I’ve already blogged here about the “list mania” that erupts around this time of year, which the Daily Telegraph’s arts editor Sarah Crompton stole a march on everyone this year by publishing her 15 top (and 5 bottom) arts events of the year for before the middle of December. Since I wrote about that on December 13, I’ve duly been dredging my West End theatrical memories of the year for various outlets, from the pages of The Stage to an audio discussion you can hear on theatrevoice where critics David Benedict, Charlie Spencer, Jane Edwardes and myself spoke about our hits (and misses) of the year, as well as critical round-ups that will appear in the Sunday Express this weekend, plus ones that have already appeared elsewhere online, on both the BBC London website, where I also listed my Top Six hits and howlers, and on theatre.com, where Matt Wolf and I separately chose our favourite five top shows of the year, and only coincided on the choice of one! (This proves, if nothing else, the inevitable subjectivity of any such list).
I actually found myself disputing with myself each time I drew up a new list (the terms of engagement are subtly different each time, so you find yourself making different lists, even if the same highlights keep coming to the fore). Today, I’ve had to compile my last and possibly definitive one, when I finally cast my secret ballot for this year’s Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards (to be presented on January 30 at the Prince of Wales Theatre). So I’m not going to spill any secrets today, and in any case, since this is a vote of the entire membership, I could potentially fail to come up with a single winner!
But I’m delighted to note on the voting form that, joining the categories for Best Shakespearean Performance and Most Promising Newcomer other than a Playwright (which are respectively already named in honour of John and Wendy Trewin and Jack Tinker), the Best Musical award has been newly designated with the name of Peter Hepple, the late, great editor of The Stage who continued to work for the paper until the day before his death this year, though he had long retired from the editor’s chair. It’s a very fitting tribute to one of the theatre’s most diligent and enthusiastic reporters; but you can’t help but wonder what Peter would make of your own choice as a result.
