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Wicked, Sound, Rock & Moon Lead WOS Awards

Connie Fisher celebrates her second major prize in less than a fortnight by scooping London Newcomer of the Year in the seventh annual Whatsonstage.com Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Awards, announced today (See News, 1 Dec 2006). However, unlike in the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards (See News, 30 Jan 2007), in which she shared the accolade of Most Promising Newcomer with Andrew Garfield, Fisher is sole winner in the equivalent Whatsonstage.com category, carrying 46% of the public vote to beat off competition from Garfield and four other worthy nominees.

Meanwhile, theatregoers named How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, the BBC One reality TV casting programme that plucked Fisher from obscurity and turned her into a West End star, as the Theatre Event of the Year, while Andrew Lloyd Webber’s £3 million production of The Sound of Music, in which Fisher now stars as Maria von Trapp, was awarded Best Musical Revival.

Andrew Lloyd Webber said today: “When you try something new in theatre, there are always those who will criticise and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? was no exception. But the whole experience has been so worthwhile. Not only have we achieved our goal of finding a new star for The Sound of Music, but so many of the finalists have gone on to secure their first professional roles in musical theatre, as a direct result of the show. I am hugely proud of the talent the show unearthed and of the fact that we showcased musical theatre in front of millions of TV viewers every week for twelve weeks.”

LiveNation chief executive David Ian, co-producer of The Sound of Music and one of the TV programme’s judges, added: "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? was one of those rare occasions when everything gelled together to create a true phenomenon - great for the TV industry, great for the theatre industry and truly wonderful for Connie Fisher, one of the most talented newcomers to be discovered in decades."

Fisher was also nominated for Best Actress in a Musical but lost out to the dominating Tony Award-winning performance of American Idina Menzel as the green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West in Wicked. The Broadway import is the biggest winner in this year’s Theatregoers’ Choice Awards. In addition to Menzel’s win, it has scooped Best Supporting Actress in a Musical (Miriam Margolyes), Best Set Designer (Eugene Lee) and, last but not least, the coveted SUPERBREAK Best New Musical prize (with just over half of the overall vote).

Wicked’s executive producer Michael McCabe said: “It is very exciting that Wicked has been honoured by the theatregoing public whose support of, and reaction to, the show has been so incredible from the outset. We are thrilled to have won four Theatregoers’ Choice Awards and particularly delighted to have been named Best New Musical by such an overwhelming percentage of the vote.”

Today’s accolades for Fisher, Menzel and their respective blockbuster shows are viewed by many theatregoers – over 12,000 of whom voted in this year’s awards – as retribution for their omissions from the 2007 Laurence Olivier Awards shortlists (announced on 18 January ahead of the Oliviers ceremony next Sunday, 18 February). In the Oliviers nominations, Wicked is not in the running for Best New Musical or any performance categories, while The Sound of Music merited only a single nomination, for Outstanding Musical Production.

Two other big-hitters ignored by the Olivier judges also scored major victories today. Though she’ll have to wait to find out whether she’ll grab an Oscar for her screen turn in Notes on a Scandal, Judi Dench celebrates another Best Actress win, for last summer’s stage role in Noël Coward’s Hay Fever. And for a second consecutive year (he won for Richard II in 2006), Kevin Spacey nabbed the Theatregoers’ Choice Best Actor prize, this time for his role in Eugene O’Neill’s A Moon for the Misbegotten, which opens in New York in April as the Old Vic’s first Broadway transfer since Spacey took over as artistic director in 2003.

Spacey commented today: “It’s very gratifying for me personally to receive this award, but even more so for us as a company because it represents an entire production…. And now we have the joy of taking A Moon for the Misbegotten to Broadway as the first Old Vic Company production on Broadway. It’s very exciting - and to receive this just before we set off for New York is just wonderful.”

Regarding her award, Dame Judi added: “Recently an American friend asked me, ‘Does the audience make a difference?’ I replied, ‘The audience makes ALL the difference. It is, after all, who we do it for.’ I’m delighted to win this award, particularly as it’s given by theatregoers.”

In other play categories, Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll clocked up its third major Best New Play trophy (after wins at the Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle ceremonies) and will be hoping to make it a full complement of four at next week’s Oliviers. Trevor Nunn was also named the Theatregoers’ Choice for Best Director for his work on Rock ‘n’ Roll as well as his musical adaptation of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.

Elsewhere in the Whatsonstage.com Awards, the Menier Chocolate Factory won Best Off-West End Production for a third year in a row for its staging of musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors, which is now transferring to the West End as its previous winning productions of Sunday in the Park with George and Fully Committed also did.

And another of the year’s mega Broadway musical imports, Spamalot, took prizes for two of its British stars: Tom Goodman-Hill won Best Supporting Actor in a Musical; and Tim Curry, who originated the role of King Arthur in the US as well as the West End, was voted Best Actor in a Musical. The Monty Python hit returned the Cheshire-born Curry to the London stage for the first time in 20 years.

Speaking from his home in Los Angeles, where he returned to last month, Tim Curry said he was particularly happy that his award was decided by “theatre geeks - in other words, people who have a genuine and ongoing, not to say obsessive, interest in the theatre itself, as I do.” He then recalled: “Phyllida Law (mother of Emma Thompson) came to see Spamalot and said that she had not seen an audience welcome an actor back home like that since Robert Donat came home after the war. I certainly felt highly blessed that you hadn’t forgotten me.”

Other big names that triumphed today include Patrick Stewart (Best Solo Performance for his adaptation of A Christmas Carol), Patrick Swayze (Best Takeover in a Role for Guys and Dolls), Colm Meaney (Best Supporting Actor for A Moon for the Misbegotten), the cast of Avenue Q (Best Ensemble Performance) and the Kathleen Turner-led production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Best Play Revival).

The Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Awards are unique in that they’re judged by the general public – this year, over 12,000 theatregoers decided the contenders and eventual winners in all 20+ categories. Nominations were announced and voting launched at a star-studded event held at Café de Paris on 1 December. Now, the UK’s best-loved celebrity magazine, is media partner for the 2007 Theatregoers’ Choice Awards. Other sponsors include: Superbreak, the market leader for short breaks throughout the UK; Nick Hern Books, the UK’s leading independent theatre publishers and performing rights licensors; celebrity hairdresser Stuart Phillips; Shakespeare4Kidz, the national Shakespeare company for children and young people; and Campo Viejo, the number one Spanish wine brand.

TO VIEW VOTING PERCENTAGES, ACCEPTANCE SPEECHES & SELECTED PHOTOS, VISIT OUR THEATREGOERS’ CHOICE AWARDS MICROSITE.

THE FULL LIST OF 2007 WINNERS & NOMINEES

Winners are denoted in bold at the top of each category.

BEST ACTRESS:

The reopening of the Roundhouse with Fuerzabruta

TO VIEW VOTING PERCENTAGES, ACCEPTANCE SPEECHES & SELECTED PHOTOS, VISIT OUR THEATREGOERS’ CHOICE AWARDS MICROSITE.

Related Content

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	Whatsontage.com Awards microsite
	Year of the Producer content
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