Cast and Crew of EVITA, STEREOPHONIC, and More Nominated For The Stage Debut Awards 2025

The Stage Debut Awards have announced the nominees for 2025. The winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony at 8 Northumberland Avenue, London, on September 28, 2025.

The 46 nominations originate from UK shows staged in all four nations, marking this year’s awards as the most geographically representative to date. The eight categories shine a spotlight on individuals making their professional or West End debuts, and salute excellence in acting, directing, design, writing and musical composition. The varied shortlist demonstrates a thriving transference of cross-genre skills with novelists, screenwriters, film-makers, film stars and podcasters among this year’s talent. 

Nominees for the hotly contested Best West End Debut Performer award, the only category in which the winner is decided by public vote, features two sets of co-stars among the eight. Rachel Zegler and Diego Andres Rodriguez, the leading actors of Jamie Lloyd’s much-lauded revival of Evita, are contenders alongside Tosin Cole (Netflix’s Supacell) and Heather Agyepong, the romantic leads of the Olivier-award nominated Shifters. Last summer’s hit love story also claims the most nominees for a single production, three in total with playwright Benedict Lombe in the running for Best Creative West End Debut. Meanwhile, Georgie Buckland’s standout performance in The Devil Wears Prada, Clueless the Musical’s Emma Flynn and Kat Ronney in Titanique are also nominated in this musicals-dominated shortlist alongside actor Samuel Brewer’s turn in Oedipus.

This year’s Best Performer in a Musical category boasts a four-strong all-female line-up. The nominees are Why Am I So Single?’s Leesa Tulley at London’s Garrick Theatre, Dora Gee in The Mad Ones at the Other Palace, London, and Megan Ellis in Muriel’s Wedding The Musical, the stage adaptation of the popular film at Leicester’s Curve theatre, alongside Eve Shanu-Wilson, who took over the lead role of Christine in the long-running The Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty’s Theatre, London.

New musicals with a whimsical or comedic theme are the common thread running through this year’s outstanding nominees for Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer category, proving the genre’s popularity is as strong as ever. Innovative storytelling exploring modern themes are expressed in the exemplary work of Lovestuck’s trio Martin Batchelar, James Cooper (co-creator and star of global comedy podcast hit My Dad Wrote A Porno) and Bryn Christopher at Theatre Royal Stratford East, London; Yve Blake’s Fangirls at the Lyric Hammersmith, London; and One Man Musical by Flo & Joan by Nicola and Rosie Dempsey at the Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh. 

The UK’s vibrant theatre scene is especially evident in this year’s Best Performer in a Play category, with eight nominees represented on all manner of stages across the UK including Hilson Agbangbe for Wonder Boy at Bristol Old Vic and Paula Clarke in her deftly signed and ‘chilling’ performance in The Tragedy of Richard III at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre; Lucy Karczewski’s ‘shining’ performance in Stereophonic in the West End’s Duke of York’s theatre; and Daisy Sequerra’s accomplished role in Ballet Shoes at The National Theatre. London fringe theatre also stakes its claim with Eva Morgan in The Glass Menagerie at the Yard and Christopher Neenan’s ‘hugely promising debut’ in Blood Wedding at Omnibus Theatre.

This year there are several individuals with South Asian heritage being recognised for their excellence in directing: among the nominees is Amit Sharma for Ryan Calais Cameron’s Retrograde (in the Best Creative West End Debut category) as well as Adam Karim for Guards at the Taj at the Orange Tree Theatre, London, and visionary Indian film-maker Aditya Chopra for Come Fall In Love at Manchester’s Opera House, who are both in the running for the Best Director category. 

A plethora of writers featured in this year’s Best Creative West End Debut shortlist already come with Olivier-award winning and Olivier-award nominated accolades for their work including Mark Rosenblatt for Giant, Jethro Compton and Darren Clark for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eline Arbo (adapter/director) for The Years, Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli for Titanique while novelist Nathan Englander’s Olivier-nominated What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank makes the shortlist as a contender for his debut as Best Writer. Richard Mylan, a Debut Awards’ Best Writer nominee for Sorter (2023), returns this time as a contender in the Best Director category, flexing his multi-disciplinary skills in Mumfighter at Swansea Grand Theatre. 

Last but not least, The Stage Debut Awards are thrilled to reveal comedy royalty, actor and pantomime dame Julian Clary as the new host of ceremonies at this year’s awards. With over 40 years in showbusiness under his belt, Clary will be putting his unique comedy stamp on The Stage Debut Awards. He says: "It is a true pleasure to host this annual celebration of emerging talent in the theatre industry where we will honour the artistry, creativity and dedication of the newest voices shaping the future of the stage. I look forward to celebrating the extraordinary promise of these rising stars."

The Stage editor Alistair Smith comments: “Judging The Stage Debut Awards was as thrilling as it was challenging. The sheer breadth and brilliance of emerging talent across the UK made narrowing down our longlist of more than 200 eligible theatremakers no easy task.

