Vote for Aladdin's Matt Croke in the Broadway World Awards!

Matthew Croke as Aladdin, Photo by Johan Persson

Voting is now open for the 2017 Broadway World UK West End Awards and London's new Aladdin Matthew Croke has been nominated as Best Performer (Male) in a Long Running Show!!  I say new, Matt's been Aladdin since June, I just still need to see the show again!

He's going to need some help to beat long running favourites like Les Mis and Phantom so please get voting everyone!  And congratulations Matthew on this incredible achievement!!

Cast your vote right here!

There's also an Aladdin alumni up for an award as Marisha Wallace is up for an incredibly well deserved Best Performance by an Understudy/Alternate for Dreamgirls (which Director Casey Nicholaw and Costume Designer Gregg Barnes are also nominated for).

If you need any convincing that these two deserve these awards then check out their incredible performances from London's West End Live earlier this year!

Let's get voting!!

Awards Time for London's Aladdin

Trevor Dion Nicholas and the Cast of London's Aladdin, Photo by Deen Van Meer

It's awards time in the West End and you can help the cast of London's Aladdin by nominating and voting for them in both the What's on Stage Awards and the Broadway World UK Awards!

First up is the 17th annual What's On Stage Awards!  This is the only major UK theatre awards decided purely by the audience!  From now until the 24th November you can nominate who you want to see on the shortlist for the awards, then on December 1st the shortlist will be revealed and you can vote for your favourite stars and shows through to the end of January 2017.

London's Aladdin can be voted for in all the following categories;

Best Actor in a Musical
Best Actress in a Musical
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical
Best New Musical
Best Direction
Best Choreography
Best Costume
Best Set Design
Best Lighting Design
Best Video Design
Best West End Show

So please head over to What's On Stage and nominate this incredible cast and show!

But don't take my word for it!  Hear it from the cast;

Only 3 days left to nominate our @AladdinLondon family, keep them coming!!!https://t.co/hP73akwZMY pic.twitter.com/21jzr2qZZg

— Trevor Dion Nicholas (@astonishingtrev) November 21, 2016

And make sure you also vote in the Broadway World UK Awards as well!  Voting runs until December 31st and the awards will be announced in January!

You can vote for Aladdin in the following categories;

Best New Production of a Musical
Aladdin

Best Supporting Actor in a New Production of a Musical
Nathan Amzi
Rachid Sabitri
Stephen Rahman-Hughes

Best Actress in a New Production of a Musical
Jade Ewen (who is also nominated for In The Heights)

Best Actor in a New Production of a Musical
Dean John-Wilson
Trevor Dion Nicholas

Understudy of the Year in any Play or Musical (Female)
Lauren Chia
Marsha Songcome

Understudy of the Year in any Play or Musical (Male)
Albey Brookes
Ethan Le Phong
Leon Craig
Miles Barrow
Oliver Lidert

Best Costume Design of a New Production of a Play or Musical
Gregg Barnes

Best Set Design of a New Production of a Play or Musical
Bob Crowley

Best Lighting Design of a New Production of a Play or Musical
Natasha Katz (who is also nominated for Motown the Musical)

Best Choreography Design of a New Production of a Play or Musical
Casey Nicholaw

Best Costume Design of a New Production of a Play or Musical
Casey Nicholaw

Best Long-Running West End Show
The Lion King (ok this one's not Aladdin but let's help a Disney cousin out!)

Theatrical Venue of the Year
Prince Edward Theatre

Massive congratulations to all the cast and creative team for the nominations!  Please vote everyone!!

Paper Mill's Hunchback Wins Big at Broadway World Awards!

Michael Arden & Ciara Renee as Quasimodo & Esmeralda in Paper Mill's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Photo by Matthew Murphy

It's been quite a day for The Hunchback of Notre Dame!  As well as seeing six preview tracks released from next week's cast recording, The Paper Mill Playhouse's production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame is celebrating 3 wins from Broadway World's New Jersey Awards including the award for best musical theatre production!!!

Best Actor in a Musical Theatre Production - Michael Arden (Quasimodo)
Best Director in a Musical Theatre Production - Scott Schwartz
Best Musical Theatre Production - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Paper Mill Playhouse)

Massive congratulations to Michael, Scott and everyone who helped to bring this fantastic production to life!!

Courtney Reed, James Monroe Iglehart and More Take Home Awards!

Whilst the Tony Awards are still a few hours away, Aladdin has already brought several rewards this week.

I reported on Monday, James Monroe Iglehart took home the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, but that's not all.  On Tuesday he followed it up by bringing home the Broadway World Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical!

James Monroe Iglehart as Genie, Photo by Cylla Von Tiedemann

And JMI wasn't the only one celebrating a BWW Award win as Casey Nicholaw and Gregg Barnes took the awards for Best Choreography and Best Costume Design respectively.  If you've seen the show then you know that all three of these awards are well deserved.  James brings the house down and the audience to their feet every night with Friend Like Me and Casey's fantastic choreography plays a big part in that (and is equally fantastic in the rest of the show as is JMI) and even if you've only seen pictures you know that Gregg Barnes' costumes are simply breathtaking.  A full list of winners can be seen at Broadway World.

Then on Wednesday there was even more reason to celebrate as Courtney Reed won Broadway.com's Audience Choice Award for Favorite Breakthrough Performance (Female) for her portrayal of Princess Jasmine!

Courtney Reed as Princess Jasmine, Photo by Cylla Von Tiedemann

You can see Courtney and the other winners deliver their "Fill-in-the-Blanks" acceptance speeches in this video but be warned of some strong language (it's censored but you can make it out, though Courtney manages to maintain her Disney princess innocence).

Massive congratulations to you all on your well deserved awards!  Now go make some magic at the Tonys tonight!!