Whatsonstage Awards winners announced
February 18, 2013
The winners of the Whats On Stage awards have been announced, including The Bodyguard winning Best New Musical.
Heather Headley and the cast of The Bodyguard perform at this year’s Whatsonstage Awards. The Bodyguard scooped Best New Musical. Photo: Peter Gibbons
At a ceremony last night, 17 February 2013, at the Palace Theatre in London a host of West End stars gathered for the annual awards, voted for by members of the theatregoing public.
Hosted by Mel Giedroyc and Rufus Hound, over 60,000 people voted for this year’s awards.
Big winners included Chichester’s West End transfer of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, with Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton both taking home awards for Best Actor and Best Actress in a Musical. The show also picked up gongs for Best Musical Revival, Best Director for Jonathan Kent and Best Lighting Designer for Mark Henderson.
Other musicals to take home prizes last night included The Bodyguard, which against stiff competition scooped the Best New Musical award. The arena tour production of Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar saw Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress in a Musical awards go to Tim Minchin and Melanie C respectively.
And hot on the heels of the new film version of Les Miserables, Cameron Mackintosh’s original London production at the Queen’s Theatre won Best West End Show and Best Takeover for Ramin Karimloo for his performance as Jean Valjean.
In other musical awards, pop star Will Young received the London Newcomer of the Year award for his West End debut performance as the Emcee in Cabaret at the Savoy Theatre. Broadway star Idina Menzel, the original Elphaba in Wicked, scooped Best Solo Performance for her West End concert last year, Boy George musical Taboo at Brixton Club House won Best Off-West End Production, and Green Day’s Broadway musical American Idiot took Best Regional Production for its autumn tour.
In drama, Sheridan Smith continued her awards run as she took Best Actress in a Play for Hedda Gabler at the Old Vic. Best Supporting Actress in a Play went to Natalie Casey, currently starring in the National tour of 9 to 5 The Musical, for her performance in the Menier Chocolate Factory’s revival of Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party, which also won Best Play Revival.
Best Actor in a Play went to Rupert Everett for his current theatrical performance as Oscar Wilde in The Judas Kiss at the Duke of York’s Theatre.
Shakespeare’s Globe’s Richard III and Twelfth Night double-bill earned earned three awards: Best Ensemble Performance for the company, Best Shakespearean Production for Twelfth Night and Best Supporting Actor in a Play for Stephen Fry as Malvolio in Twelfth Night.
The National Theatre’s stage adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time was named Best New Play ahead of its transfer to the Apollo Theatre in the West End, and Graham Linehan’s stage version of the Ealing comedy The Ladykillers won Best New Comedy.
In other awards, Danny Boyle’s Olympics Opening Ceremony was rewarded with the Theatre Event of the Year gong. And the late Marvin Hamlisch was honoured in the Best Original Music category for his score for Sweet Smell of Success, which received its UK premiere in October at London’s Arcola Theatre. Hamlisch’s musical A Chorus Line is now running at the London Palladium.
LINKS
Whatsonstage Awards 2013 – complete list of winners
VIDEO
Highlights of the Whatsonstage Awards 2013
RAMIN KARIMLOO in Les Miserables
December 5, 2011
West End star Ramin Karimloo in Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre
RAMIN KARIMLOO, star of Les Miserables. Photo: © Roy Tan
Ramin Karimloo is the stuff that Glee is made of. As a sporty, hockey-playing teenager, not dissimilar to Glee’s Finn Hudson, he was dragged along to see Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. And so a musical theatre star was born.
“From that moment, I thought that’s what I am going to do. It wasn’t a desperate aim. It was a fact,” he told the Daily Telegraph in February this year.
Ramin went on to realise his dream and to star as the Phantom in the hit show, before moving from Her Majesty’s Theatre to the Adelphi Theatre to star in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom sequel, Love Never Dies.
Born in Iran and raised in Canada, Ramin started his career as an actor after singing in rock bands and playing cruise ships. Once in England, he turned to musical theatre, playing a wide range of roles including Enjolras in Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre, Chris in Miss Saigon and Sunset Boulevard.
Ramin also featured in the O2 Arena concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables, returning to the role of Enjolras.
