The critically acclaimed Matilda The Musical continued its award success at Sunday’s Whatsonstage.com Awards, taking home four gongs including Best New Musical.
The Royal Shakespeare Company production, which has already been crowned Best New Musical at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, continued its award success with Peter Darling crowned Best Choreographer, Rob Howell winning Best Set Designer and comedian Tim Minchin, who made his musical theatre debut writing the music and lyrics for the Roald Dahl adaptation, taking home London Newcomer of the Year.
Always an awards favourite, the much-lauded National Theatre also continued its success after a bumper crop of prizes at the Critics’ Circle Awards earlier this year, picking up three awards for its hit comedy One Man, Two Guvnors. Leading man James Corden was awarded Best Actor in a Play, his co-star Oliver Chris took home Best Supporting Actor and the production, which will open on Broadway in April, was declared Best New Comedy.
The Southbank venue also found success in the Best West End Show category with long-running hit War Horse replacing Wicked. Hit shows Frankenstein and Season’s Greetings were recognised with Danny Boyle picking up Best Director and Catherine Tate Best Supporting Actress in a Play respectively, and controversial musical London Road was awarded Best Ensemble Performance.
Matthew Warchus’s Ghost The Musical was also a big winner on the night with Richard Fleeshman taking home Best Actor in a Musical, Hugh Vanstone picking up Best Lighting Designer, while Matilda’s designer Howell was also recognised for his work on the musical.
Other major awards went to Driving Miss Daisy’s Vanessa Redgrave (Best Actress), Shrek The Musical stars Amanda Holden and Nigel Harman, who won Best Actress in a Musical and Best Supporting Actor in a Musical respectively, and the Tricycle theatre which took home Best Off-West End Production for The Riots.
The Whatsonstage Awards are the only theatre awards to be voted for entirely by the public. Hosted by Alan Davies, Jenny Eclair and Sheridan Smith, the ceremony took place at the Prince of Wales theatre in aid of Stage One, a charity supported by the Society of London Theatre, dedicated to developing up and coming theatre producers.
The next date in theatreland’s award calendar is the most prestigious ceremony of all, the Olivier Awards with MasterCard, which will take place on 15 April at the Royal Opera House. Theatregoers can have their say as to who takes home the coveted BBC Radio 2 Olivier Audience Award by voting here.
Full list of winners:
Best Actress in a Play: Vanessa Redgrave (Driving Miss Daisy)
Best Actor in a Play: James Corden (One Man, Two Guvnors)
Best Supporting Actress in a Play: Catharine Tate (Season’s Greetings)
Best Supporting Actor in a Play: Oliver Chris (One Man, Two Guvnors)
The Baby Grand Best Actress in a Musical: Amanda Holden (Shrek The Musical)
The Theatre Tokens Best Actor in a Musical: Richard Fleeshman (Ghost The Musical)
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical: Hannah Waddingham (The Wizard Of Oz)
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical: Nigel Harman (Shrek The Musical)
The Les Misérables Best Ensemble Performance: London Road
The Jo Hutchinson International Best Solo Performance: Kerry Ellis (Anthems: The Concert)
The Seatlive Best Takeover in a Role: Alfie Boe (Les Misérables)
The Nick Hern Books Best New Play: Three Days In May
The EMG Best New Comedy: One Man, Two Guvnors
The See Tickets Best New Musical: Matilda The Musical
The Samuel French Best Play Revival: Driving Miss Daisy
The Radisson Edwardian Best Musical Revival: The Wizard Of Oz
The Best Shakespearean Production: Much Ado About Nothing (Wyndham’s)
The Oakley Capital Best Director: Danny Boyle (Frankenstein)
Best Set Designer: Rob Howell (Ghost The Musical)
The White Light Best Lighting Designer: Hugh Vanstone (Ghost The Musical)
Best Choreographer: Peter Darling (Matilda The Musical)
The Dewynters London Newcomer of the Year: Tim Minchin (Matilda The Musical)
The Time Out Best Off-West End Production: The Riots
The Luckings Best Regional Production: Sweeney Todd
The Equity Best West End Show: War Horse
The AKA Theatre Event of the Year: David Tennant and Catherine Tate reuniting on stage in Much Ado About Nothing