out in particular by an excellent cast. Actors Milan van Waardenburg (like Death) and William Spaaij (Lucheni) absolutely deserve to cash in on their nominations. Their play and singing in the dark, modernized production makes a great impression – although all nominees for ‘best male lead in a large musical’ provided a top performance.

This musical season is characterized by good acting, even in high -quality productions. This applies, for example, to Freek Bartels and Brigitte Heitzer, the protagonists of wedding performance Yes, I want. They are both nominated for their roles, while this production can be called the low point of this musical season. Yes, I want has won three nominations. That performance comes across as very easy with clichés in a story that is difficult to hold on to the attention of the audience, but it is – wonderfully enough – in the list of ‘best little musical’ (a production with a maximum of fourteen cast members). This mistake is amazing, when you consider that this is the successor of Blind datewho won Musical Awards two years ago for the script and new Dutch production.

Flemish influences

As the best original Dutch musical, one nominated extra this year stands out. In this category 40-45a musical developed by the Flemish producer Studio 100 (best known for children’s entertainment such as K3 and Paw Patrol). Between Christmas performance A xxxmas carolaRob de Nijs-Ode Silly babbe and the Amsterdam Our Jordaan is a Second World War Musical, which was developed in Belgium. Chairman of the Board Erwin van Lambaart believes that production does indeed belong in this category: « The script is in terms of content completely dramaturgically focused on Dutch history, characters find their existence right in Dutch society, » he says by e -mail. This requires a broad interpretation of an original Dutch production, since place names (Antwerp became Rotterdam) and the names of characters (Staf and Louis became Dirk and Louis) were adjusted.

Or 40-45 well in place in this award category, or not; The influence of Flanders on the Dutch Musicalle landscape seems to be getting bigger every year. Among the nominees for Best Kleine Musical, for example Josephine B. About variety artist Josephine Baker. The musical was developed by the Flemish Judas Theater Productions and directed by Frank van Laecke, also director of 40-45. In addition, there are justified nominations for Flemish actors such as Timo Tembuyser (The Last Five Years) and Ann Van den Broeck (as Archduchess Sophie in Elisabeth).

Last year there was a record number at the Musical Awards 91 Nominations. Now the eight -member jury – led by Hilde Scholten, head programming at Theater De Nieuwe Kolk in Assen – has the number slightly back to 82, spread over fourteen musicals of a total of ten producers.

The award nominations show the scope of the musical offer, which in addition to entertainment also contains more experimental productions, such as the intimate The Last Five Yearsan adaptation of an American production. The producer of this musical, Nanoek, surprised last year by winning five Musical Awards for one New musical about motherhood. Now Nanoek is part of three categories The Last Five Years. For example, the Musical Awards not only show the interaction with our Zuiderburen and the International Theaterveld, but also creativity at home.

The Musical Awards will be presented on Wednesday, April 16 at the AFAS Theater in Leusden. The gala is broadcast live on NPO 1 at 8.25 pm.

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