Musical Theatre Review Best Musical winners at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024: The History of Paper cast members Gavin Whitworth (also MD), Emma Mullen and Christopher Jordan-Marshall, Dundee Rep artistic director Andrew Panton, with MTR’s Edinburgh editor Fiona Orr (centre)
A History of Paper at the Traverse Theatre has won Musical Theatre Review’s Best Musical Award, given to recognise excellence in the challenging form of musical theatre and to highlight the best of the genre in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024 programme.
A co-production between Dundee Rep and Traverse Theatre, directed by Andrew Panton, A History of Paper is by Gareth Williams and the late Oliver Emanuel. It features Emma Mullen, Christopher Jordan-Marshall and musical director Gavin Whitworth in the cast. The dramaturg is Lu Kemp.
The MTR team, led by Edinburgh editor Fiona Orr, described the show as “wonderfully tender, never sentimental and performed beautifully. A success before its opening performance, this has been one of the biggest hits of 2024. With excellent writing and just the right music and songs, this is truly a production that lives up to the hype and lives in the mind afterwards.”
Orr wrote in her five-star review: “The partnership between spoken and sung dialogue is delicious. Sondheim often said he aimed to capture a conversational tone and here we find just that. This work is romantic, yes, but avoids the sentimental. The loss of Oliver Emanuel before this production was staged gives an added poignancy and his work is beautifully spoken and sung.”
Director Panton, also Dundee Rep’s artistic director, commented: “What a huge privilege to receive this honour amongst so many amazing new musicals this year. Thank you to the entire selection team. Developing new music theatre requires sustained and committed resource.
“Without the support of our funders, A History of Paper would never have happened. We need to ensure continued commitment to public funding for culture and the arts for the sake of the next generation of artists to make the important work of the future.”
This new production of A History of Paper was previewed at Dundee Rep Theatre in July 2024 and first premiered at the Traverse Theatre in TravFest 2024, as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
MTR publisher Lisa Martland added: “Congratulations to our award winner and of course to all the outstanding nominees. After its success with audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe, we can’t wait to see what is next for the exquisitely written A History of Paper, staged so beautifully at the Traverse.
“Part of the inspiration for Musical Theatre Review was to play some role in nurturing and encouraging new voices in musical theatre and these awards are doing just that. We feel so passionately about nurturing and encouraging original work.”
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