Musical Stars Vie with Plays in Standard Awards

The Evening Standard has published its shortlists in its 56th annual Evening Standard Theatre Awards, the winners of which will be announced this Sunday night (28 November 2010) in a black-tie ceremony at the newly reopened Savoy Hotel. The full shortlists are below…

In one of the most eclectic selection of Best Actress contenders, two musical leading ladies – Sheridan Smith for Legally Blonde and Elena Roger for Passion – go head-to-head with stars from two plays, Nancy Carroll for her role in the National’s revival of Terence Rattigan’s After the Dance and Sophie Thompson for her comic turn in Bruce Norris’ satire Clybourne Park, which transfers from the Royal Court to the West End in the new year.

There are three more conventional nominees for Best Actor: David Suchet for Arthur Miller’s All My Sons in the West End, and Roger Allam and Rory Kinnear for their Shakespeare turns in two plays apiece, Allam as Falstaff in Henry IV Parts One and Two at the Globe, and Kinnear for Hamlet at the National and Measure for Measure at the Almeida.

The Royal Court continues its winning streak – after its success across the various awards ceremonies with Jerusalem and Enron – with a lockout on this year’s Best Play category, with Mike Bartlett’s Cock, seen at the Court Upstairs, up against Roy Williams’ Sucker Punch and Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park.

And 25 years on, Boubil and Schonberg’s Les Miserables has propelled itself into the running for Best Musical, against Legally Blonde and Passion.

The Evening Standard Awards are the first in the annual awards season. They’re followed by our own Whatsonstage.com Awards, the “theatregoers’ choice”, for which shortlists are announced at our launch party on Friday 3 December following theatregoer nominations from 1 November, the Critics’ Circle and the Laurence Olivier Awards.

** TO NOMINATE YOUR FAVOURITES IN THE WHATSONSTAGE.COM AWARDS, CLICK HERE! **

The full shortlist of contenders in this year’s 56th annual Evening Standard Theatre Awards, which covers openings up until the end of October 2010, are (in alphabetical order):

BEST ACTOR

• David Suchet for All My Sons (Apollo Theatre)
• Roger Allam for Henry IV Parts One and Two (Shakespeare’s Globe)
• Rory Kinnear for Measure For Measure (Almeida theatre) and Hamlet (National Theatre, Olivier)

The Natasha Richardson Award for BEST ACTRESS

• Elena Roger for Passion (Donmar Warehouse)
• Nancy Carroll for After The Dance (National Theatre, Lyttelton)
• Sheridan Smith for Legally Blonde The Musical (Savoy theatre)
• Sophie Thompson for Clybourne Park (Royal Court)

BEST PLAY

• Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris (Royal Court)
• Cock by Mike Bartlett (Royal Court)
• Sucker Punch by Roy Williams (Royal Court)

The Ned Sherrin Award for BEST MUSICAL

• Legally Blonde The Musical (Savoy Theatre)
• Les Misérables (2010) (Cameron Mackintosh production at the Barbican Theatre)
• Passion (Donmar Warehouse)

BEST DIRECTOR

• Howard Davies for The White Guard (National Theatre, Lyttelton) and All My Sons (Apollo theatre)
• Laurie Sansom for Beyond The Horizon and Spring Storm (both National Theatre, Cottesloe)
• Nicholas Hytner for The Habit Of Art (National Theatre, Lyttelton), London Assurance (National Theatre, Olivier) and Hamlet (National Theatre, Olivier)
• Thea Sharrock for After The Dance (National Theatre, Lyttelton)

BEST DESIGN

• Bunny Christie for The White Guard (National Theatre, Lyttelton)
• Christopher Oram for Passion and Red (both Donmar Warehouse)
• Miriam Buether for Sucker Punch (Royal Court) and Earthquakes In London (National Theatre, Cottesloe)

The Charles Wintour Award for MOST PROMISING PLAYWRIGHT

• Anya Reiss for Spur Of The Moment (Royal Court)
• DC Moore for The Empire (Royal Court)
• Nick Payne for If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (Bush theatre) and Wanderlust (Royal Court)

The Milton Shulman Award for OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER

• Daniel Kaluuya, for his performance in Sucker Punch (Royal Court)
• Isabella Laughland, for her performance in Wanderlust (Royal Court)
• Melanie Chisholm, for her performance in Blood Brothers (Phoenix theatre)
• Shannon Tarbet, for her performance in Spur Of The Moment (Royal Court)
• You Me Bum Bum Train, created by Kate Bond and Morgan Lloyd (LEB Building, E2)