The winners will be announced at a ceremony at the London Palladium on the 9th February 2025.
The nominations have now been confirmed for next year’s WhatsOnStage Awards which were announced in a streamed ceremony at Leicester’s Curve theatre, hosted by My Fair Lady stars Molly Lynch, David Seadon-Young and Minal Patel. This announcement means that voting is now open for the publicly voted awards until the 9th January 2025.
Leading the nominations is the revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express, with nine nominations including Best Musical Revival, Best Supporting Performer in a Musical for Jaydon Vijn, Best Professional Debut for Jeevan Braich, Best Set Design (Tim Hatley), Best Lighting Design (Howard Hudson), Best Sound Design (Gareth Owen), Best Video Design (Andrzej Goulding), Best Costume Design (Gabriella Slade) and a nomination for Jackie Saundercock and Campbell Young Associates in the new category for Best Wigs Hair and Make-up Design. Also performing well in the musical theatre categories is Drew McOnie’s The Artist at Theatre Royal Plymouth with six nominations and Oliver! at Chichester Festival Theatre with five nominations.
Meanwhile, leading the straight play categories with six nominations is the Donmar Warehouse’s production of Macbeth starring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, currently running at the Harold Pinter Theatre, with both lead actors nominated for Best Performer in a Play alongside nominations for Best Play Revival, Best Sound Design (Gareth Fry), Best Musical Direction/ Supervision (Alasdair Macrae) and Best Casting (Anna Cooper). In terms of straight plays Spirited Away closely follows with five nominations.
Completing the gender-free performance categories in the Best Performer in a Play category are: Emma D’Arcy for The Other Place, Tom Holland for Romeo & Juliet, Anne Odeke for Princess Essex and Michael Sheen for Nye. Best Supporting Performer in a Play nominees are Freema Agyeman for Romeo & Juliet, Romola Garai for Giant, Julie Hesmondhalgh for Punch, Teddy Hinde for The History Boys, Atsuki Mashiko for Spirited Away and Sharon Small for Nye.
For the Best Performer in a Musical category, there is a double nomination for Why Am I So Single? with Jo Foster and Leesa Tulley both recognised. They are joined in the category by Georgina Castle for Mean Girls, Myles Frost for MJ the Musical, Imelda Staunton for Hello, Dolly! and Vanessa Williams for The Devil Wears Prada; and in the Best Supporting Performer in a Musical category, Jaydon Vijin’s fellow nominees are Siobhan Athwal for Bhangra Nation, Amy Di Bartolomeo for The Devil Wears Prada, Melanie La Barrie for Hadestown, Grace Mouat for Mean Girls, and Tom Xander also for Mean Girls.
The Best Takeover Performance sees a double nomination for Cabaret for both Cara Delevingne and Layton Willams. They are joined by Zoe Birkett for TINA – The Tina Turner Musical, Craig Ryder for Moulin Rouge!, Alex Sawyer for Hamilton and Tobias Turley for Mamma Mia!. Joining Jeevan Braich in the Best Professional Debut Performance category are Esme Bowdler for Heathers the Musical, Stevie Doc for Mamma Mia!, Vasco Emauz for Back to the Future the Musical, Mia Kobayashi for Your Lie in April and Gerardine Sacdalan for & Juliet.
In addition, the Best New Musical category will be hotly contested as Babies, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Devil Wears Prada, MJ the Musical, Mean Girlsand Why Am I So Single?in the running. Starlight Express is joined in the Best Musical Revival category by Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown, Hello, Dolly!, Kiss Me, Kate and Oliver!.
Best New Play sees nominations for Giant, Kyoto, Princess Essex, Punch, Slave Play and Spirited Away, while Macbeth goes up against A Raisin in the Sun, The Crucible, Oedipus, Romeo & Julietand Waiting for Godot for Best Play Revival.
Last year’s winner for Best New Musical Operation Mincemeatjoins Cabaret, Hamilton, Les Misérables, Mamma Mia! and SIX to battle it out for Best West End Show. Nominations for Best Regional Production are 42 Balloons, The Artist, Becoming Nancy, Brassed Off, Dear Evan Hansen and Oliver!. This year’s awards will see the inclusion of the Best Studio Production for the first time, BRACE BRACEat Royal Court Theatre, Dear Young Monster at Bristol Old Vic Weston Studio, Diary of a Gay Disaster at Underbelly Cowgate and Arcola Theatre, KENREX Tanyaat Moiseiwitsch Playhouse Sheffield, Mulatto Boy at Omnibus Theatre and Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em at Barn Theatre are all up for the inaugural award.
