2017 WhatsOnStage Awards
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2017 WhatsOnStage Awards
The WhatsOnStage Awards, founded in 2001 as the Theatregoers' Choice Awards, are a fan-driven set of awards organised by the theatre website WhatsOnStage.com WhatsOnStage.com is a London-based website that provides information about, and offers tickets for, theatrical performances in the United Kingdom. It also organises the annual WhatsOnStage Awards. Founded in 1996, it has been owned by the Americ ..., based on a popular vote recognising performers and productions of English theatre, with an emphasis on London's West End theatre. The 2017 Whatsonstage Award winners and nominees were: References {{WhatsOnStage Awards British theatre awards ...
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WhatsOnStage Awards
The WhatsOnStage Awards (WOS Awards), formerly known as the Theatregoers' Choice Awards, are organised by the theatre website WhatsOnStage.com. The awards recognise performers and productions of British theatre with an emphasis on London's West End theatre. Nominations and eventual winners are selected by the theatre-going public's vote. The awards are held each February. In 2012, they were staged at the West End's Prince of Wales Theatre. History In early 2001, WhatsOnStage.com published the shortlists for that year’s Laurence Olivier Awards and invited site visitors to vote online for who they thought should win. In a fortnight, 5,000 people took part – and their results differed wildly from the Olivier judges. For the 2002 Awards, the editors compiled their own shortlists and in 2003, they held their first Launch Party to announce the shortlists to about 200 industry guests. The first Awards Concert and ceremony was introduced for the 2008 Awards. Judging Each year ...
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Travesties
''Travesties'' is a 1974 play by Tom Stoppard. The play centres on the figure of Henry Carr, an elderly man who reminisces about Zürich in 1917 during the First World War, and his interactions with James Joyce when he was writing ''Ulysses'', Tristan Tzara during the rise of Dada, and Lenin leading up to the Russian Revolution, all of whom were living in Zürich at that time. Plot The play is primarily set in Zürich, Switzerland during the First World War. At that time, three important personalities were living in Zürich: the modernist author James Joyce, the communist revolutionary Lenin, and Dada founder Tristan Tzara. The play centres on the less notable Henry Carr, a British consular official (also mentioned in Joyce's novel ''Ulysses)'', as he recalls his perceptions and experiences with these influential figures. As he reminisces, Carr's memory becomes prone to distraction, and instead of predictable historical biography, these characters are interpreted through the ma ...
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Billie Piper
Billie Paul Piper (born Leian Paul Piper; 22 September 1982) is an English actress and former singer. She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single "Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest woman to ever enter at number one on the UK Singles Chart. Her follow-up single "Girlfriend" also entered at number one. In 1998, Piper released her debut studio album, ''Honey to the B,'' which was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. Her second studio album, ''Walk of Life'', was released in 2000 and spawned her third number one single, " Day & Night". In 2003, Piper announced that she had abandoned her music career to focus on an acting career. Piper appeared in the BBC One sci-fi series ''Doctor Who'' as Rose Tyler, companion to the Doctor as a regular between 2005 and 2006, and additionally in 2008, 2010, and 2013. She starred as Belle de Jour in the television drama series ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'' (2007–201 ...
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Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural icon, he has received various accolades, including six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award. The BBC states that his "performances have guaranteed him a place in the canon of English stage and film actors". McKellen began his professional career in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre as a member of their highly regarded repertory company. In 1965, McKellen made his first West End appearance. In 1969, he was invited to join the Prospect Theatre Company to play the lead parts in Shakespeare's '' Richard II'' and Marlowe's '' Edward II'', and he firmly established himself as one of the country's foremost classical actors. In the 1970s, McKellen became a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Thea ...
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Ian Hallard
Ian Christopher Hallard (born 9 November 1974) is an English actor and writer. His work includes acting roles in the West End, including the lead role of Michael in a revival of Mart Crowley's '' The Boys in the Band''; at the National Theatre and on television. He has also written and script edited for both television and stage. Early and personal life Hallard was born in Birmingham, West Midlands on 9 November 1974. Following his education at Solihull School and an undergraduate degree at the University of Sheffield, he trained at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts on the Post Graduate Acting course, won a singing scholarship, and graduated in 1998. He lives with his husband, the actor and screenwriter Mark Gatiss. The couple live in Islington in London. Career Theatre Hallard has been acting professionally since 1999, when he appeared in a production of ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' at the Battersea Arts Centre. Since then his roles have included Sordo in '' Scene ...
