A Geelong theatre company has dominated the Musical Theatre Guild of Victoria’s annual awards, winning a swag of gongs and receiving the most number of nominations overall..
Footlight Productions’ Billy Elliot won the guild’s Production of the Year award, beating 65 other productions at a ceremony in Camberwell on Saturday night.
The production also won awards for Best Direction, Best Choreography, Best Lighting, Best Sound and Best Junior Performing in an Open Production (Sebastian Sero as Billy Elliot).
Billy Elliot was nominated for a further seven awards and also received a commendation for the Dancer’s Award.
Peter Wills, who both co-founded Footlight Productions and co-produced Billy Elliot with his wife Margaret, said he was “very proud” of the team effort.
“For me, there’s no expectation when we go to these nights,” Mr Wills said.
“We had a large cast – 17 kids plus the adult cast – and every rehearsal people were so enthusiastic and so keen to make it the very best that it could be.
“That obviously showed, having 13 award nominations and being lucky enough to win six…I’m just so humbled by the teamwork that surrounded us during Billy Elliot.”
Wills said the young leads, twin brothers Sebastian (who will feature in the upcoming film Anaconda as the son of Jack Black’s character Doug McCallister) and Luka Sero inspired the rest of the cast and crew.
“I think everyone just looked at them and thought, my god, look how good these boys are, we need to get to that level,” he said.
Footlight will present Legally Blonde and Sister Act in the first half of 2026. Visit geelongartscentre.org.au for more information.