And now it is to Les Miserables that he is returning, playing Jean Valjean in the show until 3 March 2012.
LINKS
SPECIAL OFFER: Save on tickets to Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre in London
Ramin Karimloo to join cast of Les Miserables
October 28, 2011
Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies star to play Jean Valjean in London
Ramin Karimloo to play Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. Photo: Roy Tan
West End actor Ramin Karimloo will star as Jean Valjean in Cameron Mackintosh’s London production of Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre from 29 November 2011 to 3 March 2012. He will take over from Alfie Boe, who is currently playing the role until 26 November 2011.
Ramin will join a cast that includes Hadley Fraser as Javert, Caroline Sheen as Fantine, Alexia Khadime as Eponine, Craig Mather as Marius, Cameron Blakely as Thénardier, Katy Secombe as Madame Thénardier, Liam Tamne as Enjolras and Lisa-Anne Wood as Cosette.
Ramin Karimloo is best known for playing Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s ‘The Phantom’ in both The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre and its sequel, Love Never Dies, which ran at the Adelphi. He also featured in the recent 25th Anniversary celebrations for Phantom at the Royal Albert Hall.
Ramin is no stranger to Les Mis having played Enjolras in the West End – and at the show’s 25th aniversary concert at the O2 last year. His other credits include Miss Saigon.
Mackintosh is currently working on the movie version of Les Miserables with Working Title films, with Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert, Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Helena Bonham Carter as Madame Thenardier and Geoffrey Rush rumoured to be playing Monsieur Thenardier. The movie will be directed by Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) and written by William Nicholson.
LINKS
Book tickets to Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre in London
Celebrating 25 Years, Cameron Mackintosh Presents Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom Of The Opera At The Royal Albert Hall On Saturday 1st And Sunday 2nd October 2011
July 1, 2011
RAMIN KARIMLOO AND SIERRA BOGGESS LEAD A CAST AND ORCHESTRA OF OVER 200 TICKETS ON SALE MONDAY 4TH JULY AT 10.00AM
Cameron Mackintosh is delighted to present Andrew Lloyd Webber’s THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 1st October at 7.30pm and Sunday 2nd October at 1.30pm and 7.00pm. Tickets for “Phantom of the Opera at the Albert Hall” go on sale on Monday 4 July at 10.00am and are available on 0845 401 5045 or at www.phantom25th.com
This lavish, fully staged production of “Phantom of the Opera at the Albert Hall” will star Ramin Karimloo as ‘The Phantom’ and Sierra Boggess as ‘Christine’. They will be joined by Barry James as ‘Monsieur Firmin’, Gareth Snook as ‘Monsieur André’, Liz Robertson as ‘Madame Giry’ and Wynne Evans as ‘Piangi’ together with a cast and orchestra of over 200 and some special guest appearances.
“Phantom of the Opera at the Albert Hall” will be directed by Laurence Connor with Musical Staging and Choreography by Gillian Lynne. The Royal Albert Hall will be transformed with a spectacular and unique design by Matt Kinley inspired by Maria Björnson’s original design. Lighting is by Patrick Woodroffe and Andrew Bridge and Sound by Mick Potter. The original London production was directed by Hal Prince.
Ramin Karimloo’s theatre credits include, leading roles in “Love Never Dies” (2011 Olivier Award Nominee and Winner of the 2011 What’s On Stage Award, both for ‘Best Actor in a Musical’), “The Phantom of the Opera” (Theatre Goers’ Choice Award Nomination) “Les Misérables”, “Miss Saigon”, “The Pirates of Penzance” and “Sunset Boulevard”.
Ramin had the privilege of performing as ‘Enjolras’ in “Les Misérables – A Special Concert at Windsor Castle” to celebrate the centenary of the Entente Cordiale, in front of Her Majesty The Queen and also reprised the role for the 25th Anniversary celebration of “Les Misérables at The 02”. Recordings include: his own album “Within the Six Square Inch” and the première symphonic recording of “Love Never Dies”. Ramin has signed with a major label and is currently recording his
first solo album.
