Winners Announcement
Winners of The Stage Debut Awards 2025, in association with Netflix, were revealed on Sep 28 at a star-studded ceremony taking place at 8 Northumberland Avenue, London. Rachel Zegler scooped the prize for Best West End Debut Performer, one of the evening’s most coveted awards, for her tour de force performance as Eva Perón in Jamie Lloyd’s triumphant revival of Evita. She follows in the footsteps of previous winners Jodie Comer, Rose Ayling-Ellis and Jack Wolfe.
Hosted by comedy royalty and actor Julian Clary in front of some of UK theatre’s most influential figures, Zegler’s win – the people’s favourite – was the only award category to have been decided by the public. The starry shortlist also included Zegler’s Evita co-star Diego Andres Rodriguez; both Tosin Cole (Netflix’s Supacell) and his co-star Heather Agyepong for Shifters; Kat Ronney for Titanique; The Devil Wears Prada’s Georgie Buckland; Clueless the Musical’s Emma Flynn and Samuel Brewer in Oedipus.
This year’s 46 nominations across eight categories celebrated performers, composers, designers, writers, lyricists and directors whose breakthrough work premiered across theatres from all four nations of the UK. Of the winners, Welsh talent walked away with the prize for this year’s Best Director award with former Best Writer nominee Richard Mylan winning for Mumfighter at the Swansea Grand Theatre. His visceral and urgent staging of a muscular one-woman play laced with anger, pathos and emotion struck home with the judges. Scot Milly Sweeney who wrote Water Colour, a devastatingly raw and moving Glaswegian tale produced by Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Byre Theatre, shared the prize for Best Writer alongside Essex screenwriter Ava Pickett, whose Almeida Theatre production of 1536 equally shone.
This year’s Best Performer in a Play’s eight-strong shortlist was narrowed to a joint award going to Hilson Agbangbe for his star turn in Bristol Old Vic’s Wonder Boy and Lucy Karczewski for Stereophonic at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London.
In an all-female shortlist for Best Musical Performer, Why Am I So Single?’s Leesa Tulley took home the top prize, with judges praising her exquisite voice and astonishing vocal range, while Australian Yve Blake’s Fangirls, a musical homage to the culture of the superfan at Lyric Hammersmith, London, brought her the accolade for the Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer award.
Celebrating creativity behind the scenes in the shape of Best Designer, Hannah Schmidt won the award for her outstanding work on sets and costumes across two shows, The Passenger (Finborough Theatre) and Personal Values (Hampstead Theatre), while director Mark Rosenblatt’s pivot to playwriting was richly rewarded with the prize for Best Creative West End Debut for Giant, his timely, sophisticated and deeply nuanced multi-Olivier award-winning play about children’s author Roald Dahl, heading for Broadway in 2026.
The Stage editor Alistair Smith said: “This year’s winners range from Hollywood star Rachel Zegler making her West End debut to our most regionally and internationally diverse line-up yet, with productions from Scotland, Wales and Bristol recognised alongside talent from Australia. It’s a vivid reminder of the extraordinary breadth of artists making their debuts on UK stages – and a clear sign that the future of the sector is in safe hands.”
These awards, which are uniquely dedicated to shining a light on breakthrough theatre talent, the eighth since their inception in 2017, also featured live performances from Just For One Day’s Craige Els; Jesus Christ Superstar’s Parisa Shamir; former winner of Mama Mia! I Have A Dream!’s Tobias Turley performing a song from new musical Hot Mess, as well as the cast of Magic Mike Live who dropped in to perform a surprise grand finale.
