It was expected to be Muriel's Wedding's night after the homegrown musical picked up an astonishing 11 Helpmann nominations, but the girl from Porpoise Spit ended up playing bridesmaid to Carole King, whose jukebox musical Beautiful won best musical.
Both Muriel's Wedding and Beautiful won five awards a piece at the annual live performance awards ceremony, but Beautiful won the more high profile awards: best musical, best director (Marc Bruni), best female lead actor (Esther Hannaford) and best male and female supporting actors (Mat Verevis and Amy Lehpamer).
But neither show could match the success of Bangarra Dance Theatre's Bennelong, which won seven Helpmanns, including best dance production and best new Australian work. Adelaide Festival's production of Hamlet dominated the opera categories with four wins, including best opera, and Sydney Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company's co-production of The Children won best play.
This year the Helpmann Awards was split over two nights: the first at Sydney Town Hall on Sunday and the second, glitzier affair, at the Capitol Theatre on Monday. Next year the awards are moving to Melbourne for the first time in the event's 19-year history.
All of the nominated shows are now closed, but Celia Pacquola's All Talk is heading to the Sydney Opera House next month and Muriel's Wedding: The Musical will have a return Sydney season in June 2019, with a Melbourne season expected to be announced in the coming months.
Helpmann Award winners 2018
CABARET
BEST CABARET PERFORMER
TAYLOR MAC
A 24-Decade History of Popular Music
COMEDY
BEST COMEDY PERFORMER
CELIA PACQUOLA
All Talk
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
BEST INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY CONCERT
PAUL MCCARTNEY
Paul McCartney - One On One World Tour 2017
BEST AUSTRALIAN CONTEMPORARY CONCERT
GOTYE
Gotye Presents a Tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey
BEST CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL
MUSEUM OF OLD AND NEW ART (MONA)
Mona Foma
BALLET, DANCE & PHYSICAL THEATRE
BEST BALLET
ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
The Australian Ballet
BEST DANCE PRODUCTION
BENNELONG
Bangarra Dance Theatre
BEST VISUAL OR PHYSICAL THEATRE PRODUCTION
TIDE
Bleach* Festival & The Farm
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY IN A BALLET, DANCE OR PHYSICAL THEATRE PRODUCTION
STEPHEN PAGE AO
Bennelong (Bangarra Dance Theatre)
BEST MALE DANCER IN A BALLET, DANCE OR PHYSICAL THEATRE PRODUCTION
BEAU DEAN RILEY SMITH
Bennelong
BEST FEMALE DANCER IN A BALLET, DANCE OR PHYSICAL THEATRE PRODUCTION
AKO KONDO
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
INDUSTRY
BEST NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK
STEPHEN PAGE AO
Bennelong
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
KATE MILLER-HEIDKE & KEIR NUTTALL
Muriel's Wedding The Musical (Sydney Theatre Company and Global Creatures)
BEST MUSIC DIRECTION
ISAAC HAYWARD
Muriel's Wedding The Musical
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
GABRIELA TYLESOVA
Muriel's Wedding The Musical
BEST SCENIC DESIGN
JACOB NASH
Bennelong
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN
NICK SCHLIEPER
Bennelong
BEST SOUND DESIGN
MICHAEL WATERS
Muriel's Wedding The Musical
BEST SPECIAL EVENT
TAYLOR MAC: A 24 DECADE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC
Melbourne International Arts Festival and Pomegranate Arts
MUSICALS
BEST MUSICAL
BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL
Michael Cassel in association with Paul Blake & Sony/ATV Music Publishing & Mike Bosner
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
MARC BRUNI
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY IN A MUSICAL
ANDREW HALLSWORTH
Muriel's Wedding The Musical
BEST MALE ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
DAVID CAMPBELL
Dream Lover (John Frost AM and Gilbert Theatrical)
BEST FEMALE ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
ESTHER HANNAFORD
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
BEST MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
MAT VEREVIS
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
BEST FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
AMY LEHPAMER
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
OPERA & CLASSICAL MUSIC
BEST OPERA
HAMLET
Glyndebourne Festival, Adelaide Festival, State Opera of South Australia and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
BEST DIRECTION OF AN OPERA
NEIL ARMFIELD AO
Hamlet
BEST MALE PERFORMER IN AN OPERA
ALLAN CLAYTON
Hamlet
BEST FEMALE PERFORMER IN AN OPERA
NICOLE CAR
La Traviata (Opera Australia)
BEST MALE PERFORMER IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN AN OPERA
KANEN BREEN
Coronation of Poppea (Pinchgut Opera)
BEST FEMALE PERFORMER IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN AN OPERA
LORINA GORE
Hamlet
BEST SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CONCERT
BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE: WITH BACH AND BRAHMS
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra
BEST CHAMBER AND/OR INSTRUMENTAL ENSEMBLE CONCERT
JORDI SAVALL WITH HESPERION XXI & TEMBEMBE ENSAMBLE CONTINUO
Perth Festival
BEST INDIVIDUAL CLASSICAL MUSIC PERFORMANCE
JONAS KAUFMANN
Parsifal (Opera Australia)
PRESENTATION FOR CHILDREN
BEST PRESENTATION FOR CHILDREN
EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES
Slingsby
REGIONAL TOURING
BEST REGIONAL TOURING PRODUCTION
OUR LAND PEOPLE STORIES
Bangarra Dance Theatre
THEATRE
BEST PLAY
THE CHILDREN
Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
SARAH GOODES
The Children
BEST MALE ACTOR IN A PLAY
HUGO WEAVING
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Sydney Theatre Company)
BEST FEMALE ACTOR IN A PLAY
PAMELA RABE
The Children
BEST MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A PLAY
MITCHELL BUTEL
Mr Burns, A Post-Electric Play (Belvoir and State Theatre Company South Australia)
BEST FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A PLAY
ANITA HEGH
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui