The 2011 winner Taron Egerton has gone on to fame and fortune as an international movie star. Pictures: David Ovenden
From little acorns do mighty oaks grow and from 2007 when an entry of just ten students meant they ALL qualified for the final, the Stephen Sondheim Society’s Student Performer of the Year competition has become a very special date on the musical theatre calendar, writes Jeremy Chapman.
This year’s 13th edition, for the first time at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 9 June 2019, will once again see 12 performers from all over the UK give one Sondheim song plus one new composition their all and be judged by a distinguished panel of experts.
In the intervening years there have been as many as 81 at the audition stage – a very long day at the office for judges and accompanist alike – but this year a more manageable 61 took their chance and on the Stiles + Drewe New Song front 177 entries from Mercury Musical Developments members had to be whittled down to 12.
Every contestant will be cheered to the hilt by the supporters they have brought with them in what will be a passionate Sunday afternoon of friendly inter-college rivalry.
At the end of it, apart from the thrill of performing on a great West End stage and the satisfaction of beating 11 worthy opponents, one will be taking home a £1,000 cheque (as will the winner of the Stiles + Drewe Prize) and a big step up the ladder to professional success.
This year’s finalists, who will be introduced by Follies star Joanna Riding, come from all over – two from the Royal Academy of Music and one each from the Guildford School of Acting, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the Royal Central School of Music and Drama, The Hammond, Bird College, RADA, LAMDA, ArtsEd and Brunel University.
It’s a formidable array of talent who have to remember it’s the best performer who wins, not necessarily the best singer. As West End star Rebecca Trehearn explained after her stint as a judge: “I’m after the complete performance. What I’m not interested in is just a pretty voice.”
Tony Award winner Cynthia Erivo was a finalist in 2009
In the past Sondheim’s wittier songs that can demonstrate the student’s comic timing have often proved winners rather than classics such as ‘Losing My Mind’, ‘The Ladies Who Lunch’ and ‘Send in the Clowns’ which invite comparison with those famous for showcasing them.
Humour conquered all – Carl Au with the pitter-patter ‘Franklin Shepard Inc’ in 2007, Kris Olsen, the 2012 winner, and last year Alex Cardall both using the stage hilariously in ‘Buddy’s Blues’, Corrine Priest tickling the funnybone with ‘Don’t Laugh’, Turlough Convery’s ‘Ariadne’ a frogging riot in 2013 and Erin Doherty’s ‘Broadway Baby’ a wow in 2015.
One champion, the 2011 winner Taron Egerton, has gone on to fame and fortune as an international movie star, best known for the two Kingsman films and now using his vocal chops to outrageous effect as Elton John in Rocketman, sure to be an early Oscar contender (don’t miss it!). He has a net worth of $6 million and counting.
Cynthia Erivo couldn’t beat her RADA colleague Michael Peavoy in 2009 but went on to win a Tony for The Color Purple on Broadway and has starred in the movie dramas Widows and Bad Times at the El Royale.
RAM student Alex Young, the delightful winner in 2010, has built up a rich portfolio of stage parts, from Carousel to Show Boat, High Society to Me and My Girl and Anything Goes to Young Sally in Follies.
She has just starred in a new musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge at the Sheffield Crucible and with working partner Kate Marlais is co-writing one of her own.
Who can say whether Egerton, Young and the other champions would have done so well without having the Sondheim Student Performer of the Year tag on their CV? One thing’s for sure, it can’t do any harm.
