At a ceremony last night at the Prince of Wales Theatre hosted by Trevor Dion Nicholas and Vikki Stone, the winners of the 18th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards were announced – the only major theatre awards decided entirely by the theatregoers themselves.
With Hamilton having revised its opening night date making it ineligible for this year’s awards, the field was wide open. Leading the pack with four wins was 42nd Street currently running at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane – taking Best Musical Revival, Best Choreography, Best Set Design and Best Costume Design – from a total of eight nominations.
Closely behind with three wins was Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRae’s homegrown British hit which began its life at Sheffield Theatres, before a much-deserved West End transfer. It received Best New Musical, Best Actor in a Musical for John McCrea, and Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for Lucie Shorthouse. In the musical categories, out of eight nominations, Bat Out of Hell landed one win for Best Lighting Design.
Matching Jamie’s three wins, and leading in the play categories, was The Ferryman – Jez Butterworth’s five star critically acclaimed play which opened at the Royal Court before running at the Gielgud Theatre, ahead of a recently announced Broadway run. Butterworth wins the Award for Best New Play, with Sam Mendes taking Best Direction, and Fra Fee winning Best Supporting Actor in a Play.
In the acting categories, Broadchurch co-stars Olivia Colman and David Tennant triumphed as Best Actress in a Play and Best Actor in a Play for their respective roles in Mosquitoes at the National Theatre, and Don Juan in Soho at the Wyndham’s Theatre. This is a first WhatsOnStage Award win for Colman, but a third for Tennant who has taken home the Best Actor in a Play category twice before for Hamlet and Richard II, with a further nomination for Much Ado About Nothing.
Best Actress in a Musical was won by Carrie Hope Fletcher for her performance in the touring production of The Addams Family; with Ross Noble winning Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for Young Frankenstein. Musicals also triumphed in the Best Off-West End category with Hair; the touring production of Sunset Boulevard winning Best Regional Production; and Les Misérables winning Best Original Cast Recording.
The Almeida Theatre’s production of Hamlet led by Andrew Scott won Best Play Revival, with Juliet Stevenson winning Best Supporting Actress in a Play for her performance as Gertrude.
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Performances at the event included the title track from The Greatest Showman featuring the hosts Trevor Dion Nicholas and Vikki Stone, with Jonny Labey, Matthew Croke, Christine Allado, and Melanie La Barrie; Janie Dee singing “Could I Leave You?” from Follies; “A Very Good Day” from Working performed by Liam Tamne and Siubhan Harrison; the cast of Hair with “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In”; the company of Bat Out of Hell singing a medley from the production; Tyrone Huntley, Alice Fearn and Hannah-Jane Fox performing a selection of songs from current Broadway shows; “Get Into Your Dance” from Clare Halse and the cast of 42nd Street, and the company of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie performing the title song.
Photos: Dan Wooler.
