The 21st Annual WhatsOnStage Awards are forging ahead, with a ceremony and concert recorded at the Turbine Theatre and streaming on Sunday 14th March. Tickets available here.
2020 being what it was means things will have to be different and the concert will be shining a light on a mixture of performances from shows that had their runs disrupted by the pandemic, those created during lockdown and those to look forward to in the future.
Hosted by Jodie Prenger and Tom Read Wilson, the event will also be celebrating 21 “Angels” – nominated by audiences for shown love and care to others during the pandemic. These “Angels” will be revealed on the night and treated to a night of live theatre when shows return.
The line-up features:
– Cedric Neal will perform “Gotta Start Somewhere” from Back to the Future the Musical, which is gearing up for an eagerly anticipated West End opening at the Adelphi Theatre after its Manchester run was disrupted by the pandemic
– Lizzie Bea, set to lead the West End revival of Hairspray later this year at The London Coliseum, will perform “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel
– Ivano Turco will perform “Only You, Lonely You” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s brand new West End musical Cinderella, opening at the Gillian Lynne Theatre
– Blake Patrick Anderson, Cleve September, Danielle Fiamanya, Frances Mayli, Grace Mouat, Jodie Steele, Jordan Luke Gage, Layton Williams, Matt Croke, Millie O’Connell and Sophie Isaacs will perform “Let The Sunshine In” from Hair. The outdoor revival of the show played on a jetty outside the Turbine Theatre last year and will be returning for performances at The London Palladium and on tour later in 2021
– Stage star Siubhan Harrison will perform “Head Over Feet” from Jagged Little Pill, which was nominated for the most Tony Awards of the season (15) last autumn
– Emma Kingston will perform “I Can Do Better Than That” from The Last Five Years after appearing in a socially distanced outdoor revival of Jason Robert Brown’s musical at the Minack Theatre
– Danielle Fiamanya and Matt Croke will perform “Crazy Rolling” from Moulin Rouge!. Fiamanya recently appeared in Curve’s The Color Purple virtual production, while Croke performed another number from Moulin Rouge! on The Voice UK earlier this year, earning public acclaim
– Alexia Khadime and Christine Allado will perform “When You Believe” from The Prince of Egypt, which had its gargantuan West End production at the Dominion Theatre temporarily halted by the pandemic last year, but is now set to return
– Dom Hartley-Harris and Alex Thomas-Smith will perform “I’ll Cover You” from Rent, returning to the roles of Collins and Angel after a smash-hit run at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester was cut short by the pandemic
– Jamie Muscato will perform “Something’s Coming” from West Side Story, having led the show when it was mounted at Curve Leicester in winter 2019.
– Oscar Conlon-Morrey and Amy Hart will make appearances to highlight some of the work being done by the theatre community on and off the stage.
The awards will reunite a number of creatives from last year, including producer Paul Taylor-Mills, musical director Alex Parker and lighting and set designer Jack Weir.
