Line-up for Stiles + Drewe Prize musical concert revealed

Stiles + Drewe and Mercury Musical Developments have announced the lineup for this year’s Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize concert, scheduled for Monday 13 November at 7.30 pm, at the Other Palace.

Hosted by WhatsOnStage Award-Winner Rob Madge, the one-night-only gala will showcase emerging musical theatre writing talent through a selection of songs from new shows currently in development. The event will also pay tribute to recent British composing successes, featuring tunes from popular productions such as Operation Mincemeat, The Great British Bake Off Musical, CAKE – The Marie Antoinette Playlist, My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?), and RIDE: A New Musical.

A panel of industry judges, including George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, will determine the winner of the Best New Song Prize, which includes a £1000 prize for further development of the winning work. Additionally, a prize recognizing “Voice, Vision and Potential” will be awarded.

The cast includes Alex Young (Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Into the Woods), Ben Morris (Next to Normal, Waitress), Caroline Sheen (9 to 5, Les Misérables), Claire Moore (Miss Saigon, Follies), Hannah Lowther (Heathers, SIX), Lewis Cornay (The SpongeBob Musical, John & Jen), Lisa Davina Phillip (Ghost the Musical, Matilda the Musical), Renée Lamb (CAKE – The Marie Antoinette Playlist, SIX), Madge (My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?), Bedknobs and Broomsticks), Rumi Sutton (HEX, Mayflies), Sienna Aurora Clarke (Matilda the Musical), William Barker (Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Disney’s Winnie The Pooh) and Zizi Strallen (Mary Poppins, Rock Follies).

The songs in contention for the Best New Song Prize are:

– “Ain’t That So” from T-Room…The Musical by Rosabella Gregory and Dina Gregory,
– “Before I Move On” from Bricks by Michael Henry, Emma Dennis Edwards and Darren Clark,
– “Bio” from Queerway by Geraint Owen,
– “The Botanical Garden Gate” from Game Theory by Rachel Bellman and Josh Bird,
– “Drown Without Water” from The Circle by Rachel Walker Mason and Nina Sundstrom,
– “Height Lines” from The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair by Jordan Li-Smith, based on the novel by Lara Williamson,
– “Henry” from Undertaking Betty by Richy Hughes and Luke Bateman,
– “Stay” from Stay by Jonathan O’Neill and Isaac Savage,
– “Talent” from In Clay by Rebecca Simmonds and Jack Miles,
– “In This Moment” from FLIP by Josh Bird and Giles Fernand,
– “Time Slows Down” from Black Holes Like Donuts by Sam Norman and Eliza Randall, and
– “Unstoppable” from The Unstoppable Letty Pegg by Helen Arney and James Hughes.