Musical Theatre Dunedin had a very big night in Oamaru on Saturday.
Dunedin's largest and strongest theatrical group took 10 of 18 awards at the Otago Southland Theatre Awards outright and shared another three awards with Invercargill Musical Theatre.
Musical Theatre Dunedin executive member Anne Williams said she was ‘‘delighted but humbled'' by the 13 awards for the theatre group's production of Phantom of the Opera.
‘‘All the other shows were also excellent,'' Mrs Williams said.
‘‘There is just such wonderful talent in Otago-Southland.''
Mrs Williams said this year's production, the biggest Musical Theatre Dunedin had staged in a decade, benefited from expertise at every level of the production. The directors were ‘‘all just top class''.
‘‘We had some fabulous cast members, and were just very fortunate to have some very talented people that happened to be in Dunedin at the time,'' she said.
‘‘There's a whole raft of them. Just so many people helped and made it a success.''
The Phantom took best overall production as well as sweeping the directors sections.
James Adams, who played The Phantom, took best leading male; Hayley Carrick, who played Christine Daae, won best leading female in a musical; best supporting male in a play or musical went to John Kiernan-Sear for his role as Monsieur Andre and Peter Storer as Monsieur Firmin; and best supporting female in a play or musical went to Claire Barton for her role as Carlotta Giudicelli.
Theatre awards chairman Doug Kamo said the 200 guests from around the region at the black-tie event were celebrating the success of the theatre community across the region, but ‘‘the night belonged to Musical Theatre Dunedin''.
‘‘I think the spirit of the OSTAs is about acknowledging those individuals and those societies that continue to do extraordinary things in terms of musical theatre in their particular region or town,'' he said.
‘‘It's about us recognising in front of our peers those people that are doing great things ... there's always got to be a winner, but at the end of the day there were almost 100 nominees across 13 shows that were judged last year.
‘‘Getting a nomination is pretty significant. Winning is the cherry on top. And we got that vibe in the room last night. People were genuinely thrilled to have been nominated and when the winners were announced there was plenty of good cheer and spirit.''
The Otago Southland Theatre Awards encompasses 17 theatre societies from North Otago, Otago, Central Otago and Southland regions which are members of the New Zealand Musical Theatre Federation.
Judges Greg Thompson, of Queenstown, Barry Gibbons, of Alexandra, Rodd Pearson and Alison Morgan, of Balclutha, and Peter Chin and Irene Mosley of Dunedin, considered 13 productions over the 2015 calendar year.
Awards convener and Musical Theatre New Zealand Zone 5 representative Helen Horsnell called the night hosted by Musical Theatre Oamaru at St Kevin's College ‘‘fantastic''.
‘‘The success was not solely the winners on the night but also in the support shown by those who attended,'' she said.
The 2015 winners
Best overall production: Phantom of the Opera, Musical Theatre Dunedin
Best direction: Stephen Robertson, Musical Theatre Dunedin
Best musical direction: Stuart Walker, Musical Theatre Dunedin
Best choreography: Robyn Sinclair, Musical Theatre Dunedin
Outstanding achievement: Mark MacKenzie, West Otago Theatrical Society
Best upcoming talent scholarship: Andrew Coshan, Taieri Musical
Best set: Phantom of the Opera, Musical Theatre Dunedin and Invercargill Musical Theatre
Best wardrobe: Phantom of the Opera, Musical Theatre Dunedin and Invercargill Musical Theatre
Best lighting and vision: Phantom of the Opera, Invercargill Musical Theatre
Best sound design: Phantom of the Opera, Musical Theatre Dunedin
Best properties design: Phantom of the Opera, Musical Theatre Dunedin and Invercargill Musical Theatre
Best makeup and hair design: Phantom of the Opera, Musical Theatre Dunedin
Best leading male in a musical: James Adams (The Phantom) Phantom of the Opera, Musical Theatre Dunedin
Best leading female in a musical: Hayley Carrick (Christine Daae) Phantom of the Opera, Musical Theatre Dunedin
Best supporting male in a play or musical: John Kiernan-Sear (Monsieur Andre) Peter Storer (Monsieur Firmin) Phantom of the Opera, Musical Theatre Dunedin
Best supporting female in a play or musical: Claire Barton (Carlotta Giudicelli) Phantom of the Opera, Musical Theatre Dunedin
Best leading male in a play or revue: Kelly Keenan (Hugo Horton) The Vicar of Dibley, Clyde Theatre Group
Best leading female in a play or revue: Claire Mulholland (Geraldine Grainger) The Vicar of Dibley, Clyde Theatre Group