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Richard III (play)
''Richard III'' is a play by William Shakespeare. It was probably written c. 1592–1594. It is labelled a history in the First Folio, and is usually considered one, but it is sometimes called a tragedy, as in the quarto edition. ''Richard III'' concludes Shakespeare's first tetralogy (also containing ''Henry VI, Part 1'', ''Henry VI, Part 2'', and ''Henry VI, Part 3'') and depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of King Richard III of England. It is the second longest play in the Shakespearean canon and is the longest of the First Folio, whose version of ''Hamlet'', otherwise the longest, is shorter than its quarto counterpart. The play is often abridged for brevity, and peripheral characters removed. In such cases, extra lines are often invented or added from elsewhere to establish the nature of the characters' relationships. A further reason for abridgment is that Shakespeare assumed his audiences' familiarity with his ''Henry VI'' plays, frequentl ...
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Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes ( ; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. A Shakespeare interpreter, he excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before having further success at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has received various accolades including a British Academy Film Award and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and an Emmy Award. He made his film debut playing Heathcliff in ''Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights'' (1992). His portrayal of Nazi war criminal Amon Göth in the Steven Spielberg drama ''Schindler's List'' (1993) earned him nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, and he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. His performance as Count Almásy in ''The English Patient'' (1996) garnered him a second Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actor, as well as BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. Fiennes has appeared in a number o ...
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The Entertainer (play)
''The Entertainer'' is a three-act play by John Osborne, first produced in 1957. His first play, ''Look Back in Anger'', had attracted mixed notices but a great deal of publicity. Having depicted an " angry young man" in the earlier play, Osborne wrote at Laurence Olivier's request about an angry middle-aged man in ''The Entertainer''. Its main character is Archie Rice, a failing music-hall performer. Years later, Tony Richardson, who directed ''The Entertainer'''s premiere season, described Archie as "the embodiment of a national mood ... Archie was the future, the decline, the sourness, the ashes of old glory, where Britain was heading". The first performance was given on 10 April 1957 at the Royal Court Theatre, London. This theatre was well-known for its commitment to new and non-traditional drama, and the inclusion of a West End star such as Olivier in the cast caused much interest. Synopsis The play is in three acts, sub-divided into thirteen scenes. Some are set in ...
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Kenneth Branagh
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has served as its president since 2015. He has won an Academy Award, four BAFTAs (plus two honorary awards), two Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours and knighted on 9 November 2012. He was made a Freeman of his native city of Belfast in January 2018. In 2020, he was listed at number 20 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Branagh has both directed and starred in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays, of which he is a devoted fan, including ''Henry V'' (1989), ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993), ''Othello'' (1995), ''Hamlet'' (1996), '' Love's Labour's Lost'' (2000), and ''As You Like It'' (2006). He was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Director for ''Henry V'' and for Best Adapted Screenplay for ...
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Jamie Parker
Jamie Parker (born 14 August 1979) is an English actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Harry Potter in the original cast for the West End play ''Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'', for which he received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play and a WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor in a Play. He also received a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play as a member of the original Broadway version. Other theatre credits include King Henry in the 2012 Globe production of Shakespeare's ''Henry V'', with notable film roles being Donald Scripps in ''The History Boys'' (2006), adapted by Alan Bennett from his play of the same name in which Parker was a member of the original cast, and Lieutenant Werner von Haeften in ''Valkyrie'' (2008). Early life Parker was born in Middlesbrough, Cleveland, on 14 August 1979 and brought up in Darlington. He attended Loretto School before training in acting at the Royal Aca ...
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Sunset Boulevard (musical)
''Sunset Boulevard'' is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. It is based on the 1950 film of the same title. The plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the fabled Los Angeles street. When young screenwriter Joe Gillis accidentally crosses her path, she sees in him an opportunity to make her return to the big screen, with romance and tragedy to follow. Opening first in London in 1993, the musical has had several long runs internationally and enjoyed extensive tours. However, it has been the subject of several legal battles and ultimately lost money due to its extraordinary running costs. Background From approximately 1952 to 1956, Gloria Swanson worked with actor Richard Stapley (aka Richard Wyler) and cabaret singer and pianist Dickson Hughes on a musical adaptation originally entitled ''Starring Norma Desmond'', then ''Boulevar ...
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Show Boat
''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock workers on the ''Cotton Blossom'', a Mississippi River show boat, over 40 years from 1887 to 1927. Its themes include racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love. The musical contributed such classic songs as "Ol' Man River", " Make Believe", and " Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man". The musical was first produced in 1927 by Florenz Ziegfeld. The premiere of ''Show Boat'' on Broadway was an important event in the history of American musical theatre. It "was a radical departure in musical storytelling, marrying spectacle with seriousness", compared with the trivial and unrealistic operettas, light musical comedies and "Follies"-type musical revues that defined Broadway in the 1890s and early 20th century. According to ''The Complete Book of Light Opera ...
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