[ad_1]
The Stephen Sondheim Society Scholar Performer of the Yr competitors – affectionately often known as SSSSPOTY – was inaugurated in 2007, and in 2024 returns for its sixteenth yr. The gala remaining shall be held, fittingly, within the West Finish’s Sondheim Theatre, on the afternoon of Sunday 9 June.
The ultimate shall be hosted by Bonnie Langford, who lately starred in Sondheim’s Outdated Pals on the Gielgud Theatre. Bonnie, who performed alongside Angela Lansbury within the 1974 revival of Gypsy, additionally wowed audiences at Hey, Outdated Pals, the Sondheim Society’s eighty fifth Birthday Gala for Mr Sondheim on the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
This yr, The Stephen Sondheim Society (a charitable belief based in 1993) requested for the primary spherical of auditions to be made by way of video. Greater than 330 submissions have been obtained, 75 of which certified for a stay, in-person audition with critic and broadcaster Edward Seckerson (Chair of the Judges) and Musical Director Nigel Lilley (Follies, Nationwide Theatre; Enjoyable Residence, Younger Vic). Because of this, 12 finalists
have been chosen, with 2 college students held in reserve.
The 12 finalists are:
Holly Adams (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance)
Brooke Bazarian (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Artwork/LAMDA)
Oliver Halford (Emil Dale Academy)
Harrison Langham (Arts Ed)
Katie Leach (LAMDA)
Madeleine Morgan (Royal Academy of Music)
Rowen Newsome (Brighton Academy)
Tumi Olufawo (Bristol Outdated Vic Theatre College)
Thomas Oxley (Italia Conti)
Daisy Pearson (Rose Bruford Faculty)
Gavin Rasmussen (LAMDA)
Josh Rosewood (Mountview)
The winner will obtain a £1,000 first prize, and the possibility to headline their very own Sondheim-infused cabaret in London. The runner-up can also be awarded £500.
Reserves – Jacob Dolan Holmes and Noah Thallon (each Mountview).
The competitors has a formidable monitor report for figuring out younger expertise. Finalists have included Cynthia Erivo, Oscar Conlon-Morrey and Shaq Taylor, and winners embrace Alex Younger, Taron Egerton, Turlough Convery, Erin Doherty, Stuart Thompson, Desmonda Cathabel and, most lately, Milly
Willows, who made her skilled debut in Unlucky: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch.
Bonnie Langford will host. Earlier MCs embrace Hannah Waddingham, Julian Ovenden, Maria Friedman and Joanna Using.
The Closing shall be directed by Hannah Chissick (Marry Me A Little, Pack of Lies, Amour).
The scholars will carry out for a panel of extremely revered judges drawn from West Finish performers and MD, together with Jenna Russell, Callum Scott Howells, Fra Payment (Follies, A Little Evening Music) Alex Parker and Olivier Award winner Jak Malone (Hester in Operation Mincemeat).
Whereas the jury deliberate, there will even be performances from Bonnie Langford in addition to Joaquin Pedro Valdes (star of the current critically acclaimed Pacific Overtures) and 2023 SSSSPOTY winner Milly Willows.
Every finalist shall be required to sing one track by Stephen Sondheim, plus a brand new track chosen by them from the choice at NEW UK MUSICALS – the organisation based by Benjamin Button composer Darren Clark to showcase the UK’s finest new musical-theatre writing for the stage. It was the categorical want of Mr Sondheim that for each one in every of his songs chosen by the finalists, a brand new track is
carried out, to be able to encourage and assist the creation of recent work.
The Society can also be excited to companion this yr with the Nationwide Youth Music Theatre (NYMT), and appears ahead to that includes a preview efficiency from Into the Woods at Southwark Playhouse by a refrain drawn from the present cohort of younger performers.
For the primary time, Prize Giving shall be led by Jenna Russell, a patron of The Stephen Sondheim Society, who’s taking on the function following the retirement of the Society’s founding Patron, Julia McKenzie.
[ad_2]
