Hamilton leads 19th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards nominations

Nominations for the 19th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards have been announced by Le Gateau Chocolat in a Facebook Live stream today, marking the opening of this year's voting.

Hamilton leads the nominees with 12 nods, including Best New Musical, Best Director, Best Actor – for both Jamael Westman and Giles Terera – and Best Actress in a Musical for Rachelle Ann Go.

Company follows swiftly behind Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical with nine nominations, including one for director Marianne Elliott. The gender-swap production of Sondheim's classic is still running in the West End and also sees a nomination for Rosalie Craig for Best Actress in a Musical and Patti LuPone in Best Supporting Actress in a Musical.

In the plays category, The Inheritance leads with seven nominations, while The Lieutenant of Inishmore follows with six. The Inheritance is nominated in Best Actor in a Play for Kyle Soller, Best Supporting Actress in a Play for Vanessa Redgrave, has two nods for Best Supporting Actor in a Play for Andrew Burnap and Paul Hilton and in Best Director for Stephen Daldry. It is also nominated in Best New Play and Best Show Poster.

Vote now in the 19th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards

Aidan Turner is up against Soller, Colin Morgan, Mark Gatiss and Arinzé Kene in the Best Actor category, while Carey Mulligan (Girls & Boys) battles it out for Best Actress in a Play against Charlie Murphy (The Lieutenant of Inishmore), Katherine Parkinson (Home, I'm Darling) Patsy Ferran (Summer and Smoke) and Sophie Okonedo (Antony and Cleopatra).

Best Off-West End Production sees Dust, Eugenius!, Misty, The Rink and Six all in with a chance, while Best West End Show – the category that recognises long runners – is between Bat Out of Hell, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Kinky Boots, Les Misérables and Wicked.

Sita McIntosh, WhatsOnStage's Chief Operating Officer said: "2018 has proved a incredible year for new writing – for both musicals and plays, providing some of the strongest competition we have seen in recent years across the nominations."

"The calibre of work populating not just the subsidised sector, but also commercial houses across the UK, shows a shift in audience appetite for new, challenging and diverse work, and it's thrilling to see.The WhatsOnStage Awards unashamedly celebrate the best and most popular of UK theatre; shows that our readers pay to see and vote for in their droves."

This will be the 19th year of the WhatsOnStage Awards, which are voted for entirely by the theatregoers themselves. Nominations opened on 1 November and closed on 30 November. Now the awards shortlists are announced, voting is now open and will close on 31 January 2019.

The Awards concert will take place on 3 March 2019 at the Prince of Wales Theatre, tickets for which are available to the public.

THE NOMINATIONS IN FULL

Best Actor in a Play sponsored by Radisson Blu Edwardian
Aidan Turner, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Arinzé Kene, Misty
Colin Morgan, Translations
Kyle Soller, The Inheritance
Mark Gatiss, The Madness of George III

Best Actress in a Play
Carey Mulligan, Girls & Boys
Charlie Murphy, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Katherine Parkinson, Home, I'm Darling
Patsy Ferran, Summer and Smoke
Sophie Okonedo, Antony and Cleopatra

Best Actor in a Musical sponsored by The Umbrella Rooms
Giles Terera, Hamilton
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Jamael Westman, Hamilton
Jamie Muscato, Heathers the Musical
Rob Houchen, Eugenius!

Best Actress in a Musical sponsored by Café de Paris
Adrienne Warren, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Carrie Hope Fletcher, Heathers the Musical
Laura Baldwin, Eugenius!
Rachelle Ann Go, Hamilton
Rosalie Craig, Company

Best Supporting Actor in a Play
Adetomiwa Edun, Translations
Adrian Scarborough, The Madness of George III
Andrew Burnap, The Inheritance
Chris Walley, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Paul Hilton, The Inheritance

Best Supporting Actress in a Play sponsored by Tonic Theatre
Debra Gillett, The Madness of George III
Michelle Fairley, Julius Caesar
Michelle Fox, Translations
Sian Thomas, Home, I'm Darling
Vanessa Redgrave, The Inheritance

Best Supporting Actor in a Musical
Cleve September, Hamilton
Daniel Buckley, Eugenius!
Jason Pennycooke, Hamilton
Jonathan Bailey, Company
Richard Fleeshman, Company

Best Supporting Actress in a Musical sponsored by Newman Displays
Christine Allado, Hamilton
Jodie Steele, Heathers the Musical
Patti LuPone, Company
Rachel John, Hamilton
Vicky Vox, Little Shop of Horrors

Best New Play sponsored by JHI Marketing
Dust, by Milly Thomas
Girls & Boys, by Dennis Kelly
The Inheritance, by Matthew Lopez
The Jungle, by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson
Misty, by Arinzé Kene

Best New Musical sponsored by The Hospital Club
Eugenius!
Heathers the Musical
Hamilton
Tina – The Tina Turner Musical
Six

Best Play Revival
Summer and Smoke
The Lieutenant of Inishmore
The Madness of George III
Translations
The York Realist

Best Musical Revival sponsored by R&H Theatricals
Chess
Company
The King & I
Little Shop of Horrors
Me and My Girl

Best Direction
Andy Fickman, Heathers the Musical
Marianne Elliott, Company
Michael Grandage, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Stephen Daldry, The Inheritance
Thomas Kail, Hamilton

Best Choreography
Andy Blankenbuehler, Hamilton
Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, Six
Drew McOnie, Strictly Ballroom
Liam Steel, Company
Lizzi Gee, Little Shop of Horrors

Best Costume Design
Catherine Martin, Strictly Ballroom
Catherine Zuber, The King & I
Gabriella Slade, Six
Paul Tazewell, Hamilton
Tom Scutt, Little Shop of Horrors

Best Set Design
Bunny Christie, Company
Es Devlin, Girls & Boys
Miriam Buether, The Jungle
Rae Smith, Translations
Tom Scutt, Little Shop of Horrors

Best Lighting Design sponsored by White Light
Ben Cracknell, Heathers the Musical
Howard Hudson, Little Shop of Horrors
Howell Binkley, Hamilton
Neil Austin, Company
Tim Deiling, Six

Best Video Design sponsored by PRG XL Video
Daniel Denton, Misty
Dick Straker, A Monster Calls
Luke Halls, The Lehman Trilogy
Nina Dunn, The Assassination of Katie Hopkins
Terry Scruby, Chess

Best Off-West End Production sponsored by Les Misérables
Dust
Eugenius!
Misty
The Rink
Six

Best Regional Production sponsored by MTI Europe
Death of a Salesman
The Madness of George III
Memoirs of an Asian Football Casual
Romeo and Juliet
Spring Awakening

Best Original Cast Recording
Bat Out of Hell
Come From Away
Everybody's Talking about Jamie
The Grinning Man
Six

Best Show Poster
The Inheritance
The Jungle
The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Little Shop of Horrors
Tina – The Tina Turner Musical

Best West End Show sponsored by Joe Allen
Bat Out of Hell
Everybody's Talking about Jamie
Kinky Boots
Les Misérables
Wicked