BLUES IN THE NIGHT at The Kiln / ONCE ON THIS ISLAND at Southwark Playhouse - Sharon Revisited...

Who is the hardest working woman in show biz?  Step up Sharon D Clarke.  Fresh from her award-winning performance in CAROLINE, OR CHANGE onstage and her wide television exposure in DOCTOR WHO last year, she has played Linda Loman in Marianne Elliott's revival of DEATH OF A SALESMAN at the Young Vic which later this year will transfer to the Piccadilly Theatre - but in between that she has found time to light up the mean streets of Kilburn in a revival of the 1980 compilation musical BLUES IN THE NIGHT.

As it's Sharon, it's a role she is revisiting!  Susie McKenna - the revival's director and Sharon's partner - staged a short run of the show in 2014 and has looked for an opportunity to get it back onstage so when the recently revamped Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn - now renamed the teeth-grindingly pretentious The Kiln - made McKenna an associate director, the chance appeared to get Sheldon Epps' musical back before an audience, it's first London appearance in 30 years.

Now Constant Reader, you will remember that in my ongoing blog series of my '50 Favourite Musicals', BLUES IN THE NIGHT made it in at #47.  Following on from similar jazz and blues revue-style shows like BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR, AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' and ONE MO' TIME, with BLUES IN THE NIGHT creator Sheldon Epps changed the format from a night-club setting to a run-down hotel so the songs play more as a musical than an out-front recreation of a cabaret show.  Three women: an ingenue, a weary sophisticate and an older touring blues singer all interact with a man who seems to connect them through classic songs written by Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Ida Cox and Harold Arlen among others.

It's a simple format that works because of the exhilarating song choices and having a tightly-focused quartet and I still remember the pure pleasure I got from the show when I saw it at the Piccadilly Theatre in 1988.  What I didn't know back then was that the marvellous US actress Carol Woods who played The Lady of The Road was understudied by a 22 year-old performer called Sharon D Clarke!  How spooky is that?

An atmospheric live cast recording immortalized the excellent original Donmar Warehouse cast of of Clarke Peters, Woods, Maria Friedman and Debby Bishop and their sizzling renditions have kept the show alive for me down the years so it was interesting to see it afresh.  I cannot say McKenna's production completely blew me away but it was good to see it again - and any chance to see Sharon D Clarke turning it out is a welcome one.

Unsurprisingly it was very much her show, and the combined talents of Clive Rowe, Debbie Kurup and Gemma Sutton all seemed a bit at sea with her galvanizing personality.  It must be a daunting prospect to share the stage with such a powerful performer and the others didn't really seem willing to take it on.  Indeed Rowe and Kurup tended to over-sell their numbers while Gemma Sutton occasionally saw fit to just turn up the volume a little too much.  They all had moments to shine which they certainly seized but seemed to retreat when Sharon strode forward to belt out a number; although I must say - given her dominance of the piece - it was a disappointment that they have dropped the character's version of "Take Me For A Buggy Ride".  They did all come into their own, especially in the group numbers, particularly thrilling in Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's mighty title song.

Sharon had two torch solos in each act which were natural high points, "Lover Man" and "Wasted Life Blues" - she put them over so strongly they were still travelling when they hit the back wall!  The quartet were also joined by two male dancers who lurked at the back of the set and stepped forward occasionally to show off their lithesome steps - there was again a slightly surprising moment when they kissed during one of the numbers which drew a few quiet gasps from the Kilburn cognoscenti.

I did like Robert Jones' atmospheric hotel set with it's multi-level platforms representing the women's rooms and Neil Austin's equally mood-setting lighting.  The onstage band were in tearing form under pianist MD Mark Dickman, setting perfect musical backgrounds to the tales of love and loneliness as sung by the cast.   All in all, I really enjoyed singing the show again - and who could possibly argue when Sharon's character says "Honey I ain't gettin' older...  I'm gettin' better!"  Say amen somebody.

Another show that has Sharon D Clarke's dabs all over it is the 1990 Broadway musical ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.  Our Sharon appeared in the original UK production in 1994 and was nominated for an Olivier Award for playing the earth goddess Asaka and she played the role again in 2009 in a short tour than culminated in a run at Hackney Empire. I had never seen it before so when I saw it popping up at the Southwark Playhouse as part of the The British Theatre Academy's summer programme of productions for amateur youth performers, I jumped.

