The Stage's inaugural Debut Awards has brand-new musical theatre talent categories including Best Actor in a Musical, Best Actress in a Musical and Best Composer. There's also a Best West End Debut category which includes some already very big names. How many of your #StageFaves are in the running?
The Stage today announces the shortlist for its inaugural The Stage Debut Awards. The awards recognise the best breakthrough actors and creatives in theatre. Winners are announced at an invitation-only ceremony in central London on Sunday 17 September 2017.
First-time performances from actors as young as 16 and established stars making their theatre debuts such as The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells are among the nominations. Meanwhile, in The Joe Allen Best West End Debut category, nominees include Star Wars’ John Boyega, Glee’s Amber Riley, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’s Anthony Boyle. The shortlist highlights the breadth of new talent on and off stage with categories celebrating performers, writers, composers and directors. The shortlist includes actors and creatives working in Manchester, Belfast, Bristol, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Chichester, Liverpool, Derby, Stratford-upon-Avon and London.
The Joe Allen Best West End Debut category is the only award to have the winner decided by public vote, and voting is now open. The Joe Allen Best West End Debut celebrates
Mark Shenton, The Stage’s associate editor, joint lead critic and one of the judges, said:
“While the other categories in The Stage Debut Awards only recognise complete newcomers, the Joe Allen Best West End Debut Award is a chance to celebrate talent making their mark in the West End for the first time. We have a really great shortlist that ranges from genuine newcomers like Anthony Boyle, who made his professional debut in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, to Audra McDonald, a legend on Broadway making her belated West End debut in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. This is also the only category that will be put to the public vote, but whoever they chose will be a worthy winner.”
Debut Awards shortlists - Musical theatre categories
Best Actor in a Musical
- Adam J Bernard for Dreamgirls at the Savoy Theatre, London
- Ben Hunter for The Girls at the Phoenix Theatre, London
- Samuel Thomas for Allegro at Southwark Playhouse, London
- Daniel Urch for 110 in the Shade at Ye Olde Rose and Crown, London
Best Actress in a Musical
- Chloe Carrington for Hair at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
- Emily Hughes for Fiddler on the Roof at Everyman Theatre, Liverpool
- Siena Kelly for On the Town at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London
- Miriam-Teak Lee for On the Town at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London
Best Composer
- Jonah Brody for Removal Men at the Yard, London
- Ruth Chan for Snow in Midsummer at the Swan Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon
- Dan Gillespie Sells for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
- Stephen Jackson for Roller Diner at the Soho Theatre, London
The Joe Allen Best West End Debut
- John Boyega for Woyzeck at the Old Vic
- Anthony Boyle for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre
- Andy Karl for Groundhog Day at the Old Vic
- Audra McDonald for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill at Wyndhams Theatre
- Andrew Polec for Bat Out of Hell at the London Coliseum
- Imogen Poots for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Harold Pinter Theatre
- Amber Riley for Dreamgirls at the Savoy Theatre
- Charlie Stemp for Half a Sixpence at the Noel Coward Theatre