Sierra Boggess is currently starring opposite Tyne Daly in the Broadway revival of Terrence McNally’s “Master Class”. Prior to that, she starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Love Never Dies” in the West End. For her performance as ‘Christine Daae,’ Sierra received a 2011 Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. Sierra’s other NY theatre credits include starring as the title character in the Broadway production of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” (Drama Desk and Drama League nominations and Broadway.com award for Favourite Breakthrough Performance) and in the City Centre Encores! production of “Music in the Air”. She starred as ‘Christine’ in “Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular” and has been seen in the national tours of “Les Misérables” and “West Side Story”. Recordings include the Symphonic Recording of “Love Never Dies” and the Original Cast Album for Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”.
Sir Cameron Mackintosh said “It is amazing to think that the extraordinary success of The Phantom
of the Opera is about to celebrate 25 years.
From the very first performance, audiences have fallen in love with the unique alchemy of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s gorgeous score and Maria Björnson’s fabulously beautiful design, so brilliantly staged by Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne.
The success of the show has become the stuff of theatrical legend so Andrew and I felt we needed to create a really special performance to celebrate the 25th anniversary.
One of the great strengths of The Phantom of the Opera is that being set in an opera house, its production is totally theatrical. So we felt that there could be no better 19th Century theatrical auditorium in London for this occasion than the Royal Albert Hall. With its Victorian red plush and celebrated magnificent organ it is the perfect place for The Phantom to haunt. Though this special staging will naturally be drawn from the brilliant original, it will be both a spectacular and unique
production with a cast and orchestra of over 200 headed by Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess. Both artists have been an outstanding ‘Phantom’ and ‘Christine’ in recent productions and have also enjoyed huge success together as the stars of Love Never Dies.
I have no doubt that these three performances at the Royal Albert Hall will be a thrilling celebration of the Music of the Night.”
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA became the longest running show in Broadway history on 9 January 2006 when it celebrated its 7,486th performance, surpassing the previous record holder “Cats”. This coincided with the Broadway and the US national touring company celebrating an unprecedented 20,000 performances in the United States. In October 2010 the London production celebrated its 10,000th performance.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has won over 50 major theatre awards, including seven Tonys on Broadway and three Olivier Awards in the West End. It won the ‘Most Popular Musical Audience Award’, voted by the public, in the 2002 Laurence Olivier Awards. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, which opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 9 October 1986 starred Michael Crawford as ‘The Phantom’ and Sarah Brightman as ‘Christine.’ It is produced by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Theatre Company Limited.
Worldwide, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has grossed over £3.2 billion. The box office revenues are higher than any film or stage play in history, including “Titanic”, “ET” and “Star Wars”. It has been seen in 145 cities in 27 countries and played to over 100 million people. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is currently showing in London, New York, Budapest, Las Vegas, and Kyoto.
Release issued by: Raw PR
LINKS
Book tickets to the Phantom 25th Anniversary at The Royal Albert Hall
Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London
Karimloo and Boggess confirmed for Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall
July 1, 2011
Cameron Mackintosh has confirmed the leads for the 25th anniversary celebration of The Phantom of the Opera, to be held at the Royal Albert Hall on 1 and 2 of October 2011.
Stars of the Phantom 25th anniversary show, Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess (pictured in Love Never Dies)
Ramin Karimloo, who is currently playing the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies, which runs at the Adelphi Theatre until 27 August, will star in the title role, joined by Sierra Boggess as Christine. Both stars have enjoyed extensive periods playing the roles in both the original show and Love Never Dies.
Tickets will go on sale for the Royal Albert Hall show on Monday 4 July at 10am.
A cast and orchestra of over 200 will feature in the three special performances, which promises to be a lavishly staged new interpretation of the musical, directed by Laurence Connor with musical staging and choreography by the show’s original choreographer Gillian Lynne. A brand new set will feature in the Royal Albert Hall production by Matt Kinley inspired by Maria Björnson’s original designs.
Other cast will include Barry James as Monsieur Firmin, Gareth Snook as Monsieur André, Liz Robertson as Madame Giry and Wynne Evans as Piangi.
Sir Cameron Mackintosh, who produces the original show, said “From the very first performance, audiences have fallen in love with the unique alchemy of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s gorgeous score and Maria Björnson’s fabulously beautiful design, so brilliantly staged by Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne. The success of the show has become the stuff of theatrical legend so Andrew and I felt we needed to create a really special performance to celebrate the 25th anniversary.”