The lyrics are by Lynn Ahrens (who also wrote the book) with music by Stephen Flaherty, the couple behind the wonderful score for RAGTIME and the musical won the Olivier for Best New Musical in 1994 and last year won a Tony for Best Musical Revival on Broadway.  The show is only 85 minutes long and, on the basis of the production directed and choreographed by Lee Proud at Southwark Playhouse, feels that it's just the right length for such a wispy fantasy but also maddeningly short so you never fully invest in the characters.

Based on a book by Trinidadian writer Rosa Guy, it tells of an island people in the French Antillies whose lives are interrupted by tropical storms and the whims of the four gods of the islands.  After a particularly devastating storm, a young orphaned girl Ti Moune is found hiding in a tree and adopted by an older couple, Euralie and Ton Ton.  The island is divided between the descendants of the original darker islanders and the fairer-skinned descendants of French planters and Ti Moune grows up wondering what the rich people are like.

Her life changes when she discovers the crashed car of Daniel Beauxhomme, the badly-injured son of a wealthy planter family.  Ti Moune falls for him and nurses him slowly back to health but when Papa Ge, the demon of death, arrives to take Daniel, Ti Moune offers to exchange her life for his.  The demon is taken aback by her love but threatens to return one day to claim his prize.

Daniel is taken back to his mansion but Ti Moune is determined to follow him and sets off helped by the guiding presence of Asaka the goddess of the earth.  Ti Moune is reunited with Daniel who is still recovering but is captivated by her innocence and love, however he is betrothed to the haughty Andrea Devereaux who gleefully informs Ti Moune that they are to be married soon.  Ti Moune is thrown into despair, just as the demon Papa Ge appears, determined to have one of their lives...

As you can see there is a lot to pack in to it's 85 minutes running time but when it ended it felt not enough time had been invested in any character, it was all very odd.  Director/choreographer Lee Proud however kept the action flowing with the company rushing along the central playing area and as you are never too far from a song, there is also plenty of energetic and exciting choreography which is punched over by the young company.

The non-professional cast certainly put their all into it - maybe too much as quite a few of them were frequently inaudible including Jonathan Chen as the earth goddess Asaka - Sharon D Clarke's role - who has the big production number "Mother Will Provide" but sadly the lyrics were lost in an attempt to just belt it out.  There were however some delightful performances which would grace any West End production: Aviva Tulley as the goddess of love Erzule was well partnered by Martin Cush's menacing demon of death Papa Ge, while Marie-Anna Caufour was a warmly sympathetic mother Euralie.

The best performance came from Chrissie Bhima as an impassioned and loving Ti Moune: she had an exceptional singing voice and while the character might have been a bit milque-toast she was never less than charismatic.  Sam Tutty as Daniel was hardly her match but he sang his big number "Some Girls" well and with feeling.

Ahrens and Flaherty's lovely Calypso-flavoured score sounded great and certainly deserves further exploring; it was well played by Chris Ma's six-piece band and I am happy to report that despite the occasional misfire, it was a delight to see the cast and the show itself.  The British Theatre Academy offers young amateur performers the chance to train and develop alongside professionals for the Academy's summer season of four or five productions.  It's a great idea and hopefully some of the ONCE ON THIS ISLAND cast will pursue a career in performing.  Who knows... there might just be a future Sharon D Clark in there....

Redux: CAROLINE OR CHANGE at Playhouse / THE NUTCRACKER at Covent Garden

Now we are at the end of 2018 it was interesting to be able to look back at productions previously seen which are now revived: the Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori musical CAROLINE, OR CHANGE which transferred from Chichester to Hampstead earlier this year and is now shouting out at the Playhouse Theatre and also the Royal Ballet's evergreen - or ever-snowy - THE NUTCRACKER with choreography by Peter Wright.

It was good to see CAROLINE, OR CHANGE again and I found it again to be a musical that resists the urge to make it easy for it's audience, with five characters all locked in their own private mental spaces and who find connecting to be fraught with suspicion and defensiveness which makes for a difficult first act as it's hard to see where the audience's sympathies should lie.  However the second act reveals cracks in the characters' carapaces giving them the possibility of  connecting: mother to daughter, stepmother to stepson.

