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New West talent earns 2020 Ovation! Awards

Royal City Musical Theatre took home a pair of 2020 Ovation! Awards at a gala last night. The gala, held at Vancouver Academy of Music on Sunday, Jan. 26, recognized the best in Lower Mainland musical theatre from 2019.
Singin' in the Rain, RCMT
Royal City Musical Theatre's Singin' in the Rain (seen on the Massey stage in April) earned nine Ovation! Award nominations.

Royal City Musical Theatre took home a pair of 2020 Ovation! Awards at a gala last night.

The gala, held at Vancouver Academy of Music on Sunday, Jan. 26, recognized the best in Lower Mainland musical theatre from 2019.

Royal City Musical Theatre earned a win for Outstanding Set Design (Brian Ball), for the impressive sets he created for the company’s April 2019 production of Singin’ in the Rain at Massey Theatre.

One cast member, Graeme Kitagawa, also earned an Ovation! Award. He was recognized as Outstanding Newcomer – Male for his work in both Singin’ in the Rain and Theatre Under the Stars’ Newsies.

New Westminster’s Patrick Street Productions also found a place on the winners’ list, as Sean Bayntun earned honours for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for his piano performance in Herringbone, which ran at the Anvil Centre in October.

Herringbone’s Luisa Jojic had earned a nomination for Outstanding Leading Performance – Female, but that award went to another New West connection – Paige Fraser, for her work as Emcee in Studio 58’s Cabaret.

Patrick Street had also been up for Outstanding Lighting Design (Sophie Tang) for Herringbone; the award went to URP’s American Idiot (Robert Sondergaard).

RCMT went into the gala with a total of nine nominations for Singin’ in the Rain, including one for Outstanding Community Production. That award went to Theatre Under the Stars for its summer production of Newsies.

Do know of any local connections we’ve missed? If you know of any other New Westminster residents that should be acknowledged, please email Julie MacLellan, jmaclellan@newwestrecord.ca.