“For the first time, our shortlists include nominees from productions staged in all four nations of the UK — a real testament to the geographical spread and vibrancy of theatremaking today. We’re also proud to recognise artists working at every scale: from performers and creatives in blockbuster West End musicals to those making their mark in some of the UK’s most intimate fringe spaces. This year’s nominees truly embody the future of British theatre, and I can’t wait to celebrate their achievements.”

Votes for Best West End Debut Performer opens on August 21 and can be cast online at HERE voting closes on September 14. This award honours a performer’s first appearance in London’s West End.

Winners will be announced at The Stage Debut Awards’ eighth annual ceremony on September 28 at 8 Northumberland Avenue, London, in association with headline sponsor Netflix.

The line-up of guest presenters and performers will be revealed in September

Best Performer in a Play (sponsored by Encore):

Hilson Agbangbe for Wonder Boy at Bristol Old Vic

Paula Clarke for The Tragedy of Richard III at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast

Joseph Edwards for The Red Shoes at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

Lucy Karczewski for Stereophonic at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London

Eva Morgan for The Glass Menagerie at the Yard Theatre, London

Christopher Neenan for Blood Wedding at Omnibus Theatre, London

Daisy Sequerra for Ballet Shoes at The National Theatre, London

Jasper Talbot for Redlands at Chichester Festival Theatre

Best Performer in a Musical (sponsored by Michael Harrison Entertainment):

Megan Ellis for Muriel’s Wedding the Musical at Curve, Leicester

Dora Gee for The Mad Ones at the Other Palace, London

Eve Shanu-Wilson for The Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty’s Theatre, London

Leesa Tulley for Why Am I So Single? at the Garrick Theatre, London

Best Writer (sponsored by Sonia Friedman Productions):

Sarah Bond for Seagulls and Sad, Sad Stories at Laurels, Whitley Bay

Nathan Englander for What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank at Marylebone Theatre, London

Danny James King for Miss Myrtle’s Garden at Bush Theatre, London

Nancy Netherwood for Radiant Boy: A Haunting at Southwark Playhouse, London

Ava Pickett for 1536 at the Almeida Theatre, London

Milly Sweeney for Water Colour at Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Byre Theatre, St Andrews

Saana Sze for Belly of the Beast at Finborough Theatre, London

Best Director (sponsored by Arts Council England):

Aditya Chopra for Come Fall In Love at Opera House, Manchester

Nathan Crossan-Smith for The Walrus Has a Right to Adventure at Liverpool Everyman

Adam Karim for Guards at the Taj at Orange Tree Theatre, London

Emily Susanne Lloyd for The Mad Ones at the Other Palace, London

Richard Mylan for Mumfighter at Swansea Grand Theatre

Best Designer (sponsored by Preevue):

Juliette Demoulin (set), various at Finborough Theatre, London

Adam Jefferys (lighting) for Communion at Bush Theatre, London

Hannah Schmidt (set and costume) for The Passenger/Personal Values at  Finborough Theatre/Hampstead Theatre, London

Chloe Wyn (set and costume) for The Walrus Has a Right to Adventure, at  Liverpool Everyman

Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer (sponsored by Theatricals Rights Worldwide):

Martin Batchelar, James Cooper, Bryn Christopher for Lovestuck, at Theatre Royal Stratford East, London

Yve Blake for Fangirls at Lyric Hammersmith, London

Nicola Dempsey and Rosie Dempsey for One Man Musical by Flo & Joan at  Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh

Best West End Debut Performer (Sponsored by Noël Coward Foundation):

Heather Agyepong for Shifters at the Duke of York’s Theatre

Samuel Brewer for Oedipus at Wyndham’s Theatre

Georgie Buckland for The Devil Wears Prada at Dominion Theatre

Tosin Cole for Shifters at the Duke of York’s Theatre

Emma Flynn for Clueless the Musical at Trafalgar Theatre

Diego Andres Rodriguez for Evita at London Palladium

Kat Ronney for Titanique at Criterion Theatre

Rachel Zegler for Evita at London Palladium 

Best Creative West End Debut (sponsored by Learn My Lines Productions):

Eline Arbo (adapter/director) for The Years at Harold Pinter Theatre

Tye Blue (writer/director), Marla Mindelle (writer) and Constantine Rousouli (writer) for Titanique at Criterion Theatre

Darren Clark (music and lyrics) and Jethro Compton (book and lyrics)  for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at Ambassadors Theatre

Justin Craig (musical director and orchestrator) for Stereophonic at the Duke of York’s Theatre

Benedict Lombe (playwright) for Shifters at the Duke of York's Theatre

Mark Rosenblatt (playwright) for Giant at the Harold Pinter Theatre

Amit Sharma (director) for Retrograde at Apollo Theatre