Sharon D. Clarke is still playing the Louisiana single mother Caroline Thibodeaux who supports her daughter and two sons by being the 'daily' for the Jewish Gellman family.  Caroline spends most of her time in the basement service room with the washing machine, the dryer and the radio - unsurprisingly the creators have these appliances personified and they sing songs that illustrate and comment on Caroline's situation.

Caroline is a defensive, guarded woman, quietly angry at the world and finds it hard to accept affection from any quarter, while her eldest daughter Emmie is quietly angry with society's attitudes and her mother's inability to accept change, Stuart Gellman is a widower still grieving for his dead wife although his has since remarried, his new wife Rose is growing more and more unhappy with her distant husband and his guarded son Noah who is himself still grieving for his dead mother and who constantly tries to engage with Caroline who is amiable but keeps him at arm's length. In the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination, the characters all have to face up to change and all the implications of their actions.

Practically all the original cast have transferred to the Playhouse and the performances have grown with their exploration of the deeply woven characters: Lauren Ward and Alastair Brokenshaw as Rose and Stuart Gellman, Teddy Kempner as Rose's firebrand father from New York and Naana Agyei-Ampadu as Caroline's more outgoing fellow domestic Dotty. There is also stand-out support from Me'sha Bryan as the bubbly Washing Machine and Angela Caesar as the ever-watchful Moon.

Abiona Omonua is marvellous as Emmie who yearns to break free from her mother's demands to be submissive and to stay in her place; she has a lovely singing voice and has a vital presence on stage.  However the show is dominated by the mighty Sharon D. Clarke as Caroline, her solitary pain burns off the stage and you are on the edge of your seat waiting for her eventual explosion and indeed when she breaks and sings the searing "Lot's Wife" Clarke releases a tsunami of pent-up anger and pain that hits hard.  With this role, Sharon D. Clarke ascends to being a true theatre great, and her recent tv appearances in the new DOCTOR WHO will surely bring her a much-deserved wider fame.

Nigel Lilly's music direction brings Tesori's challenging score to vibrant life, Fly Davis' set and costumes look fine in their new home, Ann Yee's choreography is still thrilling and Michael Longhurst's direction holds the whole production together, quite the more remarkable for this being his first musical.  CAROLINE, OR CHANGE is booking until 6th April and I recommend it highly.

In a different world totally to Caroline and her basement is Peter Wright's glorious version of Tchaikovsky's THE NUTCRACKER at Covent Garden.  This was our third time seeing it but it is so magical it is always worth a re-visit. I don't think I can improve on what I blogged in 2015 after my first visit to it:  "The production is simply enchanting, radiating warmth and goodwill like a particularly large glass of mulled wine.  Helped immeasurably by the late Julia Trevelyan Oman's designs, Wright's take on the story has the magician Drosselmeyer mourning that his nephew has been transformed by an enemy into a nutcracker, as you do!  His chance to undo the spell comes with a Christmas invitation to a family where he gives the nutcracker to the young daughter Clara."

Clara and the newly-restored nephew have adventures before visiting the court of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince and also experience the the divertissements organized by Drosselmeyer, and all danced to Tchaikovsky's magical score which features some of ballet's greatest hits.

We were spoilt in 2015 as we saw Francesca Hayward as Clara, Alexander Campbell as The Nutcracker, Gary Avis as Drosselmeyer, Iana Salenko as The Sugar Plum Fairy and Steven McRae as her Prince, a truly memorable cast which has not been replicated since, this year we had Emma Maguire as a vivacious Clara, Luca Acri as an athletic Nutcracker, Christopher Saunders as Drosselmeyer, Yasmine Naghdi as Sugar Plum and Ryoichi Hirano as the Prince.  They were all fine but lacking the star wattage of the 2015 cast, however we were lucky to have the wonderful Itziar Mendizabel as the focal point of the Arabian dance, sinuous and statuesque.

Christopher Carr staged it wonderfully again and the ROH Orchestra made Tchaikovsky's score flood the auditorium to the rafters under the baton of Barry Wordsworth.  If you have never experienced this production you really are missing a magical experience: all performances appear to be sold out for the rest of the run but it does get revived occasionally on cinema screens and the DVD of the production is also available.