Here’s the roll of honour that the class of 2019 aspires to emulate, starting with that small gathering introduced by Maria Friedman at The Venue, Leicester Square 12 long years ago…
Roll Of Honour
Erin Doherty won with ‘Broadway Baby’ from Follies in 2015
2007: ArtsEd’s Carl Au was the first winner with ‘Franklin Shepard Inc’ from Merrily We Roll Along, went on to play Joe Pesci in Jersey Boys but is best known as troublemaker Barry Barry in BBC school drama Waterloo Road
2008: Adrian Grove from Bristol Old Vic with ‘Marry Me a Little’ from Company, has just finished playing Sam Deems in two runs of Follies at the Olivier
2009: Michael Peavoy from RADA sang ‘Finishing the Hat’ from Sunday in the Park With George, went straight into the cast of Hamlet at the National
2010: Alex Young (RAM) was the first female winner, sang ‘Sunday in the Park with George’, has featured in many musicals (see above) in London and on tour
2011: Taron Egerton was RADA’s second winner with ‘Giants in the Sky’ from Into the Woods, now much in demand in films, has starred in Eddie The Eagle, Kingsman, Legend, Billionaire Boys Club and Rocketman
2012: Guildford School of Acting’s Kris Olsen, from Norway, won with ‘Buddy’s Blues’ from Follies, Best Actor at 2018 Norwegian MT Awards for Elder Cunningham in The Book of Mormon
2013: GSA does it again with Turlough Convery who performed ‘Ariadne’ from Frogs, has gone on to do Poldark, My Mad Fat Diary and the non-musical Les Misérables on TV
2014: Corrine Priest, from the London School of Musical Theatre, started a run of four female winners with ‘Don’t Laugh’ from Hot Spot, is now touring with Les Misérables
2015: Erin Doherty, who did a year at GSA then switched to Bristol Old Vic, won with ‘Broadway Baby’ from Follies, starred in one musical Junkyard but more into straight acting, playing Jessie Marsh in Call the Midwife and Princess Anne in The Crown
2016: Courtney Bowman, yet another star from Guildford School of Acting, performed ‘Me and My Town’ from Anyone Can Whistle, having played Mayor Hoover at GSA, now in the West End as Fatimah in the long-running Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Student Performer of the Year winner Izuka Hoyle (centre) in 2017 and runners-up Shaq Taylor (left) and Oscar Conlon-Morrey
2017: Scottish actress Izuka Hoyle who went to ArtsEd on a Lloyd Webber Scholarship sang ‘Last Midnight’ from Into the Woods, was in the original cast of hit musical Six, TV work includes Mary Queen of Scots and Clique
2018: ArtsEd again with Alex Cardall with ‘Buddy’s Blues’, went straight into Sweet Charity at the Watermill as nervous suitor Oscar, has his own jazz band
So after 12 rounds the guys lead the gals by seven to five. Who will be lucky 13, who will be receiving the prize from the legendary Julia McKenzie? Be there and find out, there won’t be a better way of spending a Sunday afternoon.
Craig Glenday, Sondheim Society chairman and its beating heart, sums up what SSSSPOTY and its welcome companion the Stiles + Drewe New Song Prize mean to musical theatre: “Stephen Sondheim has said that teaching is a sacred profession, so it is a privilege to be able to honour that sentiment by supporting these talented students.
“SSSSPOTY gives these bright lights the chance to sing on a West End stage and to work with a professional director and musical director – and it gives the audience the chance to say ‘We were there’ when they first heard these stars of the future perform. Good luck to everyone involved!”
The Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year 2019 finalists are:
- Samantha Bingley – Brunel University
- Jamie McCraken Bogyo – RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art)
- Cameron Burt – Guildford School of Acting
- Louise Cowling – The Hammond
- Paige Fenlon – Bird College
- Ahmed Hamad – Arts Educational Schools
- Niamh James – Royal Central School of Speech & Drama
- Lily Kerhoas – Royal Academy of Music
- Oisín Nolan-Power – Royal Academy of Music
- Lucy Reynolds – Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
- Stuart Thompson – LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art)
- Aliza Vakil – Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
The Stiles + Drewe Prize Best New Song finalists are:
- ‘Against The Tide’ – Benjamin Till
- ‘Aunt Betty Always Said’ – Finn Anderson
- ‘Dead In The Water’ – Zoe Roberts, Natasha Hodgson, David Cumming and Felix Hagan
- ‘Enough Already’ – RC Staab and Seth Bisen-Hersh
- ‘Marvin’ – Vikki Stone
- ‘Miracles’ – Robyn Grant, Daniel Foxx and Pippa Cleary
- ‘My Thing’ – Ben Glasstone and Poppy Burton-Morgan
- ‘Self Checkout’ – Amir Shoenfeld
- ‘Silver’ – Jude Obermüller and David Gomez
- ‘The Scullion’s Candle’ – Carl Miller and Chris Ash
- ‘The Tease’ – Tim Connor
- ‘Words/Amazing’ – Theo Jamieson
* The Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year competition takes place at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on Sunday 9 June 2019. Tickets are available HERE.
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