Nominations for the Sydney Theatre Awards have been announced, with new Australian musical Muriel’s Wedding breaking the record for most nominations. The musical based on the iconic Australian film has picked up nominations in 12 categories, including Best Original Score of a Mainstage Production, Best New Australian Work and Best Production of a Mainstream Musical.

Hilary Cole, Helen Dallimore and Maggie McKenna in Muriel’s Wedding the Musical. Photo ©  Lisa Tomasetti

Maggie McKenna, making her professional theatre debut as Muriel, has picked up a nomination for Best Newcomer as well as the Judith Johnson Award for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (up against Annie Aitken in Melba, Virginia Gay in Calamity Jane and Esther Hannaford in Beautiful). Simon Phillips is up for Best Direction of a Musical (alongside Dean Bryant for Assassins, Richard Carroll for Calamity Jane and Shaun Rennie for Only Heaven Knows) while three out of four nominations in Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical are for Muriel’s Wedding.

Sydney Theatre Company’s Cloud Nine...