Theater News

The 2021 WhatsOnStage Awards Are This Weekend. Here's What to Expect.

The show will honor 21 “Angels” nominated by audience members for their love and compassion during the pandemic.

The cast of Hair
The cast of Hair
(© Danny Kaan)

The 2021 WhatsOnStage Awards will stream on Sunday, March 14, at 2pm ET. Tickets are available now, and you can get them here.

This year, TheaterMania's sibling site across the pond will not honor individual productions, but will celebrate 21 "Angels" nominated by audiences for their love and care during the ongoing pandemic. These "Angels" will be announced by hosts Jodie Prenger and Tom Read Wilson during the show, and they will be honored with a night of live theater when shows return.

The streaming event will feature performances from all kinds of musicals that were cut short during 2020, along with brand-new shows hoping to open in 2021. The lineup for the Awards is as follows:

– Cedric Neal will perform "Gotta Start Somewhere" from Back to the Future: the Musical, which is gearing up for an eagerly anticipated West End opening at the Adelphi Theatre after its Manchester run was disrupted by the pandemic.

– Ivano Turco will perform "Only You, Lonely You" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's brand-new West End musical Cinderella, opening at the Gillian Lynne Theatre.

– Blake Patrick Anderson, Cleve September, Danielle Fiamanya, Frances Mayli, Grace Mouat, Jodie Steele, Jordan Luke Gage, Layton Williams, Matt Croke, Millie O'Connell and Sophie Isaacs will perform "Let The Sunshine In" from Hair. The outdoor revival of the show played on a jetty outside the Turbine Theatre last year and will be returning for performances at The London Palladium and on tour later in 2021.

– Stage star Siubhan Harrison will perform "Head Over Feet" from Jagged Little Pill, which was nominated for 15 Tony Awards this year.

– Emma Kingston will perform "I Can Do Better Than That" from The Last Five Years after appearing in a socially distanced outdoor revival of Jason Robert Brown's musical at the Minack Theatre.

– Danielle Fiamanya and Matt Croke will perform "Crazy Rolling" from Moulin Rouge! Fiamanya recently appeared in Curve's The Color Purple virtual production, while Croke performed another number from Moulin Rouge! on The Voice UK earlier this year, earning public acclaim.

– Alexia Khadime and Christine Allado will perform "When You Believe" from The Prince of Egypt, which had its gargantuan West End production at the Dominion Theatre temporarily halted by the pandemic last year, but is now set to return.

– Dom Hartley-Harris and Alex Thomas-Smith will perform "I'll Cover You" from Rent, returning to the roles of Collins and Angel after a smash-hit run at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester was cut short by the pandemic.

– Jamie Muscato will perform "Something's Coming" from West Side Story, having led the show when it was mounted at Curve Leicester in winter 2019.

– Oscar Conlon-Morrey and Amy Hart will make appearances to highlight some of the work being done by the theatre community on and off the stage.