It’s the biggest public vote theatre awards in the UK, and the build-up has well and truly kicked off for the 2023 WhatsOnStage Awards, with nominations announced in full.
Winners will be revealed at a star-studded ceremony on Sunday 12 February at the Prince of Wales Theatre in the heart of London’s West end.
The ‘Best performer in a musical’ nominees are Courtney Bowman for ‘Legally Blonde’, Katie Brayben for ‘Tammy Faye’, Divina De Campo for ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’, Jordan Luke Gage and Frances Mayli McCann, both for ‘Bonnie & Clyde the Musical’ and Charlie Stemp for ‘Crazy for You’.
The ‘Best supporting Performer in a musical’ nominees include Jocasta Almgill and Paul French, both for ‘Grease’, Lauren Drew for ‘Legally Blonde’, Natalie McQueen for ‘Bonnie & Clyde the Musical’, John Owen-Jones for ‘The Great British Bake-Off Musical’ and Marisha Wallace for ‘Oklahoma!’.
Nominated for ‘Best Perfomer in a play’ are Jonathan Bailey for ‘Cock’, Jodie Comer for ‘Prima Facie’, Carrie Hope Fletcher for ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’, Mei Mac for ‘My Neighbour Totoro’, Rafe Spall for ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and David Tennant for ‘Good’.
Jade Anouka for ‘Cock’, Gwyneth Keyworth for ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, Elliot Levey for ‘Good’, Natasha Magigi for ‘The Clothes They Stood Up In’, Sharon Small for ‘Good and Greg Tannahill for ‘Good Luck Studio’ are all nominated for the ‘Best supporting performer in a play’ award.
The ‘Best Takeover performance’ nominees are Lauren Byrne for ‘Matilda the Musical’, Erin Caldwell for ‘Heathers: The Musical’, Joel Harper-Jackson for ‘Cock’, Lucie Jones for ‘Wicked’, Reuben Joseph for ‘Hamilton’ and Ben Joyce for ‘Back to the Future: The Musical’.
Tomisin Ajani for ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’, Joe Locke for ‘The Trials’, Aharon Raynor for ‘The Great British Bake Off Musical’, Oliver Nicholas for ‘Back to the Future: The Musical’, Nadine Shah for ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and Djavan van de Fliert’ for Frozen are all nominated for the ‘Best Professional Debut Performance’ award.
Nominees for ‘Best New Musical’ include ‘Bonnie & Clyde the Musical’, ‘The Great British Bake Off Musical’, ‘Identical’, ‘Tammy Faye’, ‘The Band’s Visit’ and ‘The Osmonds: A New Musical’.
‘Billy Elliot’, ‘Grease’, ‘Legally Blonde’, ‘My Fair Lady’, ‘Oklahoma!’, and ‘Spring Awakening’ are all up for the ‘Best Musical Revival’ award.
The ‘Best New Play’ nominations include ‘A Different Stage’, ‘Best of Enemies’, ‘Eureka Day’, ‘My Neighbour Totoro’, ‘Prima Facie’ and ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ with ‘Blues for an Alabama Sky’, ‘Cock’, ‘Good’, ‘The Caucasion Chalk Circle’, ‘The Crucible’ and ‘The Seagull’ being nominated for ‘Best Play Revival’.
Back to the Future: The Musical’, ‘Hamilton’, ‘Les Miserables’, ‘Six’, ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Wicked’ are all up for the ‘Best West End Show’ award with ‘Billy Elliot’, ‘Crazy for You’, ‘The Great British Bake Off Musical’, Rodgers and Hammerstien’s Cinderella’, ‘The Book Thief’ and ‘The Osmonds: A New musical’ all up for the ‘Best Regional Production’ award.
Nominated for ‘Best Off-West End production are ‘Anyone Can Whistle’, ‘But I’m A Cheerleader’, ‘DIVA: Live from Hell!’, ‘Millennials’, ‘RIDE – A New Musical’ and ‘Ruckus’.
‘Chess’, ‘Jeremy Jordan’, ‘Six in Concert’, ‘Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends’, ‘Treason’ and ‘The Witches of Eastwick’ are all up for ‘Best Concert Event’.
Dominic Cooke, Daniel Fish and Jordan Fein, Nikolai Foster, Rupert Goold, Phelim McDermott and Indhu Rubasingham are all nominated for ‘Best Direction’ with Sarah Travis, Steve Sidwell and the company, Daniel Krugar, Nathan Koci and Tom Brady, Bruce O-Neil and Matt Smith, Nigel Lilly and Tarek Merchant, Stuart Morley, George Francis and Elliot Mackenzie, Ted Sperling and Gareth Valentine all nominated for ‘Best Musical Direction/Supervision’.
Pippa Ailion and Natalie Gallacher, Stuart Bart, Anji Carroll, Jacob Sparrow and Anne Vosser and Jo Howes are all nominated in the ‘Best Casting direction’ category, with Fabian Aloise, Maxine Doyle, Ellen Kane, Lynee Page, Arlene Phillips and Susan Stroman all up for ‘Best Choreography’.
Evie Gurney and Richard Mawbey, William Ivey Long, Katrina Lindsay, Melissa Simon-Hartman, Gabriella Slade and Catherine Zuber are nominated for ‘Best Costume Design’, with Neil Austin, Nic Farman, Jessica Hung Han Yun, Jack Knowles, Tim Lutkin and Scott Zielinski nominated for ‘Best Lighting Design’
Jon Bauser, Es Devlin, Robert Jones, Morgan Large, Tom Pye and Basil Twist and Ben Stones are nominated for ‘Best Set Design’ with Neil Bettles, Tony Gayle, Paul Groothuis, Adam Fisher, Drew Levy and Annie May Flecther up for ‘Best Sound Design’.
For ‘Best Video Design’ the nominees include Luke Halls and Zakk Hein, Douglas O’Connell, Finn Ross, Finn Ross and Andrea Scott and Max Spielbichler.
AKA, Bob King Creative, Felicity McCabe, Muse Creative Communications, Studio Doug and Toshio Suzuki and Dewynters are all nominated for ‘Best Graphic Design’.
You can vote for your winners here https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/vote-now-in-the-23rd-annual-awards_57967.html