WOS Theatregoers' Choice Nominees Announced Date: 29 November 2002
The full list of nominations for our 2003 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Awards were announced today, 29 November 2002, at a star-studded celebratory event held at The Venue (home of Taboo), Leicester Square, and attended by a mix of industry figures, performers (see below) and theatregoers.
More than 1,100 real theatregoers took part in determining the shortlisted contenders across 20 awards categories including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best New Musical, Best New Play and the newly established Planet Hollywood Theatre Event of the Year.
Amongst the tight races now shaping up:
The National Theatre and Donmar Warehouse - with 21 and 14 nominations respectively - lead the tallies in the swansong months of outgoing artistic directors Trevor Nunn and Sam Mendes. Nunn's production of Tom Stoppard's trilogy, The Coast of Utopia, and Mendes' final double bill of Uncle Vanya & Twelfth Night, in particular, score big.
Despite a savaging by the critics when it opened in May, the Queen-Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You proves it has legions of fans who've propelled it into contention for five awards including Best New Musical, where it faces tough competition from five other extremely popular shows: Bombay Dreams, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Our House, The Full Monty and Taboo.
It's a remarkable year for the Bard with Shakespeare productions producing three of the six contenders for Best Actor (Mark Rylance, Samuel West and Simon Russell Beale) and three Best Directors (Edward Hall, Sam Mendes and Steven Pimlott). In the dedicated Best Shakespearean Production category, meanwhile, a major battle is shaping up between two Twelfth Night's - at Shakespeare's Globe and the Donmar Warehouse - competing against two RSC productions (Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing), King Lear (Jonathan Kent's final production for the Almeida) and Sean Bean's Macbeth.
And in the Best Actress category, imported Hollywood stars Gwyneth Paltrow (Proof) and Gillian Anderson (What the Night Is For) square up against the best of British in the form of Clare Higgins (Vincent in Brixton), Helen McCrory (Uncle Vanya, Twelfth Night), Samantha Bond (Macbeth) and, nominated collectively for The Breath of Life two-hander, Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.
The Planet Hollywood Theatre Event of the Year category demonstrates what a momentous year it's been in London theatre with historic 'firsts' (the onstage pairing of Dench and Smith, international superstar Madonna's West End debut, the world premiere of Tom Stoppard's epic Coast of Utopia) up against equally historic 'lasts' (Sam Mendes' Donmar finale, the closure of Andrew Lloyd Webber's record-breaking Cats and a sweeping restructuring of the Royal Shakespeare Company, culminating with the resignation of artistic director Adrian Noble).
Voting for the final winners of the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Awards commences from Monday 2 December 2002 and continues through December and January with winners announced in February 2003. Each week over the next two months, a different awards field will be highlighted on the site.
Jochum ten Haaf (actor) - Vincent in Brixton at the NT Cottesloe & Wyndham's
Rebecca Hall (actor) - Mrs Warren's Profession at the Strand
THE PLANET HOLLYWOOD THEATRE EVENT OF THE YEAR:
Dames Maggie Smith & Judi Dench on stage together for the first time in over 40 years in The Breath of Life at the Theatre Royal Haymarket
Madonna's West End debut in Up for Grabs at the Wyndham's Theatre
Tom Stoppard's epic all-day trilogy The Coast of Utopia at the NT Olivier
Sam Mendes' final tenth-anniversary season for the Donmar Warehouse, Uncle Vanya & Twelfth Night
The closure of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats after 21 record-breaking years at the New London Theatre
Adrian Noble's plans for restructuring the Royal Shakespeare Company - including withdrawing from its London residency at the Barbican Centre - followed by his resignation
Special mentions:
The Donmar Warehouse's American Imports season of UK premieres
The National's Transformation season of new work in the reconfigured Lyttelton & Lyttelton Loft
The opening of Bombay Dreams, bringing Asian theatre into the heart of the West End
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