50 Favourite Musicals: 47: BLUES IN THE NIGHT (1980) (various)

The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and, as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast recording of my life:

First performed: 1980, Playhouse 46 NY
First seen by me: 1988, Piccadilly Theatre, London

Productions seen: two

Score: various

Book: Sheldon Epps

Plot: Three women sit in a run-down hotel waiting for the same no-good man to appear, and sing their lives through the classic blues and torch songs of the Golden Age of American jazz.

Five memorable numbers: BLUES IN THE NIGHT, ROUGH AND READY MAN, FOUR WALLS (AND ONE DIRTY WINDOW) BLUES, TAKE ME FOR A BUGGY RIDE, WASTED LIFE BLUES

Following on from similar jazz and blues revue-style shows like BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR and ONE MO' TIME, BLUES IN THE NIGHT changed the format from a night-club setting to a run-down hotel so the songs play more as a musical than an out-front recreation of a cabaret show.  Three women: an ingenue, a sophisticate and an older touring blues singer all interact with a man who seems to connect them through classic songs written by Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Ida Cox and Harold Arlen among others.  It's a simple format that works because of the exhilarating song choices and having a tightly-focused quartet and I still remember the pure pleasure when I saw it 30 years ago.  An atmospheric live cast recording immortalizing the excellent original London quartet of Clarke Peters, Carol Woods, Maria Friedman and Debby Bishop has kept the show alive for me and I look forward to seeing a new production next year with Sharon D. Clarke and Clive Rowe in Kilburn,

Here is a compilation of scenes from a 1989 tv version of BLUES IN THE NIGHT with Peters, Woods, Bishop and Friedman.  The video quality is a bit shonky but it does give a flavour of the show's fun...

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE at Hampstead Theatre - Sharon D. Clarke ain't backing down...

Sometimes a musical comes along that seems so unique that you wonder will it ever find an audience.  One such show is CAROLINE, OR CHANGE which packs so much in that it makes writing about it tricky... where do you begin??

I must admit most of what I knew about CAROLINE, OR CHANGE was from Dori Berinstein's excellent documentary SHOW BUSINESS: THE ROAD TO BROADWAY which covered the 2004 season and the journey from previews to Tony nominations for CAROLINE, AVENUE Q, WICKED and TABOO among others: CAROLINE was nominated for six but came away with only Best Supporting Actress.

I can't remember why I didn't see it in 2006 at the National Theatre when it won the Olivier Award for Best Musical, but when it was announced that powerhouse actress Sharon D. Clarke would be leading a revival at Chichester last year then I knew it would be something to see and hear.  Luckily the revival transferred to Hampstead and it has been announced that it will transfer again to Playhouse Theatre in the west end.

The collaboration between book-writer and lyricist Tony Kushner and composer Jeanine Tesori had a long gestation period as they workshopped and tried different approaches to the material which came from Kushner's own childhood, growing up in a middle-class Jewish family in Louisiana who hired a local black woman to be their maid.  In 1963 - if you are wondering if the Kennedy assassination is mentioned WHADDYA THINK?? - Caroline Thibodeaux is a single mother bringing up three children in Louisiana, just getting by on her wages for keeping house for the middle-class Jewish Gellman family.

The son, Noah, is eight years old and still coming to terms with, not only the recent death of his mother, but his father's remarriage to Rose Stopnick.  It's an unhappy family all-round, Rose is unsure of her position with the phlegmatic Caroline or how she can establish herself with Noah and his still-grieving father Stuart.  Noah has grown closer to the no-nonsense Caroline who let's the boy light her one cigarette of the day in the utility basement.  Caroline is not lonely down there however.. not with the radio and washing machine that sing to her.

As the country reverberates to the death of Kennedy, Rose admonishes Noah for leaving money in his trouser pockets and, to teach him a lesson, tells Caroline that she can keep any money she finds in his pockets.  Although money is a concern, proud Caroline wrestles with taking the boy's money as she has also refused Rose's extra food.  She gives in however, much to her children's delight who can now buy comics and sweets, but what she doesn't know is that Noah is deliberately leaving the money for his friend Caroline.

