Musical Theatre Review’s Edinburgh Editor Fiona Orr presents performers Kirsty Findlay and Bethany Tennick with our Best Musical Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019
Islander: A New Musical at Roundabout @ Summerhall 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 2019 programme.
Directed by Amy Draper, with a book by Stewart Melton and a score by Finn Anderson (presented by Helen Milne Productions), and given five stars by Musical Theatre Review, the panel agreed “that the use of loop technology in Islander was both innovative and brave in presenting Finn Anderson’s haunting a cappella score.
“The performances of Kirsty Findlay and Bethany Tennick were outstanding, particularly in their commune with each other. The piece really suited the space with lighting, design and direction clearly supporting the story. Blending humour, myth and character this is a truly astonishing piece of musical theatre.”
The decision was far from easy as an argument could be made to support every nominated show. In the end, the panel (led by Festival Editor Fiona Orr and also including Clare Walters, Chris Grady, Aura Simon and Pauline Judd) was so impressed by the standard and quality of the nominees that they also decided to award two additional commendations.
Amantha Edmead and Angie Amra Anderson won a special award for Best Ensemble for Sold at The Pleasance
The first – Best Ensemble – went to SOLD at Pleasance Courtyard – The Attic and presented by Kuumba Nia Arts, Unlock The Chains Collective and Oxford Playhouse.
The panel felt it would have been remiss to ignore the standard of performance achieved in this show, and said: “Amantha Edmead’s portrayal of several principal characters is outstanding. Her performance is supported and contrasted by Angie Amra Anderson’s spiritual drumming and stillness that creates an ensemble work, albeit by only two players, that deserves an award recognising their excellence.”
The second commendation – a special award for Composition – was given to Shonagh Murray for Armour: A Herstory Of The Scottish Bard and Burns: A Lost Legacy at Gilded Balloon Rose Theatre and presented by Fearless Players.
In this case the panel believed that: “the development of Shonagh’s skill in composition is clearly seen in these pieces. Armour was nominated last year, too, and in Burns the growth in the sophisticated yet clear score is plain to hear and we are delighted to make a special award to recognise this developing talent.”
Composer Shonagh Murray celebrates with the cast of Burns: A Lost Legacy
MTR publisher Lisa Martland said: “Congratulations to all our award winners and of course to all the outstanding nominees. How wonderful for the genre of musical theatre at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was so difficult for our panel led by Fiona Orr to choose a winner from such an outstanding shortlist.
“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 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe are doing just that: Finn Anderson pushes the boundaries by mixing musical technology with a beautiful, mythical soundscape in Islander; in Amour and Burns the incredibly talented Shonagh Murray presents two scores inspired by literary history that are both fresh and compelling with characters one truly believes in; and I can’t help but agree with Fiona Orr when she writes of Amantha Edmead’s SOLD, ‘Every so often there is a piece that touches the soul. Sold is one such show’.
“A quick congratulations too to Scottish actor-musician, poet and songwriter Bethany Tennick who takes leading roles in two of the winning musicals, Islander and Burns: A Lost Legacy.
“I can’t wait for the Musical Theatre Review Best Musical Award to go from strength to strength at the Edinburgh Fringe 2020. We feel so passionately about nurturing and encouraging new musical theatre.”
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NEWS: Shortlist revealed for Musical Theatre Review’s Best Musical Award at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019.
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