Voting closes in 2013 Whatsonstage.com Awards, over 60k take part
Voting for the 2013 Whatsonstage.com Awards – the original, biggest and best audience-voted theatre awards – closed at midnight on Thursday (31 January). Over 60,000 people took part in this year’s voting, and several categories were separated by only a handful of votes.Winners will be revealed at the Awards Ceremony and Concert,
hosted by comedians Rufus Hound and Mel Giedroyc, at the West End’s
Palace Theatre on Sunday 17 February.As previously announced, performers at this year’s star-studded Concert include Jesus Christ Superstar’s Tim Minchin and Melanie C, Wicked co-stars Louise Dearman and Gina Beck, Soho Cinders’ hilarious double act Beverly Rudd and Suzie Chard, 9 to 5’s Natalie Casey and the casts of shows including Spamalot, Top Hat, Taboo and Loserville, with stars including Sam Buttery, Paul Baker and Gavin Lee.
There will also be performances from Olivier Award winner David Bedella (Jerry Springer The Opera, Torch Song Trilogy), Alice Fearn (Shrek, Into the Woods and Les Miserables on screen) and Hannah Levane (Sister Act, High School Musical).More line-up details will be announced soon!The Awards Concert is directed and devised by Russell Labey, with
sound by Ben Harrison, lighting by Mike Robertson, choreography by
Lizzi Gee and musical supervision and orchestrations by Tom Deering.
It’s produced by Stuart Piper and Jason Haigh-Ellery on behalf of
Whatsonstage.com, with general management by Peter Huntley and
production management by Chris Fisher.About the Whatsonstage.com AwardsThe Whatsonstage.com Awards, the “theatregoers’ choice”, are the only major theatre awards in which you, the audience, are the judges across all categories.Each year, the Awards shortlists – covering the best of London theatre (and a bit beyond) – are drawn up with the help of thousands of theatregoers who log on to nominate their favourites across all 20+ awards categories. Nominations are announced at a star-studded launch event held in early December (see video).Voting – limited to one vote per person – is strictly monitored to allow as fair an outcome as possible and to ensure that any attempted rigging is captured. The monitoring takes a number of forms and includes email registration, technical checks and statistical analysis. No checks, no matter how rigorous, can guard against the mobilisation of performer or production fan bases, which are inherent – and legitimate – in a popular vote of this kind, but they do prevent cheats. The 2013 Whatsonstage.com Awards are held in aid of this year’s adopted charity InterAct,
which provides disabled and disadvantaged young people with real
opportunities to develop valuable life skills through drama and music
workshops.
To view an archive of previous winners of the Whatsonstage.com Awards, which are now in their 13th year, visit awards-archive.whatsonstage.com
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