Rose's father visits for a Hanukkah dinner but events go awry when Caroline's daughter Emmie answers back when the old man talks about Martin Luther King; Caroline is mortified that her daughter would do this and they argue.  Meanwhile Mr Stopnick has given Noah $20 as a Hanukkah present but he has left it in his trousers by mistake... and Caroline doesn't want to give it back.  Change is in the air... how will Caroline cope?

Michael Longhurst's production has a couple of stutters but on the whole it is a remarkably bracing evening, it helps that the show is sung-through although thankfully no Lloyd Webber recitative is in evidence to provoke yawns.  Tesori's score is constantly interesting, using different styles of music from pop to kletzmer filtered through a Broadway idiom to include the two families' stories.

Kushner's story can look bizarre with it's singing washing machine, dryer, radio and even the bus, but the convoluted lives of his characters, all on the cusp of change, is involving; the only odd note is that Noah's father is so mournful over the recent death of his first wife you wonder how or why did he get married a second time to Rose?

The set and costumes by Fly Davis, Ann Yee's choreography and Jack Knowles' lighting all add their distinctive touches to the show and Longhurst has an excellent company who all have moments to shine.  Charlie Gallacher did very well as Noah, he is rarely offstage but kept up a good performance throughout - it's a tough role for just a boy but he did well.  As Noah's father Stuart, Alastair Brookshaw also did well to give a performance through the overall gloom of his character, and Teddy Kempner was very good as Mr Stopnick, Rose's left-wing father who provokes with his arguments.

Me'sha Bryan, Angela Caesar, and Ako Mitchell all gave fine voice to The Washing Machine, The Moon and the Dryer/Bus while T'Shan Williams, Sharon Rose and Carole Stennett are great as collective voice of The Radio which keeps Caroline going through her work day.  It was great to see T'Shan Williams again after her great performance in last year's THE LIFE.

There are very fine performances from Lauren Ward as Rose, the young wife trying to find her place both upstairs and downstairs in her new home to varying degrees of success, and from Abiona Omonua as Emmie, Caroline's oldest daughter who can see the future coming and wants in, no matter how much it will upset her mother.

But the show belongs to the unstoppable Sharon D. Clarke as Caroline.  In possibly the performance of her career, Clarke is relentless as the emotionally-shutdown Caroline.  Unsmiling, terse, radiating a doughty wariness, her Caroline gives no inch - the scene where Noah and Caroline shout insults at each other was ferociously done.  The show's climax is a fierce solo for Caroline - it's like Tesori and Kushner are doing CAROLINE'S TURN, a number where the character finally lets her pent-up passion burst out.

It goes without saying that Sharon D. Clarke ripped through the song with pain and power; as I watched her I thought there is no reason why she should not play Sally in the National's revival of FOLLIES next year...

As Owen said, it was such a relief to see Sharon's beaming smile at the curtain-call!  The news that came through after we saw the show of it's West End transfer was great - if there are any West End awards going for Best Actress in a Musical next year then our Sharon deserves them all.

If you fancy a show that constantly surprises... CAROLINE, OR CHANGE is the one for you.

It will run at the Playhouse Theatre from 20th November to 9th February 2019...

and the envelope please...

It's the end of the year so apart from comedy fireworks going off everywhere it also means it's time for the 11th Annual Chrissies...it's the one that they want.

BEST DRAMA (Original/Revival)

THE FERRYMAN - Jez Butterworth (Gielgud)

Nominees:

ANGELS IN AMERICA (Lyttelton) / THE GLASS MENAGERIE  (Duke of Yorks) /
HEDDA GABLER (Lyttelton) / WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (Harold Pinter)

 BEST MUSICAL (Original/Revival)

 FOLLIES - Stephen Sondheim (Olivier)

 Nominees:

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (Dominion) / EVERYBODY'S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE (Apollo) / 42nd STREET (Drury Lane) / THE LIFE (Southwark Playhouse)

BEST BALLET/OPERA

 ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND - Christopher Wheeldon (Covent Garden)

Nominees:

THE DREAM; SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS; MARGUERITE AND ARMAND (Covent Garden) / FLIGHT PATTERN (Covent Garden) / JEWELS (Covent Garden) / MAYERLING (Covent Garden)

BEST ACTOR (Drama)

 ANDREW SCOTT - Hamlet (Almeida)

 Nominees:

SIMON RUSSELL BEALE (The Tempest) / PADDY CONSIDINE (The Ferryman) /
BRYAN CRANSTON (Network) / CONLETH HILL (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)

