A Round-Up of 2022
We have seen some excellent productions, some of which still being postponements from the dark ages.
2023 looks to be a difficult year for different reasons, but I will try and cover that more in the 2023 Bucket List.
For now, let us reminisce on 2022 - otherwise known as the comeback year.
From family favourites, to getting to see those you fell in love with during the lockdown live in person, and to finding some brand new favourites. Making some of the choices this year extremely hard to pick.
And I decided to give my blog a sleek new makeover. One of the best things I have ever done!
Let's Get Started
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Performance of the Year Award: Just one thing before we go into this. I will be splitting this category into Leading and Supporting actors rather than Male and Female. Because let's face it, is 2022 and gender is a social construct.
Nominees: Wow, we're off to a good start aren't we. This is one of the hardest performance categories I have ever had to decide. I really had to think of who truly captivated me.
- Leonie Elliot as Hortense in Small Island at the National Theatre, London
- Divina de Campo as Hedwig in Hedwig & the Angry Inch at HOME, Manchester
- Adam Cooper as Don Lockwood in Singin' in the Rain UK Tour
- Debbie Kurup, Millie O'Connell and Danielle Steers as Star, Babe and Lady in The Cher Show UK Tour
- Linzi Hateley as the Narrator in Joseph & the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat UK Tour
- Courtney Bowman as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde at Regents Park Open Air Theatre, London
- Amara Okereke as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady at the London Coliseum
- Niamh Palmer as Liesl in The Book Thief at the Octagon, Bolton
- Jaime Muscato as Christian in Moulin Rouge at the Piccadilly Theatre, London
- Rob Madge in My Son's A Queer, But What Can You Do? at the Garrick Theatre, London
- Madeline Brewer as Sally Bowles, and Sid Sagar as Clifford Bradshaw in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre, London
- Alisha Weir as Matilda in the film adaptation of Matilda the Musical
Runner-Up: Jodie Comer as Tessa in the NT Live screening of Prima Facie. I may not be a Killing Eve fan, but from what little I've seen, I've agreed with everyone else that Comer is an incredible actress. Prima Facie set that in stone for me. New York audiences are in for a treat in 2023.
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| Source: Young Vic (@youngvictheatre) • Instagram photos and videos |
Supporting:
Nominees:- Ben Norris as The Poet in Choir of Man at the Arts Theatre
- Nandi Bhebe as The Moor in Wuthering Heights UK Tour
- The 7 actors who played the Tiger in Life of Pi
- Nadine Higgin as Paulette in Legally Blonde
- Lesley Joseph as Sister Mary Lazarus in Sister Act UK Tour (it's Manchester run)
- Carla Dixon-Hernandez as Lydia Hillard in Mrs Doubtfire at the Opera House, Manchester
- Vivian Parry in Cabaret
- Katie Ramshaw as Charlotte in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
Winner: Marisha Wallace finally gave us the Ado Annie we deserve in the Young Vic's Oklahoma. As I said in my piece, I hate it when Ado Annie is played as a dumb bimbo, but Wallace made her smart as well as sexy. Her Annie knew exactly what she was doing and stole the show at the same time. More of this please!
Nominees:
- Rachel Dawson as the White Witch in The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe UK Tour
- Matt Beveridge as The Romantic in Choir of Man
- Alexander McMorran as Nick in Come From Away at the Phoenix Theatre, London
- Vanessa Ela Young as Faye Treadwell in The Drifters Girl at the Garrick Theatre, London
- Heather Jackson as Mrs Higgins in My Fair Lady
- Grace Melville as Anna of Cleves in SIX UK Tour
- Craig Ryder as Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge
Runner-Up: Caleb Lagayan as Marius in Les Misérables UK Tour. I have seen Les Mis many a time, and Caleb gets this for simply being the best Marius I have ever seen live.
Winner: Tom Mackley as Boy in The Ocean at the End of the Lane, at the Duke of Yorks Theatre, London. He was exactly as how I envisioned the Boy in the book, straight from Neil Gaiman's mind too, likely. You couldn't help but be transfixed on him.
Runner-Up: This was interesting. I had an extremely good year, and so I thought I was going to have to give this to Mrs Doubtfire as the only candidate. One that's certainly not perfect, and that people have concerns about, but one that was... well... ok...
Winner: I thought that until I saw Bat Out of Hell. I know it has been a bit of a marmite musical, and like marmite itself, it was certainly NOT for me. I don't think the main question you should be asking during a show should be "Why is everyone so horny?"
