Belgrade Theatre musical in running for prestigious theatre award

Nomination for best regional production won by military musical.

The Belgrade Theatre’s new musical The Prodigals, which ran on the Main Stage in September this year, has been nominated for a prestigious WhatsOnStage Award for Best Regional Production. The WhatsOnStage Awards are the only major theatre awards in which the audience are the judges across all categories. This year, more than 80,000 nominations were received across the 27 awards categories, which is a new record for the awards. 

Simon Bowman as Colonel Luke Gibson and Sam Ferriday as Mike Gibson in The Prodigals at Belgrade Theatre - credit Keith Pattison

Military musical The Prodigals, which starred leading West End actor Simon Bowman, has been nominated for Best Regional Production, alongside the RSC’s Richard II, Macbeth at the Manchester International Festival, My Fair Lady at Sheffield Crucible and To Sir, With Love at the Royal Derngate & Northampton.

Hamish Glen, Artistic Director of the Belgrade Theatre said, “There is so much great theatre being made outside London and it’s great to see the Belgrade recognised for its contribution to this. Creating a brand new musical can be a challenging process but the team’s hard work paid off and this daring and original show was a huge success with audiences.”

Director Joe Harmston said, “I’m so delighted to get this nomination from What’sOnStage in recognition of the effort all our brilliant team have put into this show. It’s been a labour of love and we couldn’t have had a better partner in creating it than The Belgrade.”

With its roots in the tale of the prodigal son, The Prodigals is set in a modern-day military environment in which Colonel Luke Gibson, is trying to balance his love for his two very different sons. One has been fighting for Queen and country in Afghanistan, whilst the other has hit rock bottom after touring the country with his drug fuelled band.

It featured a range of eclectic, original songs ranging from high energy, electronic beats to epic, rock ballads and choreography; covering a range of styles including sequences of dramatic street dance.

To vote for The Prodigals to win Best Regional Production visit http://awards.whatsonstage.com/awards/vote and cast your vote before Friday 31 st January.

Winners will be announced at the WhatsOnStage Awards Ceremony and Concert on Sunday 23rd February at the West End’s Prince of Wales Theatre.

Photos – Keith Pattison.