The last celebration for The Phantom of the Opera took place on 23 October last year, to mark the 10,000th performance of the show.
Speculation over a concert or special performance of Phantom had been fuelled by Ramin Karimloo posting on Twitter in March that he would be appearing in the 25th anniversary celebrations, and by an Ebay auction held in aid of Comic Relief, to win ”two great tickets to the Celebration of Phantom’s 25th Birthday in October 2011 – when he [Karimloo] will don the mask as the original Phantom one more time”.
Michael Crawford, currently playing the Wizard in Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, originated the role of the Phantom, alongside Sarah Brightman as Christine. It is still unconfirmed whether Crawford and Brightman will play any part in the celebrations for the show.
The Phantom of the Opera originally opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 9 October 1986 directed by Harold Prince and has won over 50 major theatre awards, including seven Tonys on Broadway and three Olivier Awards in the West End, and has grossed over £3.2 billion worldwide.
LINKS
Book tickets to the Phantom 25th Anniversary at The Royal Albert Hall
Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London
West End Live 2011: Love Never Dies and Billy Elliot
June 24, 2011
West End Live 2011 photos including Ramin Karimloo from Love Never Dies and the cast of Billy Elliot The Musical.
LINKS
View West End Live photos of Rock of Ages and Betty Blue Eyes
View West End Live photos of The Wizard of Oz and Crazy For You
View West End Live photos of Ghost The Musical, Wicked and Jersey Boys
View West End Live photos of Legally Blonde and Lend Me A Tenor
Book tickets to Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace
Book tickets to Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre
Love Never Dies to close at the Adelphi Theatre
June 17, 2011
Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s multi-million pound sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, has announced its closure in the West End.
Rumours have circulated for some time that the show, which is produced by Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group and is housed in one of the company’s theatres, jointly owned with the Nederlanders, was losing a significant amount of money and would struggle to continue unless it saw a sharp rise in box-office receipts.
The National Theatre’s hit new show One Man, Two Guvnors starring Gavin and Stacey’s James Corden will move in to the venue from mid-November 2011.
It is unclear whether Love Never Dies will continue with its international roll-out, including a production in Toronto and a Broadway opening.
The show did open last month in Melbourne to fair reviews, with the Herald Sun giving the show four stars but saying that, “While Love Never Dies sets a visual design standard that will be difficult to surpass, it is disappointing that the narrative and music fail to reach the same lofty heights”. Australian National newspaper The Age said that, “An inspired, often ravishing production for sure, though of a sequel that doesn’t make a strong enough musical or narrative argument for its own existence.”
Lloyd Webber wanted to the show to be completely revisited for the Melbourne opening, recruiting New Zealand director Simon Phillips to work on the show. The hope was that a good production in Melbourne could act as the template for future international productions.
Love Never Dies got off to a decidedly shaky start in the UK, with creative differences between the director Jack O’Brien and Lord Lloyd Webber, prompting the composer to close the show for four days in November 2010 to allow friend and producer Bill Kenwright to make a number of changes.
It had been rumoured that the show would close again for two weeks in September 2011, when the current cast was to change, to incorporate some of the changes made by Simon Phillips from the Melbourne production.
In May, Baz Bamigboye reported in the Daily Mail that Really Useful Group were struggling with £4 million loses from the show despite significant cost cutting.
Other shows that had been thought to be lining up for the Adelphi included a Robert Lindsay-led revival of Camelot directed by David Leveaux.
LINKS
SPECIAL OFFER: Book tickets to Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in London
RUMOUR CHECK-LIST
- Show: Love Never Dies
- Theatre: Adelphi Theatre
- Date closing: 27 August 2011
- Stars: Ramin Karimloo, Celia Graham, David Thaxton
- Composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Director: Jack O’Brien / Bill Kenwright
Source: Daily Mail (17/06/11)
Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary celebrations to be staged at the Royal Albert Hall
May 26, 2011
Plans have been announced for the 25th anniversary celebrations of The Phantom of the Opera this October.
