WHATSONSTAGE.COM AWARDS

WHATSONSTAGE.COM AWARDS

Prince of Wales Theatre, London

The Whatsonstage.com Awards winners were announced last night, in the traditional glitzy, fabulous style that everyone comes to expect. There were some fantastic winners, with Matilda picking up four awards, One Man, Two Guvnors and Ghost winning three and Danny Boyle, Kerry Ellis and Richard Fleeshman all beating the nominees in their categories to collect an award.

War Horse knocked Wicked out of the Best West End Show award for the first time and they added to the National Theatre's total of seven awards.

I caught up with some of the winners backstage and there was a real buzz about the whole evening, with so many people emphasising how important the awards are when they are voted for by the public.

There were performances from Ghost and Crazy for You amongst others and the night was finished by a spectacular performance from Kerry Ellis and Brian May, complete with sparkling confetti.

Brian was still buzzing from the performance when I spoke to him and he was so quick to praise Kerry on her Best Solo Performance award for their Anthems tour. "In a way it's a dream come true because I was always hoping Kerry would get this kind of recognition," he said with a really noticeable sense of pride for her. "10 years ago when she first came and auditioned for We Will Rock You because I just thought that girl is a star and maybe I can be a part of her getting to this place. So now it's brilliant that everyone realises that she's amazing."

"I'm thrilled. I'm just a bit overwhelmed really," Kerry said with a grin when she thought back to how important the shows were to her. "It was such an event, the Royal Albert Hall. It was one night of magic."

Tim Minchin picked up London Newcomer of the Year for Matilda the Musical and despite having arrived in the UK at 5.30 this morning after 34 hours travelling, he was thrilled with the awards the show picked up. "The most important thing in theatre is that people go and see it. That's all that matters and I'm so proud about how broad Matilda's audience is."

Check back later as there will be more to follow, including interviews with Danny Boyle, One Man, Two Guvnors and War Horse.

Full list of 2012 Whatsonstage.com Award 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 MISERABLES Best Ensemble Performance: London Road
The JO HUTCHINSON INTERNATIONAL Best Solo Performance: Kerry Ellis – Anthems
The SEATLIVE Best Takeover in a Role: Alfie Boe – Les Miserables
The NICK HERN BOOKS Best New Play: Three Days in May – by Ben Brown
The EMG Best New Comedy: One Man, Two Guvnors
The SEE TICKETS Best New Musical: Matilda the Musical – by Tim Minchin (music and lyrics) and Dennis Kelly (book)
The SAMUEL FRNECH 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 Rots ( Tricycle Theatre)
The LUCKINGS Best Regional Production: Sweeney Todd (Chichester Festival Theatre)
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


Article and interviews by Louise Miles