Winners announced for the 22nd Annual WHATSONSTAGE AWARDS
The winners of the 22nd Annual WhatsOnStage Awards have been announced at a ceremony at the Prince of Wales Theatre this evening, the only major theatre awards decided entirely by the theatregoers themselves.
Frozen were the big winners of the night, picking up seven awards out of its thirteen nominations, receiving Best Direction for Michael Grandage, Best Set Design and Best Costume Design for Christopher Oram, Best Choreography for Rob Ashford, Best Video Design for Finn Ross, Best Musical Direction or Supervision for Stephen Oremus and Best Graphic Design for Bob King Creative.
The coveted Best New Musical Award, however, was presented to Back to the Future the Musical, which received four awards in total – additionally, Best Supporting Performer in a Male Identifying Role in a Musical for Hugh Coles, Best Lighting Design for Tim Lutkin, and Best Sound Design for Gareth Owen.
Eddie Redmayne won the award for Best Performer in a Male Identifying Role in a Musical for his turn as the Emcee in Cabaret, whilst Carrie Hope Fletcher picked up the Female equivalent award for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella. In the supporting categories, Carly Mercedes Dyer won for Anything Goes, alongside Coles for Back the Future the Musical. Anything Goes also received the accolade for Best Musical Revival.
Dominating the straight play categories was 2:22 A Ghost Story taking Best New Play, as well as Best Performer in a Female Identifying Role in a Play for Lily Allen; and Best Supporting Performer in a Male Identifying Role in a Play for Jake Wood. Cyrano de Bergerac won for Best Play Revival, which also saw James McAvoy win for his critically acclaimed performance. Completing the straight play acting categories, Akiya Henry won for Best Supporting Performer in a Female Identifying Role in a Play for The Tragedy of Macbeth.
In recognition of his extraordinary career, and the incredible undertaking of his 80th birthday tour, and the fundraising efforts on behalf of theatres and arts organisations across the UK, Ian McKellen receives the Services to Theatre Award.
Hope Mill Theatre’s production of RENT takes Best Regional Production; with Rob Madge’s My Son’s a Queer but What Can You Do? winning Best Off-West End Production; and in the most closely run contest of the night, SIX wins Best West End Show by just 7 votes!
WhatsOnStage's Sarah Coleman said: “Today’s awards are testament to the brilliance and resilience of an industry, who even in the bleakest moments of the past two years kept faith and kept going. The breadth of talent honoured today – in the first major theatre awards to return in full post pandemic – demonstrates that theatre is back, and then some. And today we also honour the audiences who stuck with us, and have voted this year in numbers never seen before. We’re nothing without them, and we are enormously grateful for their unwavering support. Together we build our industry back.”
For a full list of nominees and winners, please click here.
