2025 WhatsOnStage Awards: Full list of winners

Find out the full list of winners at the 2025 WhatsOnStage Awards, including David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, and Freema Agyeman.

It's the beginning of awards season! Find out the full list of winners at the 2025 WhatsOnStage Awards, which took place at the London Palladium on Sunday 9 February.

Starlight Express took home seven awards, including Best Musical Revival, while the David Tennant and Cush Jumbo-led Macbeth won three. Spirited Away won Best New Play and Mean Girls won Best New Musical.

Best Performer in a Musical

Winner: Imelda Staunton, Hello, Dolly!

Also nominated:
Georgina Castle, Mean Girls
Jo Foster, Why Am I So Single?
Myles Frost, MJ the Musical
Leesa Tulley, Why Am I So Single?
Vanessa Williams, The Devil Wears Prada

Best Supporting Performer in a Musical

Winner: Melanie La Barrie, Hadestown

Also nominated:
Siobhan Athwal, Bhangra Nation
Amy Di Bartolomeo, The Devil Wears Prada
Grace Mouat, Mean Girls
Jaydon Vijn, Starlight Express
Tom Xander, Mean Girls

Best Performer in a Play

Winner: David Tennant, Macbeth

Also nominated:
Emma D’Arcy, The Other Place
Tom Holland, Romeo and Juliet
Cush Jumbo, Macbeth
Anne Odeke, Princess Essex
Michael Sheen, Nye

Best Supporting Performer in a Play

Winner: Freema Agyeman, Romeo and Juliet

Also nominated:
Romola Garai, Giant
Julie Hesmondhalgh, Punch
Teddy Hinde, The History Boys
Atsuki Mashiko, Spirited Away
Sharon Small, Nye

Best Takeover Performance

Winner: Layton Williams, Cabaret

Also nominated:
Zoe Birkett, TINA – The Tina Turner Musical
Cara Delevingne, Cabaret
Craig Ryder, Moulin Rouge! the Musical
Alex Sawyer, Hamilton
Tobias Turley, Mamma Mia!

Best Professional Debut Performance

Winner: Jeevan Braich, Starlight Express

Also nominated:
Esme Bowdler, Heathers the Musical
Stevie Doc, Mamma Mia!
Vasco Emauz, Back to the Future the Musical
Mia Kobayashi, Your Lie in April
Gerardine Sacdalan, & Juliet

Best New Musical

Winner: Mean Girls, Jeff Richmond, Nell Benjamin and Tina Fey

Also nominated:
Babies, Jack Godfrey and Martha Geelan
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Darren Clark and Jethro Compton
The Devil Wears Prada, Elton John, Shaina Taub, Mark Sonnenblick and Kate Wetherhead
MJ the Musical, Michael Jackson and Lynn Nottage
Why Am I So Single?, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss

Best Musical Revival

Winner: Starlight Express, Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre

Also nominated:
Dear Evan Hansen, Nottingham Playhouse and on tour
Hadestown, Lyric Theatre
Hello, Dolly!, The London Palladium
Kiss Me, Kate, Barbican Theatre
Oliver!, Chichester Festival Theatre

Best New Play

Winner: Spirited Away, adapted by John Caird and co-adapted by Maoko Imai

Also nominated:
Giant, Mark Rosenblatt
Kyoto, Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson
Princess Essex, Anne Odeke
Punch, James Graham
Slave Play, Jeremy O’Harris

Best Play Revival

Winner: Macbeth, Donmar Warehouse and Harold Pinter Theatre

Also nominated:
A Raisin in the Sun, UK tour
The Crucible, Crucible Theatre
Oedipus, Wyndham’s Theatre
Romeo and Juliet, Duke of York’s Theatre
Waiting for Godot, Theatre Royal Haymarket

Best West End Show

Winner: Six, Vaudeville Theatre

Also nominated:
Cabaret, The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre
Hamilton, Victoria Palace Theatre
Les Misérables, Sondheim Theatre
Mamma Mia!, Novello Theatre
Operation Mincemeat, Fortune Theatre

