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London
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10 February 2025
The London Palladium welcomed theatre lovers in their thousands for the 25th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards!
A star-studded occasion, the silver anniversary celebration saw performances from MJ the Musical, the WhatsOnStage Award-winning Best New Musical Mean Girls, Becoming Nancy, 42 Balloons and more; including exclusive first performances from Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s summer season.
Here we highlight a few key moments from the event, for you to enjoy too!
And that’s a lot! The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical revival skated into first place, winning seven of its nine nominations. Legendary producer Michael Harrison was name-checked in many speeches and it became a running joke across the evening.
The West End’s newest Elphaba and Glinda, Emma Kingston and Zizi Strallen flew in to The London Palladium to present the Best Takeover Performance award to Layton Williams. During this, the duo referenced the viral moment from the movie’s press tour.
In addition, our hosts Gina and Mazz Murray paid homage to the much-loved musical, and even gave us a battle cry!
Just when everyone thought the ceremony was over, we surprised the audience with Georgina Onuorah giving us a taste of the upcoming musical, Shucked! She’ll be playing the independently owned Lulu in the UK premiere this summer.
That wasn’t all from Regent’s Park, we had an exclusive announcement live on stage – another lead cast member for Brigadoon! Gilli Jones will be playing the role of Charlie Dalrymple in the revival as his professional debut. Guests at the Awards were the first to hear him perform “Come To Me, Bend To Me”!
We might have been in the heart of the West End, but we had musicals from across the country performing at the 25th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards! 42 Balloons flew in from Salford, The Artist treated audiences to a sophisticated offering of what they may have missed in Plymouth, and we had recent hit Becoming Nancy straight from its premiere in Birmingham. We can only hope to see all three of them again very soon.
The appearances coincide with this year’s renaming of Best Off-West End Production to Best Studio Production, to recognise smaller performance spaces. It was awarded to Diary of a Gay Disaster.
While the rollerskating musical was the star(light) of the 25th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards, its creator Lloyd Webber jokingly confessed that he didn’t even believe it to be his best work. In the candid speech – which had the audience laughing – he later went on to describe the joy that the show brings in introducing younger people to theatre. With that, he dedicated the production to his late son, Nick.
This year we introduced a new category recognising WHAM artists in the theatre world! The very first recipients were Jackie Saundercock and Campbell Young Associates for Starlight Express. Excitingly, Glow Up’s Val Garland and Dominic Skinner were the ones to present following the show’s support of the category – and with news on that to follow!
The audience rose to their feet when Staunton took to the iconic stage to collect her Award for Best Performer in a Musical. Her third WhatsOnStage Award is for her leading performance in Hello, Dolly! and people sure were glad to see her.
The duo took to the stage to perform a number from Best Concert Event nominee Pippin, which included some hysterical moments, massive vocals, over-the-top choreography and featured the splits.
This year’s Services to UK Theatre Award went to lighting designer, Paule Constable. Responsible for giving light to War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Angels in America and Les Misérables, to name a few, the occasion was marked with video messages from across the industry. There was a unanimous standing ovation!
Our two glamorous hosts started the show with a medley of “Pure Imagination” and Donna Summer’s “Enough is Enough” – they used it as a warning to keep speeches short and sweet. Throughout, the sisters made sure that everyone was entertained with their knowing jokes and running gags.
The WhatsOnStage Awards are the only major UK theatre awards decided by the theatregoers themselves. At the annual concert ceremonies, alongside seeing the winners crowned, audience members also enjoy a host of exclusive live performances from top theatrical talent.
The Broadway transfer is now officially open, old sport!
