Sharon Millerchip has been nominated for Best Female Artist in a Leading Role, for her role as Roxie Hart. Sharon won the national Helpmann Award last year in the same category. Also nominated was the Chicago Male Ensemble for the Best Featured Ensemble or Full Ensemble Performance.

Billy Elliot The Musical was the big winner at last year’s ceremony, earning 6 awards, including Best Production, Direction, Female in a Leading Role (Genevieve Lemon), Male in a Leading Role (Michael Dameski, Joshua Denyer, Rhys Kosakowski, Dayton Tavares, and Joshua Waiss Gates) and Male in a Featured Role (Liam Dodds, Thomas Doherty, Landen Hale-Brown and Joel Slater).

The Green Room Awards celebrate work first seen on Melbourne’s stage in 2009. This year’s winners will be announced  on Monday 15 March at the award ceremony held at the Victorian Arts Centre.

Her Majesty’s Theatre congratulates all Green Room nominees. A full list of nominations is available on the official website, www.greenroom.org.au. For media enquiries, please contact Michael Wilkie at MadPR.

When making the announcement, producer John Frost commented, “We’re delighted that the success of Chicago has meant that we are able to extend our stay at Her Majesty’s, but this means that Gina Riley will be leaving on Sunday, November 8.”

“We are delighted that we have managed to obtain Colleen for the role,’ he said. ‘Colleen is a terrific talent, of course, as she showed when she played two other Mamas. In The Boy From Oz and Shout! she played the roles of the mothers of, respectively, Peter Allen and Johnny O’Keefe.”

Colleen Hewett was taken to Australia’s heart in 1970 when she recorded Day by Day, from Godspell, in which she played Mary Magdalene. The song went gold and led to her being voted Queen of Pop for two successive years. She went on to co-star with Johnny Farnham in Pippin, also at Her Majesty’s Theatre, and then had a leading role in Tommy. Most recently, she won a Helpmann Award in 2006 for her role in The Boy From Oz, for Best Supporting Female Role in a Musical.

Chicago has taken Melbourne by storm, and has extended its season to keep up with demand! This is your last chance to see this amazing production before it leaves Her Majesty’s Theatre. Don’t miss out on seeing this legendary musical while it’s in Melbourne. Read more about Chicago, view our Chicago hospitality functions, or buy online now!

Sharon won in the category of Best Actress in a Musical, and Bille in the category of Best Actor in a Musical.

Her Majesty’s Theatre is incredibly proud to be the Melbourne home of both these productions.

For more information, visit the Helpmanns Award website.

Performances from 15 September to 4 October are now available through Ticketek. Chicago is only playing for a limited season in Melbourne, so don’t miss out on seeing this legendary musical when it comes to town. Read more about Chicago, view our Chicago hospitality functions, or book online now!

Monty Python’s Spamalot earned four nominations: Best Musical, Best Female Actor in a Musical (for Lucinda Shaw as Lady of The Lake), Best Male Actor in a Musical (for Bille Brown as King Arthur), and Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical (for Derek Metzger as Patsy). The upcoming production of Chicago The Musical also got three nods, for Damien Bermingham (Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical), Gina Riley (Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical), and Sharon Millerchip (Best Female Actor in a Musical).

Billy Elliot The Musical was the big winner at last year’s ceremony, picking up 7 awards, including Best Musical. Spamalot played 151 performances at HMT between November 2007 and April 2008. Chicago opens in Melbourne on 15 August.

This year’s winners will be announced  on Monday 27 July at the award ceremony held at the Sydney Opera House. The ceremony will be broadcast live on the Bio Channel on Foxtel.

Her Majesty’s Theatre congratulates all Helpmann nominees. A full list of nominations is available on the official website, www.helpmannawards.com.au