Editor's Blog: The 2015 S&S Award Gala

Janie Dee & Simon Greiff

On Sunday evening (15th November) Nigel Harman took to the stage at the St James Theatre to host the 2015 S&S Award Gala which provides a platform for new musical theatre writing.

This year writers submitted a record breaking number of new musicals which went through round after round, with just three shows being selected for the gala: Here by Alex Young and Kate Marlais, After Lydia by Christine Denniston and Gwyneth Herbert plus The Last Word by Brett Sullivan.

I wouldn't have enjoyed being in the position of Nice Burns, Nikolai Foster or Kent Nicholson whose job it was to decide the overall winner. Both Here and After Lydia are interesting pieces whilst I adored the quirkiness of The Last Word - there was more to all three musicals than first met the eye.

The first act saw Scott Gilmore and Claire McKenzie's musical Forest Boy, which won the S&S Award in 2013, being presented whilst in the second half extracts from all three of this year's finalists were performed by stellar casts of West End talent including the likes of Matthew Wycliffe, Michael Matus, Rebecca Caine, West End Frame Award winner Daniel Buckley, Nathan Amzi and Hayley Flaherty who all gave commendable performances.