Mary Poppins floats away with the Helpmann Awards

The musical 'Mary Poppins' has cleaned up at the Helpmann Awards on Monday night, winning eight of the 12 awards it was nominated for. The awards are Australia's equivalent to London's Olivier Awards and New York's Tonys, and include categories that cover "contemporary music" performances as well as more traditional live performance

'Mary Poppins' won best musical, best male and female actors in a musical for its leads Matt Lee and Verity Hunt-Ballard, best direction and choreography of a musical, best sound design and best music direction.

We'd make a gag using Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious or "chim-chim, cher-oo" here, but it seems every news organisation in the country has beaten us to it.

The big surprise was 'So You Think You Can Dance' judge Matt Lee's win for best male lead over Anthony Warlow, who was nominated for the 'Phantom of the Opera' follow-up 'Love Never Dies'.

"To be up there with people like Anthony Warlow - someone who I grew up watching and going 'I just want to be like that when I get older' - to be in a category with him was just an honour in itself," Matt told media.

Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush won the best male and female acting awards. Rush accepted his award for the best male actor for his role in the play 'The Diary Of A Madman', which picked up three awards, including best play director for Neil Armfield and best original score. Blanchett, who is in the US, won for her part in the Sydney Theatre Company's play 'Uncle Vanya'.

Tim Minchin's performance with the Sydney Symphony was named best new Australian work, while Brisbane-based Expressions Dance Company won the major dance award.