Reactions to the 2016 BroadwayWorld Regional Awards in Israel

The winners of the 2016 BroadwayWorld Israel Regional Awards were announced yesterday, including big wins for the Israeli production of the musical BILLY ELLIOT and for Habima Theatre. It didn't take long for the reactions from both winners and other nominees to arrive.

On their official Facebook page the production of BILLY ELLIOT, one of the big winners this year, expressed their appreciation: "We won! Billy Elliot the Musical is the big winner in the BroadwayWorld awards! The musical won first place in the Best Musical category, as well as in the categories: Best Younger Actor (Shon Granot Zilbershtein), Best Actor in a Musical (Avi Kushnir), Best Choreography (Eldar Groisman), Best Ensemble Performance in a Musical, Person to Watch (Sahar Lev-Shomer) and Best Costume Design (Yuval Caspin). Thank you to anyone who voted, we love each and every one of you and we'll see you at the Cinema City! Oh... and soon - an especially exciting announcement...".

Winner of Best Younger Actor/Actress (under age 18) for his alternating role of Billy in BILLY ELLIOT, Shon Granot Zilbershtein, took to Facebook and posted a moving reaction while quoting from the show: "'Miss, I just wanted to say thanks, Miss. For everything that you did. I could never have done it without you, Miss'. When I joined the musical "Billy Elliot" I had a background in dancing. But in singing and dancing I had no background whatsoever, and I won during the training and rehearsals when I got to work with amazing people without whom I would never have got to where I am today. So I wanted to say thank you to everybody for everything you did for me! I could never have done it without you".

Also from the production of BILLY ELLIOT, music director Ben Zeadman posted: "Billy Elliot won the Best Musical award in Israel! And also for other categories like Best Actor in a Musical, Best Younger Actor, Person to Watch, Best Choreography, Best Costume Design, Best Ensemble Performance in a Musical. Well done to us and way to go to our awesome producers who flew high with Billy Elliot". Associate choreographer of the production, Michal Shay, expressed her delight: "Fun and huge pride!"

Multiple categories nominee The Tramp Productions and Stuff Like That commented on the announcement: "We congratulate all the nominees and winners. It is an exciting time to create theatre in Israel as both audiences and artists make the healthy shift towards independent theatre, realizing government-run theaters are a thing of the past. Here's to a very exciting 2017!"

Congratulations to all the winners! See the full list here, and be sure to check back October 2017 when the nomination process for the 2017 BroadwayWorld Regional Awards open.