Screen stars battle it out at theatre awards

By Tim Masters Entertainment and arts correspondent, BBC News

Jude Law's Hamlet has also been a Broadway hit

A host of British film stars, including Jude Law and Helen Mirren are in the running for acting gongs at the Whatsonstage.com theatre awards.

Sadie Frost, who made her West End debut in Touched, has been nominated for best solo performance.

Evening Standard winner Lenny Henry in Othello is up against X Factor star Diana Vickers for The Rise and Fall of Little Voice in the newcomer category.

The winners, voted for by the public, are announced in February.

The shortlists in the 26 categories were announced on Friday at London's Cafe de Paris.

Sadie Frost, who played 10 different characters in her one-woman show, called her nomination "a lovely honour".

Sadie Frost's show Touched was a comedy about Madonna fandom

"I did put so much into it," she told the BBC. "I got up at five every morning for three hours and learned the lines. It was kind of an obsessive thing."

The actress, who was previously married to Jude Law, said she was preparing for a new role, but had otherwise been "getting on with the school runs and being a mummy at home".

Lenny Henry, who won an Evening Standard Theatre award last month, told the BBC: "I got a gold Blue Peter badge too in the same week - after a while of not getting anything, suddenly three buses turn up at once."

He said he was enjoying his foray into Shakespeare: "It's nice to be in amongst an establishment, because as comedians we're usually on our own being grumpy backstage in our pants!"

Enron, Lucy Prebble's hit play based on one of the biggest financial scandals in history, took five nominations ahead of Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem with four.

Both plays, performed at London's Royal Court, are transferring to the West End in the new year.

The Royal Court and the National Theatre lead the way with 12 nominations each.

Jason Donovan's Priscilla is nominated for best new musical

Three musicals each get seven nominations: Sister Act, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Trevor Nunn's revival of A Little Night Music, which is now previewing on Broadway.

Priscilla star Jason Donovan said: "Performing live is where it's at at the moment because you can't really mess with it - it's very tangible and I'm proud to be part of a show that is quintessentially an Australian product."

Of his nomination for best actor in a musical, he added: "I'm not someone who's got a bucket-load of awards in my life, I just get on with the job of providing for my children and entertaining, but it's very nice to be nominated, it makes it worthwhile."

Following his best actor success at the Evening Standard Awards, Mark Rylance and his performance in Jerusalem is nominated in the same category against David Harewood for The Mountaintop.

Also in the shortlist are Dominic West (Life Is a Dream), Jude Law (Hamlet), Ken Stott (A View from the Bridge) and Samuel West (Enron).

Best actress

Helen Mirren's performance as Phedre was also broadcast in cinemas in June

In the best actress category, Rachel Weisz (A Streetcar Named Desire) is up against Fiona Shaw for her title role in Mother Courage and Her Children.

Also nominated are: Alison Steadman (Enjoy), Helen Mirren (Phedre), Juliet Stevenson (Duet for One), and Lesley Sharp (The Rise and Fall of Little Voice).

In the new category of best West End show, War Horse is the only non-musical up against Billy Elliot, Hairspray, Jersey Boys, Les Miserables, Mamma Mia!, The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera, We Will Rock You and Wicked.

Lenny Henry and Diana Vickers are up against Skins' Nicholas Hoult (New Boy), Sister Act's Patina Miller, Kidulthood's Jaime Winstone (The Fastest Clock in the Universe) and Punk Rock's Tom Sturridge in the London newcomer category.

Lenny Henry picked up the newcomer prize at the Evening Standard awards in November

Former Spice Girl Melanie C, another newcomer to the West End stage, gets a nomination for best takeover in a role for her part as Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers.

Jodie Prenger and Jessie Buckley, finalists in the BBC's I'd Do Anything, once again go head to head for best supporting actress in a musical.

Prenger is nominated for her performance as Nancy in Oliver! and Buckley for her debut in A Little Night Music.

Voting closes at the end of January, and the winners will be revealed at a the Prince of Wales theatre on 14 February.

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