The Best Direction category is dominated by plays with Eline Arbo for The Years, Robert Icke for Oedipus, Anthony Lau for The Crucible, James Macdonald for Waiting for Godot and Wise Children’s Emma Rice for The Buddha of Suburbia, with Drew McOnie being the only musical nominee for The Artist. McOnie also receives a nomination for Best Choreography, facing tough competition from Matthew Bourne for Oliver!, Julia Cheng for Fiddler on the Roof, Rujuta Vaidya for Bhangra Nation, Anthony Van Laast for Kiss Me, Kate, and Christopher Wheeldon for MJ the Musical.
For Set Design, up against Tim Hatley for Starlight Express are Jon Bausor and Toby Olié for Spirited Away, Miriam Buether for Kyoto, Es Devlin for Coriolanus, Kenneth MacLeod for Maggie and Me, and Tom Scutt for Fiddler on the Roof; and Costume Design, Gabriella Slade’s fellow nominees are Sachiko Nakahara for Spirited Away, Lez Brotherston for Oliver!, Marg Horwell for The Picture of Dorian Gray, Rae Smith for Hello, Dolly!, and Tom Scutt, again for Fiddler on the Roof.
Joining Starlight Express’ Howard Hudson in the Best Lighting Design category are Paule Constable for Oliver!, Jessica Hung Han Yun for Minority Report, Tim Lutkin for Coriolanus, Bruno Poet for Waiting for Godot, and Zoe Spurr for The Artist; and against Macbeth’s Gareth Owen for Best Sound Design are Paul Arditti for BRACE BRACE, Susan Bear for Maggie and Me, Nicola T Chang for Minority Report, and double nominations for Gareth Fry for Viola’s Room, as well as Macbeth. Best Video Design sees Starlight Express’ Andrzej Goulding face David Bergman for The Picture of Dorian Gray, Grant Gee and Ellie Thompson for Bluets, Tal Rosner for Minority Report, and another double nomination for Ash J Woodward for The Artist and FANGIRLS.
In another first for this year’s ceremony, an award will be given for Best Wigs, Hair and Make-Up Design for which the nominees are Campbell Young Associates for The Devil Wears Prada, Marg Horwell for The Picture of Dorian Gray, Betty Marini for The Cabinet Minister, Hiroaki Miyauchi for Spirited Away, Georgia Nosal for The Artist, and Starlight Express’ Jackie Saundercock and Campbell Young Associates.
For Best Musical Direction/Supervision, Macbeth’s Alasdair Macrae is in competition with Mark Aspinall and Dan Turek for Fiddler on the Roof, Niraj Chag and Simon Baker for The Buddha of Suburbia, Darren Clark and Mark Aspinall for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Matthew Malone for Brassed Off, and Liam Robinson and Tarek Merchant for Hadestown; and completing the categories is Best Casting Direction with Macbeth’s Anna Cooper up against Amy Ball for The Years, Harry Blumenau and Sarah-Jane Price for Why Am I So Single?, Stuart Burt for Fiddler on the Roof, Alistair Coomer and Chloe Blake for Till the Stars Come Down, and Lottie Hines for A Raisin in the Sun.
Talking about the nominations, WhatsOnStage’s Darius Thompson and Alex Wood said today: “We were blown away by the sheer volume of nominations that came in for this year’s WhatsOnStage Awards for our silver anniversary. What has emerged is a shortlist that reflects the vibrancy and excitement of the UK theatre ecosystem. Locations like Plymouth, Nottingham, Chichester, Sheffield and Manchester have all been recognised on this shortlist, and it’s been heartening watching organisations across the nation campaigning and championing local, established and emerging talents. In a time when venues and companies are facing increased costs and cuts to local funding, the WhatsOnStage Awards are a vital reminder of theatre’s power to bring communities together in a shared, enriching space.”
To vote in the awards and to book tickets for the ceremony visit: https://awards.whatsonstage.com/