Alex Cardall won the 12th annual Stephen Sondheim Student Performer of the Year award
Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year and Stiles + Drewe Best New Song competitions at the Savoy Theatre, London.
After four years of female domination, Alex Cardall struck back for the fellas by winning the 12th annual Stephen Sondheim Student Performer of the Year competition at its new venue, the Savoy Theatre.
The ArtsEd student who comes from the West Midlands and started studying the performing arts at Birmingham Ormiston Academy before coming to London to graduate, was inspired to victory by his father who died in December.
His animated, perfectly-acted ‘Buddy’s Blues’ from Follies, the comic song that 2012 winner Kris Olsen also chose, earned him the £1,000 prize.
The 12 finalists (from an original entry of 65) had to sing one Sondheim song of choice and one new song from the Stiles + Drewe Prize list.
Cardall, who also plays drums and has his own jazz trio, picked a winner in that section too because ‘You And Me’, an affecting composition by Adam Wachter, got the nod from the distinguished sponsors.
Wachter, an MA Musical Theatre student at Goldsmiths, took the £1,000 Best Song prize and Cardall received £200 for singing it, the advertised £150 augmented by a personal £50 from show presenter Tracie Bennett who had the audience in stitches from start to finish.
Cardall ended a great run by the girls, Corrine Priest, Erin Doherty, Courtney Bowman and Izuka Hoyle, the winners from 2014-17 (although it’s worth noting that 2018 finalist Amara Okereke, from Arts Ed, is beginning a new job this week as Cosette in Les Misérables).
He was chased home by James Stirling (Mountview) who made a hilarious wolf, salivating brilliantly in ‘Hello, Little Girl’. His new song was ‘If I Had Wings’ by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan.
The combination won him the second prize of £500 and for the second year running Sondheim patron and judge Julia McKenzie produced an unscripted third prize from her own pocket because the standard was so high – “the highest yet” said judges’ chairman Edward Seckerson. And although he does say that most years, it probably was.
Adam Wachter won the Stiles + Drewe Best New Song prize
The lucky recipient of that £350 Julia bonus was barefoot American Shelby Flannery, who studied drama at Pace University in New York and latterly drama at LAMDA in London, where she was taught how to unlock and free her voice. She chose the haunting ‘I Wish I Could Forget You’ from Passion.
Tracie Bennett was a highly amusing hostess, regaling the audience with tales from her Sondheim experiences which include playing ‘I’m Still Here’ Carlotta in the the award-winning revival of Follies at the Olivier.
She also introduced last year’s winner Izuka Hoyle and third-placed Oscar Conlon-Morrey who reprised their star 2017 entries ‘Last Midnight’ and ‘The Contest’. Conlon-Morrey had Peter Polycarpou in the barber’s chair as he recalled his Pirelli from 12 months ago. And there was a special guest, Di Botcher, who performed ‘Broadway Baby’, her big number from Follies.
Also performed during the interval while the judges retired to consider their verdicts were songs from three shows from yet another competition, performed by Isabella Pappas, Bradley Riches, Thomas Sutcliffe, Kayleigh McKnight and Tori Allen-Martin.
This was the Stiles & Drewe Mentorship Award where part of the prize is a week at the South of France retreat of one of the famed composing duo and being mentored by them. This is the third year of this MTI-sponsored prize and this year’s winners were Jim Barne and Kit Buchan for their musical The Season. Lucky them!
Hardest worker of this sunny Sunday afternoon was musical director Mark Etherington who accompanied each finalist on all 24 songs as well the eight guest performers.
As ever, the marathon show was directed by Chris Hocking and during proceedings SSS chairman Craig Glenday made a presentation to Lynne Chapman who is shortly retiring after 21 years as Sondheim Society administrator. She will be a hard act to follow.
Jeremy Chapman
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