Michael Ashley Ball is an English singer, presenter and actor. He made his West End debut in 1985 playing Marius Pontmercy in the original London production of Les Misérables, and went on to star in 1987 as Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera. In 1989, he reached number two in the UK Singles Chart with "Love Changes Everything", a song taken from the musical Aspects of Love, where he played Alex. He played the role in London and on Broadway. His album Coming Home To You reached number one in the UK making it his 4th number one album to date. On 24 April 2020, Ball and Captain Tom Moore entered the UK Singles Chart at number one with a cover of "You'll Never Walk Alone", with combined chart sales of 82,000 making it the fastest-selling single of 2020.
Hugh Panaro is an American actor and singer known for his work on Broadway.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler. It is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled The String of Pearls.
David Bedella is an American actor. He is currently based in London and is best known for his Olivier award-winning roles in Jerry Springer: The Opera, In The Heights and & Juliet.
Musical Youth Theatre Company was an English youth theatre company founded in 1987 in Bath, Somerset in the South West of England.
Rodney Gilfry is a leading American operatic baritone. After launching his career at Frankfurt Opera in 1987, Gilfry quickly established a reputation for stylish singing and acting. A renowned Mozart specialist, he has given acclaimed performances as Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva, Guglielmo, and Papageno, and is also known for his work in roles from the standard baritone repertoire.
Gay Soper is an English actress and singer. Her career includes singing Turn Back, O Man in the original 1971 London production of Godspell. She sang the role of Madam Thenardier on the complete symphonic recording of Les Misérables and she narrated the children's television show The Flumps.
Janie Dee is an English actress and singer. She won the Olivier Award for Best Actress, Evening Standard Award and Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Play, and in New York the Obie and Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer, for her performance as Jacie Triplethree in Alan Ayckbourn's Comic Potential.
Luke Antony Newman Treadaway is a British actor and singer. He won an Olivier Award for Best Leading Actor for his performance as Christopher in the National Theatre's production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in 2013. He has also been nominated for an Evening Standard Theatre Award.
Debbie Kurup is an English actress.
The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Awards, but they were renamed in honour of the British actor of the same name in 1984.
The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.
David Thaxton is a Welsh singer, actor and musical theatre and opera performer. He starred in the Donmar Warehouse's Passion, for which he won the 2011 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. He previously starred as The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre, Enjolras and Javert in the West End production of Les Misérables, and in March 2011, he joined the cast of Love Never Dies, undertaking the role of Raoul de Chagny. Later then playing the role of Kevin T in the London production of Come from Away.
Alex Gaumond is a Canadian actor, singer, songwriter and filmmaker best known for his involvement in West End theatre. He plays series regular gendarme Caron, the chief of police in Sainte Victoire, in the Channel 5 television series The Madame Blanc Mysteries, starring Sally Lindsay.
Killian Donnelly is an Irish tenor. He has appeared in musicals and plays, such as Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, The Commitments, Memphis and Kinky Boots.
The 2012 Evening Standard Theatre Awards were announced on 25 November 2012. The shortlist was revealed on 12 November 2012 and the longlist on 29 October 2012.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a play by Simon Stephens based on the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon. During its premiere run, the play tied the record for winning the most Olivier Awards (seven), including Best New Play at the 2013 ceremony. The play is a National Theatre Production, in association with Frantic Assembly, who specialised in the movement direction.
Stephen Ward is a musical with a book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The musical is based on the 1963 Profumo affair involving the War Minister John Profumo and the socialite Stephen Ward who introduced Profumo to his mistress Christine Keeler, who was also involved with a Russian spy. The musical's world premiere was in London's West End at the Aldwych Theatre in 2013.
Alex Rathgeber is an Australian actor and singer, perhaps best known for his Helpmann Award-winning performance as Billy Crocker in Anything Goes. More recently he appeared as the Tin Man in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Wizard of Oz.
Cris Groenendaal is a retired American musical theatre actor and opera singer. He has performed in the original Broadway productions of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sunday in the Park with George, The Phantom of the Opera and Passion, as well as appearing in the original cast of the 1996 Broadway revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.