The winners of the 2019 Evening Standard Theatre Awards, in association with Michael Kors, were revealed at a ceremony tonight at the London Coliseum.
Andrew Scott won the Best Actor award, given in partnership with the Ambassador Theatre Group, for his performance in a gender-switched version of Noel Coward's autobiographical comedy, Present Laughter.
For the fifth time at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, Dame Maggie Smith was awarded the Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress, given in partnership with Christian Louboutin, for her performance as Goebbels' secretary in A German Life. She now holds the record for most wins in this category, having previously won in 1962, 1970, 1984 and 1994.
The Evening Standard's 2019 Play of the Year is Sweat by Lynn Nottage, which explores the relationships and fears of a community left divided by de-industrialisation. The award, given in partnership with Chanel, was presented by Olivia Colman. Two productions at the Almeida, The Doctor and The Wild Duck won Robert Icke the Milton Shulman Award for Best Director, presented by co-host Helen McCrory.
Sir Ian McKellen accepted the Editor's Award, given for his "Ian McKellen On Stage" tour, to more than 80 theatres in the year of his 80th birthday, with all proceeds going to theatres in need.
The second special award of the evening went to the legendary theatre director, Peter Brook, announced as recipient of Lebedev Award for his contribution to theatre. It was presented by Glenda Jackson who appeared in several of Brook's productions early in her career.
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. In partnership with Michael Kors, Bunny Christie was awarded Best Design for her fearless and imaginary set design for A Midsummer's Night Dream at the Bridge Theatre.
Laurie Kynaston was presented with the Emerging Talent Award, given in partnership with Access Entertainment. He was awarded for his moving performance as a teenager with mental health issues in Florian Zeller's The Son.
seven methods of killing Kylie Jenner, a boldly imaginative play about friendship, identity and internet culture, earned Jasmine Lee-Jones the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright. The award comes with generous donations made by the Evening Standard proprietor Evgeny Lebedev and Dame Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of American Vogue, Artistic Director and Global Content Advisor of Condé Nast, shared among the winner and the other playwrights shortlisted: Zoe Cooper, Yasmin Joseph and Ross Willis.
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards was hosted by Evgeny Lebedev, with co-hosts Dame Anna Wintour, Damian Lewis, Helen McCrory and Cush Jumbo, who also presented the ceremony. The individual awards were presented by Olivia Colman, Helen McCrory, Naomi Scott, Lashana Lynch, Taron Egerton, Sonia Friedman, Michael Kors and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Stephen Mangan, Glenda Jackson, Sir Trevor Nunn, Ruth Wilson and Damian Lewis.
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 the 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.
Due to their strong commitment to the arts and this year sponsoring the awards' focus on Future Talent, Burberry and Bottega Veneta allowed the Evening Standard Theatre Awards to invite more than 700 students from some of the UK's leading drama schools to the evening.
Evening Standard's Proprietor, Evgeny Lebedev says:
"I was delighted to celebrate such extraordinary theatrical talent tonight at the London Coliseum for the 65th iteration of this awards ceremony. Theatre in this city is in rude health and I look forward to seeing what the next generation of thespians can offer in the years to come."
Actor, co-host and presenter for this year's awards, Cush Jumbo says:
"It was such an honour to present the 65th Evening Standard Theatre Awards this evening. The awards continue to recognize 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."
The official after-party, in association with Michael Kors, followed the awards ceremony.
GUESTS INCLUDED: Dame Anna Wintour, Evgeny Lebedev, Damian Lewis, Helen McCrory, Jourdan Dunn, Sir Ian McKellen, Glenda Jackson, Hayley Atwell, Poppy Delevingne, Grayson Perry, Boy George, Christopher Kane, Florence Welch, Arthur Darvill, Wayne McGregor, Fiona Shaw, Laurence Fox, Maya Jama, Vanessa Redgrave and Paul Whitehouse.
Andrew Scott for Present Laughter at the Old Vic
Maggie Smith for A German Life at the Bridge
Sweat by Lynn Nottage at The Donmar Warehouse & Gielgud
Robert Icke for The Doctor & The Wild Duck at the Almeidaa??
Evita at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
Anne-Marie Duff for Sweet Charity at The Donmar Warehouse
Bunny Christie for A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Bridge
Jasmine Lee-Jones for seven methods of killing Kylie Jenner at the Royal Court
Laurie Kynaston for The Son at the Kiln & Duke of York's
Sir Ian McKellen for his On Stage tour
Peter Brook for his contribution to theatre
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