BEST ACTRESS (Drama)

IMELDA STAUNTON - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Harold Pinter)

Nominees:

LAURA DONNELLY (The Ferryman) / CHERRY JONES (The Glass Menagerie) / 
 AUDRA McDONALD (Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill) / RUTH WILSON (Hedda Gabler)

BEST ACTOR (Musical)

 PHILIP QUAST - Follies (Olivier)

Nominees:

ROBERT FAIRCHILD (An American in Paris) / ALEXANDER HANSON (...Committee...)
/ TOM LISTER (42nd Street) / JOHN McCREA (Everybody's Talking About Jamie)

BEST ACTRESS (Musical)

 IMELDA STAUNTON - Follies (Olivier)

 Nominees:

JANIE DEE (Follies) / CLARE HALSE (42nd Street) / 

SANDRA MARVIN (...Committee...) / JOSIE WALKER (Everybody's Talking About Jamie)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Drama)

NATHAN LANE - Angels In America (Lyttelton)

Nominees:

STUART GRAHAM (The Ferryman) / JOHN HODGKINSON (The Ferryman) /  

NATHAN STEWART-JARRETT (Angels In America) / PETER WIGHT (Hamlet)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Drama)

DEARBHLA MOLLOY - The Ferryman (Gielgud)

Nominees:

BRID BRENNAN (The Ferryman) / SUSAN BROWN (Angels In America) / 

 KATE O'FLYNN (The Glass Menagerie) / JULIET STEVENSON (Hamlet)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Musical)

PETER FORBES - Follies (Olivier)

 Nominees:

MARK HADFIELD (Pinocchio) / CORNELL S. JOHN (The Life) / 

CHRIS KIELY (Yank!) / ANTHONY O'DONNELL (...Committee...)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Musical)

 SHARON D. CLARKE - The Life (Southwark Playhouse)

Nominees:

JOSEPHINE BARSTOW (Follies) / DI BOTCHER (Follies) / 

DAWN HOPE (Follies) / LUCIE SHORTHOUSE (Everybody's Talking About Jamie)

BEST BALLET/OPERA MALE

AKRAM KHAN - Desh (Sadler's Wells)

Nominees:

DANNY COLLINS (Early Adventures) / STEVEN McRAE (The Dream) / 

STEVEN McRAE (Rubies) / LIAM MOWER (Cinderella)

  BEST BALLET/OPERA FEMALE

 ZENAIDA YANOWSKY - Marguerite and Armand (Covent Garden)

 Nominees:

LAUREN CUTHBERTSON (The Judas Tree) / LAUREN CUTHBERTSON (Mayerling) / ALESSANDRA FERRI (Woolf Works) / ZENAIDA YANOWSKY (Symphonic Dances)

BEST DIRECTOR

DOMINIC COOKE - Follies (Olivier)

Nominees:

MARIANNE ELLIOTT (Angels in America) / IVO VAN HOVE (Hedda Gabler) / 

JAMES MACDONALD (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) / SAM MENDES (The Ferryman)

BEST DESIGNER

 VICKI MORTIMER - Follies (Olivier)

 Nominees:

BOB CROWLEY (Alices's Adventures in Wonderland / BOB CROWLEY (An American In Paris) / IAN MacNEIL (Angels in America) / JAN VERSWEYVELD (Hedda Gabler)

BEST LIGHTING

  PAULE CONSTABLE - Angels in America (Lyttelton)

Nominees:

PAULE CONSTABLE (Follies) / NATASHA KATZ (An American In Paris) / 

NATASHA KATZ (The Glass Menagerie) / JAN VERSWEYVELD (Hedda Gabler)

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY (Musical)

 BILL DEAMER - Follies (Savoy)

Nominees:

TOM JACKSON GREAVES (The Life) / KATE PRINCE (Everybody's Talking About Jamie) / RANDY SKINNER, GOWER CHAMPION (42nd Street) / CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON (An American in Paris)

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY (Ballet)

CRYSTAL PITE - Flight Pattern (Covent Garden)

Nominees:

FREDERICK ASHTON (Marguerite and Armand) / KENNETH McMILLAN (Mayerling) / KENNETH McMILLAN (The Judas Tree) / CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)