The Whatsonstage.com Award Winners are Announced

Matilda the Musical Honoured Alongside One Man, Two Guvnors, Shrek the Musical and More

Just as the Academy Awards are preceded by a wealth of other awards shows in the run-up to the big event, such as the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes, the Laurence Olivier Awards follow the same path. So with that in mind it was the turn of the Whatsonstage.com Awards to dish out their accolades last night (Sunday 19th February 2012) in a ceremony at the Prince of Wales Theatre. The event saw a range of much-loved London shows receive various awards.

The top winner of the night would have to be “Matilda the Musical”, the Royal Shakespeare Company production that is running at the Cambridge Theatre following its previous appearance at the Courtyard Theatre. The show took home the awards for Best New Musical, Best Choreographer (Peter Darling), London Newcomer of the Year (Tim Minchin) and Best Set Designer (Rob Howell, also for “Ghost the Musical”).

Meanwhile, “Ghost the Musical” was also the recipient of numerous awards, including Best Actor in a Musical (Richard Fleeshman) and Best Lighting Designer (Hugh Vanstone). It was matched by “Shrek the Musical”, which picked up awards for Best Actress in a Musical (Amanda Holden) and Best Supporting Actor in a Musical (Nigel Harman).

Plays also got a look-in and one of the big winners of the night was “One Man, Two Guvnors”, a production that has earned widespread praise since it opened at the National Theatre and then the West End. The production is due to continue at the Adelphi Theatre until Saturday 25th February 2012 with James Corden in the lead role, before Owain Arthur takes over as it transfers to the Theatre Royal Haymarket on Friday 2nd March 2012. It took home the awards for Best Actor in a Play (James Corden), Best Supporting Actor in a Play (Oliver Chris) and Best New Comedy.

Meanwhile, further productions to win awards included “The Wizard of Oz”, “Les Misérables”, “Sweeney Todd” and “War Horse”, in addition to productions that have since closed like “Driving Miss Daisy”, “Much Ado About Nothing”, “Season’s Greetings” and “Frankenstein”, among others.