Hairspray cleans up at Theatregoers' Choice Awards

Hairspray cleaned up at the annual Theatregoers' Choice Awards this week after collecting 7 out of the 10 awards it was nominated for. This is a record for the awards ceremony - no musical has ever collected so many awards in the history of the Theatregoers Choice Awards before. Awards collected include Best New Musical, Best Director and Best Choreographer. The cast took four awards themselves: Michael Ball and Leanne Jones took theBest Actor and Actress in a Musical award whilst Ben James-Ellis and Tracie Bennett took the Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a Musical.

The producers of the show, Stage Entertainment said, "To win seven is an absolute delight. Our cast, crew and creative team have done wonders at the Shaftsbury Theatre... to get such a definitive thumbs-up from the public, it feels like icing on the cake!" Hairspray was imported from America where director, Jack O'Brien added the following statement: "We are, to put it mildly, overjoyed at the London response."

The show has already had roaring success at the Evening Standard and Critic's Circle ceremonies and after this latest clean up we expect Hairspray to continue its success at the Laurence Olivier Awards next month, where it has received no less than 11 nominations in total.

In other news, awards went to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for the Best Musical Revival Prize with a staggering 42.8% of the vote. Andrew Lloyd Webber was delighted at this news: Joseph celebrates its 40th anniversary on 1st March so it's really terrific that the show is still wowing audiences and winning awards."

Equus was another big hit at the award ceremony, picking up a total of three awards - Best Play Revival, Dewynters London Newcomer of the Year (to Daniel Radcliffe) and the AKA Theatre Event of the Year Award for Radcliffe's pre-production publicity photos. The star of Harry Potter commented on the awards, saying: "I'm truly delighted to have won this prestigious award and thank you so much to everyone at Whatsonstage.com for voting for me. Equus is a tremendous and thought-provoking play, and I'm so proud and honoured to have been a part of this incredible production."

Theatre wise, the Old Vic was a big winner with four awards collected: Best New Play for All About My Mother by Samuel Adamson, Best Supporting Actor went to Dianna Rigg (for the same play), Best Ensemble Performance went to Edward Hall's productions of The Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night and Best Regional Production went to Peter Hall's Pygmalion which will start in May this year.

Published By:
Jon Lane