Opera Grand Rapids Gets Excellence Nominations for Student Prince

Congratulations to Opera Grand Rapids. They received word that their June production of “The Student Prince” was recently nominated for five awards by Broadway World Detroit, a leading resource for news on Broadway, theatre, and entertainment.

The production was nominated for Best Musical, Best Director of a Musical (Scott Skiba), Best Music Direction (Dr. Henry Duitman), Best Actor in a Musical (Justin John Moniz) and Best Actress in a Musical (Gillian Hollis).

Though technically an operetta, the production is nominated in one of two categories deemed by Broadway World Detroit—musical and play.

Cleveland Opera Theatre Artistic Director Scott Skiba, up for Best Director of a Musical, celebrated the craft beer culture in West Michigan by utilizing regionally branded props set in a boisterous beer garden in the Royce Auditorium at St. Cecilia Music Center. Dr. Henry Duitman, nominated for Best Music Direction, led the production’s 20-piece orchestra.

“The Student Prince” centers around a prince who, destined to marry a princess, falls in love with a commoner instead—a waitress at a beer garden on his university campus. The production was lauded as “addictive as a bowl of salty pretzels” and “head of the class” by Encore Michigan.

The prince and his love interest—tenor Justin John Moniz and soprano Gillian Hollis—were both nominated for their “simply outstanding” performance (Encore Michigan).

Voting is open until the end of the year, and winners will be announced in early January. To cast your votes, visit http://www.broadwayworld.com/detroit/vote2016region.cfm.

Tickets for Opera Grand Rapids’ 2016-17 season are available through the Opera Grand Rapids Box Office, (616) 451-2741 or 1320 East Fulton Street. For a complete list of upcoming performances, visit operagr.org.