#DebutAwards
The Winners In Full
Best Performer in a Play (Sponsored by Encore):
- Hilson Agbangbe for Wonder Boy at Bristol Old Vic
- Lucy Karczewski for Stereophonic at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London
Best Performer in a Musical (Sponsored by Michael Harrison Entertainment):
- Leesa Tulley for Why Am I So Single? at the Garrick Theatre, London
Best Director (Sponsored by Arts Council England):
- Richard Mylan for Mumfighter at Swansea Grand Theatre
Best Designer (Sponsored by Preevue):
- Hannah Schmidt (set and costume) for The Passenger/Personal Values at
Finborough Theatre/Hampstead Theatre, London
Best Writer (Sponsored by Sonia Friedman Productions):
- Ava Pickett for 1536 at the Almeida Theatre, London
- Milly Sweeney for Water Colour at Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Byre Theatre,
St Andrews
Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer (Sponsored by Theatrical Rights Worldwide):
- Yve Blake for Fangirls at Lyric Hammersmith, London
Best West End Debut Performer (Sponsored by Noël Coward Foundation):
- Rachel Zegler for Evita at London Palladium
Best Creative West End Debut (Sponsored by Learn my Lines Productions):
- Mark Rosenblatt (playwright) for Giant at the Harold Pinter Theatre
The Stage Debut Awards would like to thank sponsors Netflix, Encore, Theatrical Rights Worldwide, Michael Harrison Entertainment, Arts Council England, Preevue, Sonia Friedman Productions, Noël Coward Foundation and Learn My Lines Productions.
The inaugural The Stage Debut Awards took place in 2017 and recipients of these awards have gone on to star in West End shows, television series and films, winning Olivier and Tony Awards in the process. Previous years’ winners include Best West End Debut Performer Jack Wolfe in Next to Normal, currently preparing for his Broadway debut in Hadestown. Wolfe followed in the footsteps of winner Rose Ayling-Ellis (2023) and Jodie Comer (2022). Other notable winners include Jeevan Braich for Starlight Express, Rob Madge for My Son’s a Queer, (But What Can You Do?) who also took their show to Broadway this year, Isobel Thom for their leading role in I, Joan at Shakespeare’s Globe, Michael R Jackson for composing A Strange Loop at the Barbican Theatre and Tingying Dong for her sound design on The Crucible at the the Gielgud and National Theatre. A further roll call of notable award winners from previous years include Shan Ako (Les Misérables), SpitLip (Operation Mincemeat), Tyrell Williams (Red Pitch), Sam Tutty (Dear Evan Hansen), Miriam-Teak Lee (& Juliet), Bush Theatre artistic director Lynette Linton (Sweat) and composers Femi Temowo (Death of a Salesman) and Dan Gillespie Sells (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie). Jim Barne and Kit Buchan’s The Season which was recognised in 2020 (renamed Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)) will be transferring to Broadway later this year.
The inaugural The Stage Debut Awards took place in 2017 and recipients of these awards have gone on to star in West End shows, television series and films. Previous years’ winners include Best West End Debut Performer Jack Wolfe in Next to Normal, currently preparing for his Broadway debut in Hadestown, he follows in the footsteps of winner Rose Ayling-Ellis (2023) and Jodie Comer (2022). Other notable winners include Jeevan Braich for Starlight Express, Rob Madge for My Son’s a Queer, (But What Can You Do?) at the Garrick Theatre and Ambassadors Theatre who also took their show to Broadway this year, Isobel Thom for their leading role in I, Joan at Shakespeare’s Globe, Michael R Jackson for composing A Strange Loop at the Barbican Theatre and Tingying Dong for her sound design on The Crucible, the Gielgud and National Theatre. A further roll call of notable award winners from previous years include Best West End Debut for Shan Ako (Les Misérables), SpitLip (Operation Mincemeat), Tyrell Williams (Red Pitch), Sam Tutty (Dear Evan Hansen), Miriam-Teak Lee (& Juliet), Bush Theatre artistic director Lynette Linton (Sweat) and composers Femi Temowo (Death of a Salesman) and Dan Gillespie Sells (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie). Jim Barne and Kit Buchan’s The Season (renamed Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) will be transferring to Broadway later this year.
For details on eligibility and the judging process see The Stage Debut Awards website: here
