It was a glamorous night at the London Coliseum as the 2019 Evening Standard Theatre Awards were revealed with Jamie Lloyd’s reinvention of Evita at the Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park being named Best Musical and Anne-Marie Duff coming out on top in the Best Musical Performance category for her portrayal of the title role in Sweet Charity at the Donmar Warehouse.
Anne-Marie Duff beat Sheridan Smith and Andy Nyman to take the Best Musical Performance statuette for her role in Sweet Charity. The musical revival was Josie Rourke’s swansong production at the Donmar Warehouse.
Jamie Lloyd’s transformative revival of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita was named Best Musical, after a run at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre earlier this year. It transfers to the Barbican in 2020.
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards were hosted by Evening Standard proprietor Evgeny Lebedev, with co-hosts Dame Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue, artistic director and global content advisor of Condé Nast, Damian Lewis, Helen McCrory and Cush Jumbo, who also presented the ceremony.
Actor, co-host and presenter for this year’s awards, Cush Jumbo said:
“It was such an honour to present the 65th Evening Standard Theatre Awards this evening. The awards continue to recognise and celebrate London’s theatre talent, from directors to everyone who works so hard behind the scenes, including the fantastic dancers from The BRIT School who performed with me.”
Guests were entertained with two numbers from musicals opening in London in the past week. Miriam-Teak Lee performed the Katy Perry hit ‘Roar’ from & Juliet and Sam Tutty, a recent graduate of Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, sang ‘Waving through a Window’ from Dear Evan Hansen.
For the second year, a special tribute was made to the Behind-the-Scenes Heroes of theatre, this time dedicated to the Stage Door Keepers. Man in the White Suit star Stephen Mangan introduced the dedication and invited 60 Stage Door Keepers to join him on stage to take a bow.
2019 Musical Theatre Awards
Best Musical
Evita – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Best Musical Performance
Anne-Marie Duff – Sweet Charity, Donmar Warehouse
