Dutch Reporter

The John Kraaijkamp Musical Awards Gala, the Dutch equivalent to Broadway's Tony Awards, return today, November 25th, the organization of the awards announced today. Last year the awards were not handed out after years of controversy regarding the awards and the ceremony culminated. The upcoming ceremony will feature changes with respect to previous years, details of which have not yet been made public.

A live recording of the German premiere production of NEXT TO NORMAL ('Fast Normal' in German), starring Dutch actress Pia Douwes, is due to appear in 2014.

Dutch actress Pia Douwes will star in the German premiere of the Brian Yorkey/Tom Kitt musical NEXT TO NORMAL, due to open in Furth tonight, October 11th.

Theme park 'De Efteling', the largest theme park in the Netherlands, announced a new musical to be performed in the Efteling theatre: Klaas Vaak (Sandman). The show will have a cast of 17, including children, and open in September 2013. KLAAS VAAK opens tonight, September 22nd. The musical will run through the 9th of March 2014.

Due to 'an early-phase pneumonia and vocal problems' of Rene van Kooten, who plays the role of Tommy DeVito, the very first previews of the Dutch JERSEY BOYS have been cancelled.

The John Kraaijkamp Musical Awards ceremony, the Dutch equivalent to Broadway's Tony Awards, will return November 25th after a one-year absence, the organization of the awards announced today. The chaotic 2011 ceremony sparked an avalanche of criticism, after which the 2012 ceremony was cancelled altogether and changes were made to the nomination process and ceremony.

Celinde Schoenmaker, fresh from playing 'Fantine' in the West End production of Les Miserables to much acclaim, will star in a concert of Disney music in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. The concert will play a matinee and evening tonight, August 17 and a matinee on the 18th.

BroadwayWorld just learned that Harry Nicoll will be playing 'Pirelli' in the 2014 Reisopera tour of SWEENEY TODD, while Krystian Lada will focus on the dramaturgy of the production.

THE NORMAL HEART, Larry Kramer's autobiographical account of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the mid-eighties, is to play Amsterdam for the limited run of two weeks. The play, featuring a host of Dutch stage and screen actors, will be staged in the De La Mar theatre, opening today, July 30.

The UK touring company of CATS will play the Kursaal in Oostende, Belgium, from today, July 30th to August 18th 2013. The show will be performed in English with surtitles in French and Dutch.

Dutch musical actress Willemijn Verkaik, best known for playing Elphaba in worldwide productions of WICKED, will take a break from her world-record run of 1000+ performances as Elphaba, to star in the Stuttgart production of MAMMA MIA.

For one week only, Dutch musical actress Ana Milva Gomes, who plays Doloris van Cartier in the Vienna production of SISTER ACT, will be playing in the Dutch production of the same show at the Circustheater Scheveningen.

Dutch musical actress Willemijn Verkaik, best known for playing Elphaba in worldwide productions of WICKED, will take a break from her world-record run of 1000+ performances as Elphaba, to star in the Stuttgart production of MAMMA MIA.

Dutch musical SOLDAAT VAN ORANJE, which has been playing for sold-out houses for three years now, will open in London in 2014, says Image Nation director Harvey Goldsmith.

THE NORMAL HEART, Larry Kramer's autobiographical account of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the mid-eighties, is to play Amsterdam for the limited run of two weeks. The play, featuring a host of Dutch stage and screen actors, will be staged in the De La Mar theatre, opening on July 30.

Former West End 'Fantine' Celinde Schoenmaker will star in three concerts dedicated to the musical of Disney. Joining here will be Jamai Loman, Freek Bartels and Pearl Jozefzoon.

The Dutch version of BILLY ELLIOT will not be moved to a Dutch mining town, said Maurice Wijnen in the Parool newspaper today. It will remain as it is, set against the backdrop of the UK miners' strike of 1984-1985.

Stephen Schwartz, the Oscar and Tony awarded composer and lyricist, will collaborate with Christian Struppeck on a musical about Emanual Schikander (1751-1812), the librettist of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. The musical, which will be mounted in Vienna, is tentatively planned for the 2015/2016 season.

Albert Verlinde Entertainment will make the cult-movie FLODDER into a musical. The musical will premiere in the fall of 2014. FLODDER is a movie from 1986 about an anti-social, dysfunctional family who move to an affluent, upper-class neighbourhood as part of a social experiment.

Stage Entertainment have announced it will start a nationwide search for young boys to take on the title role in a Dutch production of Billy Elliot. A training program has been devised with the purpose to convince the English creatives that indeed there are sufficient boys of sufficient talent to guarantee a succesful run of the show in the Netherlands.