Legally Blonde cleans up at Whatsonstage.com Awards
The publicly voted 2011 Whatsonstage.com awards were doled out last night at the celebrity-packed Prince of Wales Theatre. The ceremony was co-hosted by Jill Halfpenny and Sheridan Smith who both won awards for their roles in the pink and fluffy Legally Blonde, for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress in a Musical respectively. The show also won Best New Musical.
Other winners of the night included Tamsin Grieg for her portrayal of the hard-ass Hollywood agent in A Little Dog Laughed opposite Rupert Friend and Gemma Arterton. The play was also nominated for Best New Comedy but lost out to Yes, Prime Minister.
Best Actor and Actress in a Play went to the stars of All My Sons, David Suchet and Zoe Wannamaker. Rachel Tucker of I'd Do Anything and now Wicked fame won for Best Takeover in a Role. She beat out Griff Rhys-Jones for his role in Oliver! And Lee Mead for his role in Wicked. Love Never Dies cropped up in the Best Actor in a Musical category which Ramin Karimloo won.
The off-West End shows highlighted at the awards included La Boheme at Cock Tavern Theatre which won Best Off West End Production and Broken Glass at Tricycle Theatre whose leading man, Nigel Lindsay won Best Supporting Actor in a Play. Huge congratulations go to Meera Syal who bested theatre stalwarts Michael Gambon and Simon Callow to win Best Solo Performance for Shirley Valentine.
The Whatsonstage.com awards are often compared with the Laurence Olivier Awards whose winners are chosen by “a mixture of distinguished industry professionals, theatre luminaries and members of the public”. Legally Blonde, Jill Halfpenny, Ramin Karimloo, David Suchet, Tamsin Greig and Sheridan Smith are all also nominated for Olivier Awards.
For a very different, refreshingly varied awards ceremony, check out the Off-West End Theatre Awards hosted by Simon Callow on February 27th.
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