Harry Potter team recognised in theatre industry power list

Producer Sonia Friedman has topped The Stage 100 list for the first time, in a bumper year for her hit production Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

The play's writer Jack Thorne (who is placed at 50 on the list), director John Tiffany (15), Hermione actress Noma Dumezweni (22), and sound designer Gareth Fry (92) have all been recognised in The Stage's annual theatre industry power list.

Friedman has maintained a top 20 ranking since she first entered the list in 2003 and now claims top spot following a hugely successful year which has also included productions of Dreamgirls, Funny Girl and Nice Fish. She is only the second woman to top the list as a solo entry, the first being Janet Holmes à Court in 1998.

The producer is joined in the top five by Andrew Lloyd Webber in second, climbing back up the ranking thanks to the West End transfer of School of Rock and Open Air Theatre's production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

After adding an updated version of Half a Sixpence to their ever successful West End portfolio, Cameron Mackintosh and Nicholas Allott hold onto third place. Mark Cornell and Adam Kenwright, the new guard at ATG following Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire's departure, find themselves at fourth in the list. And the National Theatre's trio of Rufus Norris, Lisa Burger and Ben Power claim fifth place, up seven places since last year.

Among the actors included in the 100 are Natasha Barnes and Ria Jones (100) who are noted for their acclaimed stand-in performances in Funny Girl and Sunset Boulevard respectively, in a period The Stage call 'year of the understudy'. Shakespearean thesps getting the nod include Henry V star Michelle Terry (90), octogenarian Glenda Jackson (71) who returned to the stage in King Lear at the Old Vic, and Paapa Essiedu (70) following his performance in Hamlet at the RSC. Other actors in the list include Maxine Peake (66), Simon Russell Beale (65), Billie Piper (60), the recently knighted Mark Rylance (48), and sirs Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart (44).

Among the creatives listed are directors Michael Longhurst (84), Marianne Elliott (78) and Phyllida Lloyd (20), choreographers Drew McOnie (81), Andrew Wright (75) and Matthew Bourne (28), and designers Lez Brotherson (99), Anna Fleischle (97) and Paule Constable (95).

For the full list, click here.