A gala celebration of the long-running show will be staged at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The show’s original choreographer, Gillian Lynne, will stage the spectacle, which will be produced by Phantom’s producer Cameron Mackintosh and the musical’s composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Unconfirmed sources suggest that the show will be a fully staged, brand new production of the show which will run for more than just one evening.
The role of the Phantom will be played by Ramin Karimloo, who is currently starring as the Phantom in Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre and has also spent long periods playing in the original show.
The Stage newspaper is also reporting today that Karimloo will be joined by Sierra Boggess, who will reprise the role of Christine after playing the role in Phantom in Las Vegas and in Love Never Dies in London. The actress is currently in rehearsals for a new production of Terrence McNally’s Master Class on Broadway featuring Tyne Daly.
Stars of the Phantom 25th anniversary show, Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess (pictured in Love Never Dies)
As previously covered on westendtheatre.com, Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful group and Cameron Mackintosh Ltd will team up to produce the large-scale show, following Mackintosh’s dazzling production last October celebrating the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables at the O2.
The last celebration for The Phantom of the Opera took place on 23 October last year, to mark the 10,000th performance of the show. Patrick Woodroffe will design the lighting for the show, advised by original Phantom lighting designer Andy Bridge.
Speculation over a concert or special performance of Phantom had been fuelled by Ramin Karimloo posting on Twitter in March that he would be appearing in the 25th anniversary celebrations, and by an Ebay auction held in aid of Comic Relief, to win ”two great tickets to the Celebration of Phantom’s 25th Birthday in October 2011 – when he [Karimloo] will don the mask as the original Phantom one more time”.
Michael Crawford, currently playing the Wizard in Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, originated the role of the Phantom, alongside Sarah Brightman as Christine. It is unconfirmed whether Crawford and Brightman will play any part in the celebrations for the show.
The show originally opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 9 October 1986 directed by Harold Prince. Over 80 million people have seen the show worldwide, ranking it the most popular entertainment of all time.
LINKS
Book tickets to the Phantom 25th Anniversary at The Royal Albert Hall
Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London
Book tickets to Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in London
Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary celebrations
April 20, 2011
We’ve got the celebration poster, now we are waiting for news of the celebrations.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical The Phantom of the Opera will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year: Phantom first previewed on 27 September 1986 at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London, with its official opening night on 9th October, and it has played at the venue ever since.
New-look poster for The Phantom of the Opera's 25th anniversary
Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful group and the show’s producer, Cameron Mackintosh, are rumoured to be planning a 25th anniversary concert for the musical, following Mackintosh’s large-scale concert celebrations at the O2 last year for the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables.
The last celebration for The Phantom of the Opera took place on 23 October last year, to mark the 10,000th performance of the show.
Further speculation over a concert or special performance of the show has been fuelled by current star of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom follow-up Love Never Dies, Ramin Karimloo. He posted on Twitter last month that he would be appearing in the 25th anniversary celebrations, and an Ebay auction has been held in aid of Comic Relief, to win ”two great tickets to the Celebration of Phantom’s 25th Birthday in October 2011 – when he [Karimloo] will don the mask as the original Phantom one more time”.
Michael Crawford, currently playing the Wizard in Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, originated the role of the Phantom, alongside Sarah Brightman as Christine. Crawford and Brightman would be expected to take part in any celebrations for the show.
Over 80 million people have seen the show worldwide, ranking it the most popular entertainment of all time.
LINKS
Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London
Book tickets to Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in London
Book tickets to The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium
DAVID THAXTON in Love Never Dies
March 17, 2011
Olivier Award winner David Thaxton in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies
Welsh actor David Thaxton won a Best Actor in a Musical Olivier Award in 2011 for his standout performance as Giorgio in Passion at the Donmar Warehouse.
And now he has followed Joseph Millson into the role of Raoul in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre – the composer’s follow-up to The Phantom of the Opera.
David trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Performances in the West End include playing Enjolras in Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre. He has also sang at the opening gala for the Wales Millennium Centre, and played roles in Trial by Jury, The Tailor’s Daughter, The Rake’s Progress, Sweeney Todd, The Cunning Little Vixen and Warchild.
He joins the cast of Love Never Dies alongside Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom, Celia Graham as Christine and Haley Flaherty as Meg.
LINKS
SPECIAL OFFER: Save on tickets to Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in London
