2008 WhatsOnStage Awards explained

The WhatsOnStage Awards, founded in 2001 as the Theatregoers' Choice Awards, are a fan-driven set of awards organised by the theatre website WhatsOnStage.com, based on a popular vote recognising performers and productions of English theatre, with an emphasis on London's West End theatre.

The 2008 WhatsOnStage Award nominees and winners were:^[1]

Best New Play	Best New Musical
All About My Mother A Disappearing Number Joe Guy Landscape with Weapon That Face War Horse	Hairspray Parade Take Flight The Drowsy Chaperone The Lord of the Rings
Best Play Revival	Best Musical Revival
Equus Boeing-Boeing Saint Joan The Country Wife The Dumb Waiter In Celebration	Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Buddy Fiddler on the Roof Grease Little Shop of Horrors Rent
Best Actor in a Play	Best Actress in a Play
Ian McKellen for King Lear John Simm for Elling Paterson Joseph for The Emperor Jones Patrick Stewart for Macbeth Robert Lindsay for The Entertainer Charles Dance for Shadowlands	Maggie Smith for The Lady from Dubuque Anne-Marie Duff for Saint Joan Janie Dee for Shadowlands Kate Fleetwood for Macbeth Kristin Scott Thomas for The Seagull Tamsin Greig for Much Ado About Nothing
Best Actor in a Musical	Best Actress in a Musical
Michael Ball for Hairspray Bertie Carvel for Parade Henry Goodman for Fiddler on the Roof James Loye for The Lord of the Rings Lee Mead for Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Paul Keating for Little Shop of Horrors	Leanne Jones for Hairspray Denise Van Outen for Rent Lara Pulver for Parade Sheridan Smith for Little Shop of Horrors Summer Strallen for The Drowsy Chaperone Susan McFadden for Grease
Best Supporting Actor in a Play	Best Supporting Actress in a Play
Lee Evans for The Dumb Waiter David Haig for The Country Wife Mark Gatiss for All About My Mother Nigel Lindsay for Awake & Sing Paul Ritter for The Hothouse Rory Kinnear for The Man of Mode	Diana Rigg for All About My Mother Amanda Hale for The Glass Menagerie Andrea Riseborough for The Pain & the Itch Frances de la Tour for Boeing-Boeing Pam Ferris for The Entertainer Ruth Wilson for Philistines
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical	Best Supporting Actress in a Musical
Ben James-Ellis for Hairspray Dean Collinson for Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Mel Smith for Hairspray Michael Jibson for Take Flight Michael Therriault for The Lord of the Rings Shaun Escoffery for Parade	Tracie Bennett for Hairspray Beverley Klein for Fiddler on the Roof Elaine Paige for The Drowsy Chaperone Laura Michelle Kelly for The Lord of the Rings Nicole Faraday for Bad Girls Preeya Kalidas for Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Best Direction	Best Choreography
Jack O'Brien for Hairspray Marianne Elliott for Much Ado About Nothing, Saint Joan and War Horse Matthew Warchus for Boeing-Boeing and The Lord of the Rings Roger Michell for Landscape and Betrayal Rupert Goold for The Glass Menagerie, The Tempest, Rough Crossings and Macbeth Thea Sharrock for Equus, The Emperor Jones and Cloud Nine	Jerry Mitchell for Hairspray Bill Deamer for Lady Be Good Casey Nicholaw for The Drowsy Chaperone Kate Flatt for Fiddler on the Roof Peter Darling for The Lord of the Rings Rob Ashford for Parade
Best Set Design	Best New Comedy
Rob Howell for The Lord of the Rings Anthony Ward for Glengarry Glen Ross, Macbeth, The Arsonists and Rhinoceros Bunny Christie for Philistines and Women of Troy David Rockwell for Hairspray Hildegard Bechtler for All About My Mother and The Hothouse Rae Smith & the Handspring Puppet Company for War Horse	Elling Moonlight & Magnolias Rafta Rafta The Pain & the Itch Vernon God Little Whipping It Up
Best Off-West End Production	Best Regional Production
A Christmas Carol & The Magic Flute I Love You Because Dealer's Choice tHe dYsFUnCKshOnalZ! The Masque of the Red Death Vernon God Little	Pygmalion Angels in America Henry V Never Forget Sunshine on Leith The Big Secret Live: I Am Shakespeare
Best Solo Performance	Best Ensemble Performance
Fiona Shaw for Happy Days Lucy Briers for Some Kind of Bliss Patrick Kielty for A Night in November Ralf Little for Stacy Richard Schiff for Underneath the Lintel Robert Bathurst for Alex	The Taming of the Shrew & Twelfth Night Betrayal Dealer's Choice Glengarry Glen Ross Philistines War Horse
Best Takeover in a Role	Best Shakespearean Production
Kerry Ellis for Wicked Dianne Pilkington for Wicked Kelly Osbourne for Chicago Leila Benn Harris & Robyn North for The Phantom of the Opera Peter Davison for Spamalot Ramin Karimloo for The Phantom of the Opera	Macbeth Antony & Cleopatra A Midsummer Night's Dream King Lear Much Ado About Nothing The Merchant of Venice
London Newcomer of the Year
Daniel Radcliffe for Equus^[2] Arthur Darvill for Terre Haute and Swimming with Sharks Billie Piper for Treats Colin Morgan for Vernon God Little and All About My Mother Leanne Jones for Hairspray Orlando Bloom for In Celebration

References

1. Web site: 2008-02-22 . Full List: Your Theatregoers’ Choice Award Winners . 2023-07-04 . en-US.
2. Web site: 2014-02-24 . Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint toast each other's success at theatre awards . 2023-07-10 . HELLO! . en.