Best Regional Production

Winner: Oliver!, Chichester Festival Theatre

Also nominated:
42 Balloons, The Lowry, Salford
The Artist, Theatre Royal Plymouth
Becoming Nancy, Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Brassed Off, Theatre by the Lake, Stephen Joseph Theatre and Octagon Theatre Bolton
Dear Evan Hansen, Nottingham Playhouse and UK tour

Best Off-West End Production

Winner: Diary of a Gay Disaster, Underbelly Cowgate and Arcola Theatre

Also nominated:
Brace Brace, Royal Court
Dear Young Monster, Bristol Old Vic
Kenrex, Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse, Sheffield
Mulatto Boy, Omnibus Theatre
Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, Barn Theatre, Cirencester

Best Concert Event

Winner: Something Rotten! – In Concert, Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Also nominated:
Gypsy the Musical in Concert, Hope Mill Theatre at Opera House, Manchester
I Am Harvey Milk, Cadogan Hall
Pippin – 50th Anniversary Concert, Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Sondheim on Sondheim, Alexandra Palace Theatre
Spring Awakening: 15th Anniversary Concert, Victoria Palace Theatre

Best Direction

Winner: Emma Rice, The Buddha of Suburbia

Also nominated:
Eline Arbo, The Years
Robert Icke, Oedipus
Anthony Lau, The Crucible
James Macdonald, Waiting for Godot
Drew McOnie, The Artist

Best Musical Direction/Supervision

Winner: Liam Robinson and Tarek Merchant, Hadestown

Also nominated:
Mark Aspinall and Dan Turek, Fiddler on the Roof
Niraj Chag and Simon Baker, The Buddha of Suburbia
Darren Clark and Mark Aspinall, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Alasdair Macrae, Macbeth
Matthew Malone, Brassed Off

Best Casting Direction

Winner: Harry Blumenau and Sarah-Jane Price, Why Am I So Single?

Also nominated:
Amy Ball, The Years
Stuart Burt, Fiddler on the Roof
Alastair Coomer and Chloe Blake, Till the Stars Come Down
Anna Cooper, Macbeth
Lotte Hines, A Raisin in the Sun

Best Choreography

Winner: Christopher Wheeldon, MJ the Musical

Also nominated:
Matthew Bourne, Oliver!
Julia Cheng, Fiddler on the Roof
Drew McOnie, The Artist
Rujuta Vaidya, Bhangra Nation
Anthony Van Laast, Kiss Me, Kate

Best Costume Design

Winner: Gabriella Slade, Starlight Express

Also nominated:
Sachiko Nakahara, Spirited Away
Lez Brotherston, Oliver!
Marg Horwell, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Tom Scutt, Fiddler on the Roof
Rae Smith, Hello, Dolly!

Best Lighting Design

Winner: Howard Hudson, Starlight Express

Also nominated:
Paule Constable and Ben Jacobs, Oliver!
Jessica Hung Han Yun, Minority Report
Tim Lutkin, Coriolanus
Bruno Poet, Waiting for Godot. Zoe Spurr, The Artist

Best Set Design

Winner: Tim Hatley, Starlight Express

Also nominated:
Jon Bausor with puppetry by Toby Olié, Spirited Away
Miriam Buether, Kyoto
Es Devlin, Coriolanus
Kenneth MacLeod, Maggie and Me
Tom Scutt, Fiddler on the Roof

Best Sound Design

Winner: Gareth Fry, Macbeth

Also nominated:
Paul Arditti, Brace Brace
Susan Bear, Maggie and Me
Nicola T Chang, Minority Report
Gareth Fry, Viola’s Room
Gareth Owen, Starlight Express.

Best Video Design

Winner: Andrzej Goulding, Starlight Express

Also nominated:
David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Grant Gee and Ellie Thompson, Bluets
Tal Rosner, Minority Report
Ash J Woodward, The Artist
Ash J Woodward, Fangirls

Best Wigs, Hair and Make Up Design

Winner: Jackie Saundercock and Campbell Young Associates, Starlight Express

Also nominated:
Campbell Young Associates, The Devil Wears Prada
Marg Horwell, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Betty Marini, The Cabinet Minister
Hiroaki Miyauchi, Spirited Away
Georgia Nosal, The Artist

Photo credit: Starlight Express, Hello, Dolly!, Macbeth. (Photos courtesy of production)