Caroline, or Change, Kathleen Turner & Stoppard win Evening Standard Awards

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 1:42pm

CAROLINE beat out SPAMALOT, EVITA and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE.

Also, Stoppard's wonderful ROCK 'N ROLL won Best Play (over FROST/NIXON).

Funny how much CAROLINE continues to be embraced around the world by critics and audiences after its disappointing reception in New York:


"Sir Tom Stoppard's politics and music saga, set in post-war Czechoslovakia, was named best play at London theatre's most prestigious annual awards ceremony, held at The Savoy.

The play also picked up a best actor prize for Rufus Sewell, while the best actress award went to Kathleen Turner for Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf ? as the finest plays, players and musicals of the past 12 months were honoured at the 52nd awards, compered by Ned Sherrin.

Rock 'n' Roll, which moved from the Royal Court to the Duke Of York's, beat Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon and Conor McPherson's The Seafarer.

Sir Tom, in New York for tonight's Broadway opening of his The Coast Of Utopia, accepted the prize on film. He said: "This is not a good time for me to be 3,000 miles away. I thank the Evening Standard and am honoured."

Presented with the best actor prize by Kristin Scott Thomas for his role as a Czech dissident, Sewell, 39, said: "This award is very special because it is quite easy to get recognised for being a newcomer, but to still be in the game all these years later is fantastic."

On beating Kevin Spacey (A Moon For The Misbegotten), Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon) and Bill Irwin (Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf ?), Sewell said: "It's unbelievable. It doesn't bear thinking about. " But Frost/Nixon, at the Gielgud Theatre - the story of David Frost's landmark 1977 TV interviews with former US president Richard Nixon - won the editor's award, an inaugural prize set up to honour an outstanding contribution to the West End. Culture Minister David Lammy handed the statuette to playwright Peter Morgan.

Kathleen Turner was named best actress for her electrifying performance as Martha in the Apollo Theatre's revival of Edward Albee's classic Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? Turner, 52, said: "As an American actress I have had Tony nominations before, but I have such great admiration for the quality of British theatre, that I am truly thrilled." She beat Sinead Cusack (Rock 'n' Roll) and Frances O'Connor (Tom And Viv).

When it came to best musical the National Theatre emerged triumphant thanks to Caroline, or Change. The civil rights musical defeated Spamalot, Evita and Sunday In The Park With George. Lyricist Tony Kushner and composer Jeanine Tesori received the award from Alan Cumming."

_______________________________________________________________

The 2006 winners

BEST PLAY: Rock 'n' Roll by Tom Stoppard

BEST ACTOR: Rufus Sewell for his performance in Rock 'n' Roll

BEST ACTRESS: Kathleen Turner for her performance in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

THE SYDNEY EDWARDS AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR: Marianne Elliott for Pillars Of The Community

THE CHARLES WINTOUR AWARD FOR MOST PROMISING PLAYWRIGHT: Nina Raine for Rabbit

BEST MUSICAL: Caroline, Or Change

BEST DESIGN: Timothy Bird & David Farley for Sunday In The Park With George

THE MILTON SHULMAN AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER: Andrew Garfield for Beautiful Thing; Burn/Chatroom/Citizenship; The Overwhelming

EDITOR'S AWARD: Frost/Nixon

SPECIAL AWARD: The Tricycle Theatre for its pioneering work in political theatre

Updated On: 11/27/06 at 01:42 PM

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 1:47pm

Congrats to Caroline!!!!

[MusicalDirector109]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 1:55pm

Congrats to Kathleen Turner - a wonderful performance

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 2:09pm

It's also interesting that though (I believe) WICKED was eligible for these awards -- it opened a month before CAROLINE -- it didn't even merit a nomination here.

[Lorelai]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 2:13pm

Loved "Who's Afraid..." when it was over here. Congrats to Ms. Turner!!!

Updated On: 11/27/06 at 02:13 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 2:15pm

You gotta love awards that are about quality and not politics. Congratulations to Turner!

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 2:16pm

So glad Caroline won. Thanks for the posting those results Margo.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 2:20pm

That's a strange list of nominees because they combine revivals and new musicals, but I would say Caroline, or Change is the better musical. I'm glad they don't choose shows based on what's popular. Why don't they do a best actor/actress in a musical?

[joshy]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 2:47pm

Yep, Wicked was eligible for nomination. Caroline or Change opened about a month after it here. I'm so glad that Caroline won, the fact that Wicked didn't even get a nomination makes me feel all warm inside.

I'm also glad Andrew Garfield won best newcomer. He's possibly the most exceptional young actor I've ever seen, although I think Punchdrunk's Faust was perhaps more deserving of this award.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 2:59pm

Wasn't AVENUE Q also eligible? It opened in June. If so, that means CAROLINE won over a field that included two recent Tony winning best musicals, as well as Broadway's biggest megahit. I bet that Kushner, Tesori and Wolfe must feel a certain amount of vindication in beating out its main competition in New York from a couple of years ago.

Updated On: 11/27/06 at 02:59 PM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 3:09pm

Hm. I would say Q is the stronger show over Spamalot.

[bob8rich]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 3:23pm

I am stunned that "Caroline or Change" should win any kind of award (other than perhaps for Tonya Pinkins' performance). Though perhaps I should not be so surprised - I should know that over here in the UK people seem to welcome pretentious claptrap more than they do across the water. I thought "Caroline" was the worst piece of theatre (let alone musical theatre) I have ever had to endure (and my tastes are pretty wide). The only thing worse than the overblown, cliched, pedantic, hackneyed book was the mindnumbingly boring music. There is more artistic depth and certainly more heart in 5 minutes of "Avenue Q" than in the entire two and half hours of "Caroline Or Change".

At least they got it right with the award for Best Play - Stoppard's "Rock & Roll" is a stunning piece of writing. I also loved Rufus Sewell's performance, though I would personally have given the nod to Kevin Spacey's truly amazing performance in "A Moon For The Misbegotten".

Updated On: 11/27/06 at 03:23 PM

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 6:43pm

so glad Caroline won. It's fantastic.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 6:45pm

Much congratulations to Caroline or Change, one of my favorite musicals.