Urinetown: The Musical leads with seven Life Theatre Awards nominations

SINGAPORE - After a jam-packed year of theatre - from side-splitting comedies to serious, thought-provoking works; shows filled with dazzling musical numbers to simple, heartfelt monologues - the nominations for the The Straits Times Life Theatre Awards 2020 are in.

A total of 27 productions staged in 2019 have received nods across 12 categories - ranging from directing and acting awards to those related to technical aspects such as lighting, set and costumes.

Leading the pack is Urinetown: The Musical, a satirical comedy which poked fun at topics such as populism, corporate corruption, as well as musicals themselves.

Presented by Singaporean theatre company Pangdemonium, the show has been nominated in seven categories - best director, actor, supporting actor, set, lighting, ensemble, as well as the top honour Production Of The Year.

The production's director Tracie Pang, says: "I am very proud of the nominations. Urinetown was a show that people thought was un-produceable - it had a unsellable title, an herculean storyline, massive song and dance numbers that people said our Singapore talents could not pull off and I think that we showed that we do indeed have the talent and the ability to do that and more."

On two of the show's performers - Benjamin Chow and Sean Ghazi - receiving acting nods, she says: "Ben and Sean brought everything to the table, they put their complete trust in me to find the balance of honesty and humour that I was looking for.

Other notable productions, with four nominations each were pantomime Peter Pan In Serangoon Gardens by Wild Rice; Malay drama Angkat: A Definitive, Alternative, Reclaimed Narrative Of A Native by the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2019; and Mandarin play First Fleet by Nine Years Theatre (NYT) and the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC).

Both Angkat, which is about the relationship between a woman and her adopted child, and First Fleet, which centres on the transportation of a group of convicts to Australia, were nominated in three major categories - Production Of The Year, best director and best original script.

First Fleet, will be restaged at SCCC's Far East Organization Auditorium from Feb 14 to 23, 2020.

Its playwright-director Nelson Chia, 48, says: "I am very honoured by the recognition, and very glad that NYT continues to make work that people like to see.

"In First Fleet - like in much of our work - we tried to show the importance of listening to other people's stories, as we believe this is a practice in empathy."

The Straits Times Life section has organised the Life Theatre Awards since 2001 to celebrate the best of Singapore theatre in the previous year.

The judging panel for this year's edition of the awards consists of deputy Life editor Melissa Sim, senior culture correspondent Ong Sor Fern, arts correspondent Olivia Ho, lifestyle correspondent Benson Ang and journalists Toh Wen Li and Akshita Nanda.

The winners of the Life Theatre Awards 2020 will be announced at the end of this month.

Urinetown: The Musical (Pangdemonium)

First Fleet (Nine Years Theatre and Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre)

Four Four Eight (Emergency Stairs and Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay)

A Dream Under The Southern Bough: Reverie (Toy Factory Productions and Singapore International Festival of Arts)

Angkat: A Definitive, Alternative, Reclaimed Narrative Of A Native (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2019)

Nelson Chia for First Fleet (Nine Years Theatre and Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre)

Ng Yi-Sheng for Ayer Hitam: A Black History Of Singapore (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2019)

Nabilah Said for Angkat: A Definitive, Alternative, Reclaimed Narrative Of A Native (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2019)

Liu Xiaoyi for Four Four Eight (Emergency Stairs and Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay)

Goh Boon Teck for A Dream Under The Southern Bough: Reverie (Toy Factory Productions and Singapore International Festival of Arts)

Tracie Pang for Urinetown: The Musical (Pangdemonium)

Nelson Chia for First Fleet (Nine Years Theatre and Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre)

Noor Effendy Ibrahim for Angkat: A Definitive, Alternative, Reclaimed Narrative Of A Native (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2019)

Jo Tan for Forked (The Finger Players)

Oon Shu An for Mergers And Accusations (Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay)

Audrey Luo for Lim Boon Keng - The Musical (Musical Theatre Limited and Global Crypto Offering Exchange)

Sharul Channa for Crazy Poor Sita (Sharul Channa)

Oliver Chong for A Fiend's Diary (The Finger Players)

Benjamin Chow for Urinetown: The Musical (Pangdemonium)

Ivan Heng for Emily Of Emerald Hill (Wild Rice)

Shane Mardjuki for Mergers And Accusations (Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay)

Lim Yu-Beng for The Truth (Singapore Repertory Theatre)

Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai for Three Fat Virgins Unassembled (TheatreWorks)

Serene Chen for Caught (Singapore Repertory Theatre)

Neo Swee Lin for The Truth (Singapore Repertory Theatre)

Andrew Marko for Peter Pan In Serangoon Gardens (Wild Rice)

Sean Ghazi for Urinetown: The Musical (Pangdemonium)

Adib Kosnan for Angkat: A Definitive, Alternative, Reclaimed Narrative Of A Native (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2019)

Yong Ser Pin for It Could Have Been____! (Singapore Press Holdings Chinese Media Group)

Loo An Ni for First Fleet (Nine Years Theatre and Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre)

Tube Gallery by Phisit & Saksit for Peter Pan In Serangoon Gardens (Wild Rice)

Max Tan and Yuan Zhiying of Max.Tan for Civilised (The Necessary Stage)

Moe Kasim for Lim Boon Keng - The Musical (Musical Theatre Limited and Global Crypto Offering Exchange)

Eucien Chia for Urinetown: The Musical (Pangdemonium)

John C. Dinning for Peter Pan In Serangoon Gardens (Wild Rice)

Oliver Chong for A Fiend's Diary (The Finger Players)

Petrina Dawn Tan for The Truth (Singapore Repertory Theatre)

Lim Chin Huat for Not In My Lifetime? (The Finger Players and Gateway Academy)

Lim Woan Wen for Forked (The Finger Players)

James Tan for Urinetown: The Musical (Pangdemonium)

Faith Liu Yong Huay for Dear Elena (Nine Years Theatre)

Adrian Tan for Faust/Us (Nine Years Theatre)

Bani Haykal for Tanah.Air: A Play In Two Parts (Drama Box)

Sandra Tay for Project Utopia (The Theatre Practice)

Zai Tang for Faust/Us (Nine Years Theatre)

Inch Chua, Uthaiyan Kumanan and Evan Low for 'Til The End Of The World, We'll Meet In No Man's Land (TheatreWorks)

Urinetown: The Musical (Pangdemonium)

Eat Duck (Checkpoint Theatre)

A Spoonful Of Sherman (Sing'theatre)

Peter Pan In Serangoon Gardens (Wild Rice)