Musicals & Juliet and Come From Away are big winners at the WhatsOnStage Awards

At a ceremony tonight at the Prince of Wales Theatre hosted by Jodie Prenger and Tom Read Wilson, the winners of the 2oth Annual WhatsOnStage Awards were announced – the only major theatre awards decided entirely by the theatregoers themselves. For the first time this year the event was broadcast live on BBC Radio 2 hosted by Elaine Paige and Paddy O’Connell.

The big winner of the night was & Juliet with six awards from its 13 nominations, receiving Best Actress in a Musical for Miriam-Teak Lee, as well as Best Set Design (Soutra Gilmour), Best Costume Design (Paloma Young), Best Lighting Design (Howard Hudson), Best Video Design (Andrzej Goulding) and Best Graphic Design (Dewynters).

However, the coveted Best New Musical Award went to Come From Away, which received five awards in total – additionally, Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for Rachel Tucker, Best Choreography (Kelly Devine), Best Musical Direction (Ian Eisendrath, Alan Berry and team), and Best Sound Design (Gareth Owen).

Dear Evan Hansen received two awards – both in acting categories, with Sam Tutty winning Best Actor in a Musical, and Jack Loxton winning Best Supporting Actor in a Musical; and Mary Poppins won Best Musical Revival.

Fresh from his Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle wins, Jamie Lloyd received the Best Direction Award for Evita at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

The BBC Radio 2 Audience Award for Best Musical went to the smash-hit Six the Musical. Elaine Paige presented the award to the current West End company as writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss are currently busy in New York, opening the show on Broadway.

Musicals also triumphed in the Off-West End Production and Best Regional Production categories – with Falsettos (The Other Palace) and The Color Purple (Curve Leicester and Birmingham Hippodrome co-production) winning respectively.

The awards were presented by Aimie Atkinson, Amy Booth-Steel, Amy Hart, Max Harwood, Tyrone Huntley, John Kani, Oti Mabusi, Danny Mac, Daniel Monks, Vinegar Strokes, Liam Tamne, Giles Terera, Faye Tozer and Susan Wokoma.

Each of the five nominated productions for Best New Musical performed live at the event – ‘Bit of a Sort’ from Only Fools and Horses, ‘You Will Be Found’ from Dear Evan Hansen, ‘It’s My Life’ from & Juliet, ‘Welcome to the Rock’ from Come From Away, and ‘She Used To Be Mine’ from Waitress. There was also a performance of ‘I’m Here’ by the cast of Curve Leicester and Birmingham Hippodrome’s production of The Color Purple, which won the Best Regional Production category, as well as two further numbers specially created for the evening. The event was co-produced by Paul Taylor-Mills.

The 20th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards:

BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY

Andrew Scott – Present Laughter

BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Claire Foy – Lungs

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A PLAY

Hammed Animashaun – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Sophie Thompson – Present Laughter

BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL 

Sam Tutty – Dear Evan Hansen

BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Miriam-Teak Lee – & Juliet

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Jack Loxton – Dear Evan Hansen

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL 

Rachel Tucker – Come From Away

BEST NEW PLAY

Life of Pi

BEST PLAY REVIVAL

Betrayal

BEST NEW MUSICAL

Come From Away

BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL

Mary Poppins

BEST OFF-WEST END PRODUCTION

Falsettos

BEST REGIONAL PRODUCTION

The Color Purple 

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

Kelly Devine – Come From Away

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Paloma Young – & Juliet

BEST DIRECTION

Jamie Lloyd – Evita

BEST GRAPHIC DIRECTION

& Juliet – Dewynters

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN

Howard Hudson – & Juliet

BEST MUSICAL DIRECTION

Ian Eisendrath, Alan Berry & Team – Come From Away

BEST SET DESIGN

Soutra Gilmour – & Juliet

BEST SOUND DESIGN

Gareth Owen – Come From Away

BEST VIDEO DESIGN

Andrzej Goulding – & Juliet

Tickets for Come From Away are available HERE.