- Come From Away
- Passion at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
- The Book Thief
- My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican Centre, London
Runner-Up: Many of these are what I call happy/sad shows - but I am going traditional sad for this one. This might be a surprise, but the ending of Moulin Rouge DID make me eyes a bit damp. And seeing as this is the Leaky Eyes bit... yeah, let's go with that.
Winner: My Son's A Queer, But What Can You Do? is the epitome of a happy/sad show for me. OK, it didn't make me cry as such, but I think I was the only one who didn't, and I cannot deny that this one is the most emotional show I've seen in 2022.
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| Source: Mischief (@mischiefcomedy) • Instagram photos and videos |
Nominees:
- Sing 2
- Showstopper: The Improvised Musical UK Tour
- Singin' in the Rain
- Sister Act
- Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch at the Lowry, Salford
- My Son's A Queer, But What Can You Do
- Betty! A sort of Musical at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
Runner-Up: Mulan Rouge at the Vaults in London. This was a cabaret show pairing my favourite Disney film and the Paris nightclub together, that my friends got for my 30th birthday, with a meal included. I took my cousin, and it was fabulous! Thank you again to that group of people, you know who you are
Winner: The Play That Goes Wrong's new UK tour, which I saw at the Opera House in May. I didn't review this one as I saw the same show before but getting to see the original Mischief cast - *chefs kiss* Yes it may be technically cheating after considering everything, but it was THE original company in their original piece. It was also the one that made me laugh the most. Hence it gets the win here
Nominees:
- Wuthering Heights
- Beauty & the Beast
- The Cher Show
- Legally Blonde
- Moulin Rouge
- Cabaret
- Matilda the Musical
Nominees:
- Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World, UK Tour
- Mrs Doubtfire
- The Book Thief
- A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Shakespeare North Playhouse
- Betty! A sort of Musical
Runner Up: The one I didn't get see talked about enough (and actually wasn't even planned originally to see it that particular day), was The Drifter's Girl in the West End. A small cast playing multiple roles, and an incredible story that a lot of people (me included) had no idea about - that of the first female of colour Manager for a band, Faye Treadwell. It is set to tour the UK later next year.
Winner: While The Drifter's Girl may have been the most underrated show in the West End, the UK tour of Fisherman's Friend: The Musical I think is possibly the most underrated show in the UK. Knowing nothing, this took me truly by surprise: comforting, uplifting and British AS! I hope we get to see more good news for the Cornish fisherman in 2023 - because they deserve it.
Nominees: Can I just say that in 2020, I had to split this into 3 because there were so many nominees. In 2021, I had to split it into 2. And now look - back to normal!
- Sing 2
- Henry V NT Live filmed at the Donmar Warehouse, London
- Belle
- Matilda the Musical
- Wuthering Heights
- Beauty & the Beast
- Sister Act
- Moulin Rouge
- Cabaret
- R&H's Cinderella
Winner: There's two I genuinely cannot pick between - so guess what? It's a tie! These are 2 very different shows, one being a flashy jukebox, the other being a classic. But I genuinely cannot choose between them. So hats of to Gabriella Slade for the flashy silver-studded costumes of The Cher Show and Catherine Zuber's gorgeous period pieces for My Fair Lady.
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Nominees: Again, so so SO difficult! So many options!! Any other year, any of these could have been show-ins. Why do I do this to myself....?
- The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe
- Come From Away
- The Cher Show
- Oklahoma
- Legally Blonde
- Sister Act
- Prima Facie
- Fisherman's Friends
- Moulin Rouge
- Cabaret
- My Son's A Queer, But What Can You Do?
Runner-Up: Guess what, another 3-way tie because I'm a wuss who cannot decide. All 3 of them have one main thing in common - they're what I call "gateway shows", those that someone who's not a theatre regular can enjoy and be swept in the magic of it. For someone who likes stories about friendship, music and beer, there's Choir of Man. For horror fans, The Ocean at the End of the Lane an adaptation of the Neil Gaiman work that sparks imagination with its special effects. And finally for families and animation fans, there's My Neighbour Totoro, bringing the beloved film to life before your eyes.
Winner: Life of Pi. As said before, not an easy decision to make, but in the end, it had to be Life of Pi. For the simple reason that I left the theatre knowing I had truly seen something epic, magical, even masterful in the way it told this story to life. It was the whole package for me, and I am so glad it is going on tour so that more people can see it (in my case, it will be essential viewing for my family next Christmas at the Lowry).***
Whew! What a year! As I said before, it truly feels now like pre-Covid in terms of theatres being open. But now theatres have a new challenge in this cost of living crisis. I will explain more in my bucket list for 2023, but I hope you can agree that we need to keep on supporting the arts as much as we can. Especially as the work has become as good as it has in 2022.
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