BWW Interviews: West End Star Nigel Harman - And Why He Backs New Musical Theatre

Love new musical theatre writing? Then you have something in common with Nigel Harman.

He may have picked up his Olivier Award for a big West End show, transferred from Broadway, in Shrek - but he's also a fan of smaller, original work.

And that's why he's presenting the S&S Award at the forthcoming gala at the St James Theatre on Sunday November 23rd.

"I jumped in with two feet [when I was asked to present the award]," says Harman. "I think it's really important. I think the future of our musical theatre is important, and it starts at places like this. We need to support new musical theatre at its ground level.

"It's hard to break through in musical theatre - you have to pay for an orchestra as well as everything else! I know it's hard, I'm gently walking down that path myself, so it's a salient point to me as well.

"We get to sit in a room on the night and see this new work performed by some really great West End actors - so I was thrilled to be a part of it."

Stars on show on the night include Julie Atherton, Sabrina Aloueche and Nigel Bowman - plus host David Bedella.

"It's a really clever way of doing this. It's an awards ceremony - and let's be honest, a lot of the time awards ceremonies are very much shedding light on work that's been done. It's about supporting people who are doing the hardest thing in the world - create new work."

The S&S Award Gala is directed by Simon Greiff with musical direction by Richard Bates.It is produced by SimG Productions in association with Mercury Musical Developments.