Lipman Joins Panel for Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year Comp

British actress and comedienne Maureen Lipman joins the judging panel for The Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer Of The Year Competition & The Stiles and Drewe Best New Song of 2010 Awards, to be hosted by West End star Hannah Waddingham at The Queen's Theatre on Sunday 6th June.

The Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer Of The Year Competition & The Stiles and Drewe Best New Song of 2010 Awards are presented by The Stephen Sondheim Society and Mercury Musical Developments (MMD). The awards strive to showcase the most exciting new talent and best new musical theatre writing by selecting 12 promising students from a selection of musical theatre training schools based throughout the United Kingdom. Participants from colleges such as RADA will perform on the stage of The Queen's Theatre, the current home of Les Misérables. Candidates will be judged by their performances of a Stephen Sondheim song and one new song written by a team from MMD. An expert panel will award the prizes for Best Performer and Best New Song.

Hannah Waddingham (Spamalot, A Little Night Music) will host the event and will also be performing. Prizes (including The Student Performer Award donated by Keith Stanley) will be presented by Julia McKenzie, George Stiles and Anthony Drewe (the composer/lyricist team behind the Olivier Award winning Honk!, Mary Poppins and the West End bound Betty Blue Eyes). The judging panel includes British actress Maureen Lipman, music journalist for The Independent Edward Seckerson, actress and singer Sally Ann Triplett, musical director and arranger Martin Koch and casting agent David Grindrod.

Mercury Musical Developments is an organisation dedicated to improving the craft of composers, lyricists and book-writers working in musical theatre. The organisation presents a range of developmental opportunities, networking events, seminars and classes.

The organisation membership includes established practitioners such as Sandy Wilson (author of The Boyfriend), Stiles and Drewe (Honk!, Mary Poppins), Howard Goodall (composer of The Hired Man), Terry Davies (Edward Scissorhands), Tony Award-winning arranger Sarah Travis, Brian May and Ben Elton (We Will Rock You) and Willy Russell (Blood Brothers and Our Day Out). Many members also come from the

world of comedy (composer and lyricist Tim Minchin; Stephen Fry), performance (lyricist David McAlmont; Reece Shearsmith) and writing including emerging playwrights Conor Mitchell, Grant Olding, Dougal Irvine and Michael Bruce (both winners of Best New Musical at Edinburgh for 2008 and 2009 respectively).
Patrons of Mercury Musical Developments include Stephen Sondheim, Cameron Mackintosh, Judi Dench, Maria Friedman, Julia McKenzie, Richard Stilgoe, Don Black, David Babani, Jeremy Sams, Paul Nicholas and Harold Prince.
BOOKING INFORMATION
The Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer Of The Year Competition & The Stiles and Drewe Best New Song of 2010 Award

Sunday 6th June at 3pm at The Queens Theatre, London, (full address)

To book tickets call the box office on 0844 482 5162 or contact the Stephen Sondheim Society on 01159281613

Tickets can be booked Monday to Saturday between the hours of 10am and 8pm.

Tickets may also be booked online at www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk

Tickets £18 (£12 concessions)
For more information about Mercury Musical Developments www.mercurymusicals.com

For more information about The Stephen Sondheim Society www.sondheim.org

Photo Credit: BWW-Staff

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