Celebrating Australia’s live performance industry, the nominations for the 19th annual Helpmann Awards have been announced. With eight nominations each, two large-scale theatrical productions – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Counting and Cracking – have received the lion’s share of nods this year.

Gyton Grantley, Paula Arundell, Gareth Reeves and Lucy Goleby in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Photo © Matt Murphy

Currently playing in Melbourne and now booking through 2020, the international smash-hit Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender, Harry Potter Theatrical Productions and Michael Cassel Group) has been nominated for Best Production of a Play. Taking place 19 years after J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the play is written by Jack Thorne and based on an original tale by Rowling, Thorne and director John Tiffany. The Melbourne production has also seen its stars Paula Arundell and William McKenna, who play Hermione Granger and Scorpius Malfoy respectively, nominated for Best Female Actor and Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role. It has picked up nominations for Costume Design (Katrina...