Dutch Musical Awards Ceremony Returns Today

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.

The Dutch Musical Awards are named after comedy actor John Kraaijkamp. International theatre producer Joop Van Den Ende created the awards in 2000. For all these years, the ceremony has been broadcast on national television. However, it was tossed back and forth between public television and the commercial network RTL, and changes were continuously made to the process by which the nominations and wins were determined as well as to the categories and setup of the gala itself.

In 2011, the ceremony was integrated into a popular talkshow and was perceived by many as chaotic. Some awards were handed out on the red carpet, others during commercial breaks. The daughter of the late John Kraaijkamp, after whom the awards were named, expressed strong criticism about this ceremony.

All this caused several producers to withdraw from the 2012 ceremony. In the Netherlands, where about 5 producers are responsible for all musicals touring the country, these withdrawels meant the 2012 ceremony had to be cancelled altogether.

The 2013 ceremony will now be held in the TheaterHangaar, home of the long-running SOLDAAT VAN ORANJE. The nominations are yet to be published.