Stephen Sondheim Society

28/10/2026

JOIN US FOR A JOYOUS CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE AND WORK OF STEPHEN SONDHEIM

To mark five years since the passing of Stephen Sondheim (22 March 1930–26 November 2021), The Stephen Sondheim Society are delighted to continue their commitment to supporting young talent, by partnering with LIVEWIRE, an up-and-coming production company, to produce a very special event for Sondheim lovers.

Colour & Light will celebrate the music, lyrics and storytelling of Sondheim with an amazing group of leading, acclaimed Sondheim interpreters, including Olivier and Tony award winners and nominees, and a Grammy award winner. We are also excited to platform a company of 14 young, emerging Sondheim performers, chosen from a highly competitive field of over 260 video submissions.

Colour & Light will present a carefully curated setlist where simple, yet beautiful arrangements will ensure that this glorious collection of voices and storytelling talent will shine, alongside a subtle accompaniment of piano, string and woodwind. Selected arrangements from Society friend: the acclaimed Tony award nominee and Sondheim orchestrator Jason Carr will also be featured.
All of this will take place in the wonderful, welcoming and reflective space that is St James’, Piccadilly and by the light of candles and dimmed lights…

In line with our continuing commitment to support younger talent, The Stephen Sondheim Society is pleased to work with LIVEWIRE and our creative team of Emily Phillips as director (Company at the Bridewell, 2026; West Side Story, NYMT, Birmingham Hippodrome, assistant to Rupert Hands) and John Haslam, as musical director (conducted Merrily We Roll Along, NYMT, Southwark Playhouse, Elephant; Assistant Musical Director, Into The Woods and Assassins, The Royal Academy of Music; Assistant Musical Director to Nigel Lilley for The Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year for last 4 years).

We hope to see you there.

Colour and Light
St James’ Piccadilly, 197 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL

Tickets: from £27.50, plus booking fee, to Premium £65, plus booking fee

Tickets Available NOW!

Link in comments

16/08/2026

I'm reposting this from livewire.prods instagram, so for the form and any questions you'll need to go to their instagram page. I'll put the link below

"Auditions are now open for ‘Colour and Light’!! The form to submit an audition can be found in our bio and we are looking for a self-tape of a song with music and/or lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Please ensure you read the instructions fully and note that we are not accepting vocal reels or performance footage in place of a tape. Any questions send us a message via email or DM 🫶"

https://www.instagram.com/livewire.prods/

13/08/2026

Wonderful to see Stephen Sondheim Society Patron, Maria Friedman, back on the stage in a show. Looking forward to this with great excitement.

13/08/2026

Huge congratulations to Taziva-Faye who was the runner up in this year's Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer Of The Year contest!

What a debut!🍾👏👏👏🤩😍

19-year-old drama school graduate Taziva-Faye Katsande goes on as Grizabella on opening night of new Cats revival!

Find out more. 👇

02/08/2026

I wanted to update you on our continued association with NYMT National Youth Music Theatre and the decision by our Trustees to become one of the principal production sponsors of this year's production of West Side Story, in NYMT's 50th Anniversary year. The Society’s support this year represents a substantial increase in its support of NYMT, reflecting the depth and longevity of the partnership between the two organisations. Four years on from their first collaboration, the two charities continue to share a common purpose: nurturing the next generation of British musical theatre talent and championing the work of Stephen Sondheim.

There has always been a strong relationship between the 2 organisations, with featured performances in recent years at SSSSPOTY; their excellent Sondheim productions; and even one of our SSSSPOTY winners Madeleine Morgan was an NYMT alumni!

Significantly increased sponsorship will help fund bursaries for young performers from under-represented communities, as the National Youth Music Theatre returns to one of Sondheim’s earliest masterworks at Birmingham Hippodrome this summer. WSS will be performed at the Patrick Studio, Birmingham Hippodrome, from 6-8 August 2026.

Craig Glenday, Chair, The Stephen Sondheim Society says: 'The Stephen Sondheim Society is honoured to be formalising its partnership with the National Youth Music Theatre on this
landmark production of West Side Story. As a charity dedicated to celebrating Sondheim’s extraordinary legacy, the Society is especially proud to support a project that places young people at the heart of one of the great works of musical theatre. This collaboration reflects our shared belief that musical theatre should inspire, challenge and transform the next generation of
performers and creatives. Like NYMT, The Stephen Sondheim Society is also committed to helping widen access to the arts, and I'm delighted that the Society's contribution will help young people from a wide variety of backgrounds experience the excitement of a truly great musical,perhaps for the very first time.'

Membership of the Stephen Sondheim Society helps to fund bursaries for children who would not normally be able to take part in these opportunities. If you would like to be a part of this work (for just £27 a year, which comes with discounts and opportuities) please go to the website.

18/07/2026

I put together the UK listings for the Stephen Sondheim Society website in which you can see where his works are being produced all over the UK. I get my info from the MTI site which for some reason isn't telling me the professional productions. I keep an eye on anouncements, but I am missing some (only just spotted A Little Night Music at the Royal Exchange when I went to look at booking another show) so I am begging a favour. If you know of a production that isn't currently listed on the site, please could you put a link in the comments and I'll get it on.
Thanks

07/06/2026

Huge Congratulations to CHARLOTTE ENGLISH from BIRD Conservatoire who was the winner of this year's Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year. Charlotte gave a wonderful performance of 'I Read' from Passion and 'The Sparrow's Tale' from The Wicker Husband by Darren Clark. Her performance really tugged at the heartstrings.
The First prize is kindly donated by Tessa Kulick in memory of Mark Jones.

Second prize went to TAZIVA-FAYE KATSANDE also from BIRD Conservatoire who was wonderful as The Witch with 'Last Midnight and with her rendidtion of 'Peace in the Puzzle' from Turing: A Musical, also by Darren Clark
The Second Prize is kindly donated by Tricia Sharpe and Ray Barker

We have a new Third Prize this year which has kindly been donated by the Chapman Family in memory of Jeremy Chapman who was an important part of the Society for many years. The first winner of this prize was ROSIE SUTTON from the University of Oxford, with an excellent performance of 'Getting Married Today' from Company and 'Colour in My Cheeks' from Heart of Winter by Tim Connor.

Congratulations to you all, and to our other finalists, there was so much talent on that stage today, the judges say that it was the hardest decision in the history of the competition. I hope to see all of you on stages throughout the country (and beyond) for years to come. Please Tag yourselves in the photo if you want to so that everyone gets to know your names.

Thank you so much to our wonderful host Bella Brown, for stepping in at the last minute and doing such a wonderful job, wowing us with her performance of 'Not A Day Goes By' and ad libbing so well when the judges were still fighting it out backstage. That took guts!

Thanks to our Judges, Edward Seckerson, Jenna Russell, Melanie La Barrie, Andy Nyman, Rachel Tucker and Matt Wolf, and performers Georgia Blessitt, Stuart Thompson, Gracie McGonigal and the NYMT Ensemble.
Thanks Also to Musical Director Nigel Lilley, Assistant MD John Haslam, Director Hannah Chissick and Assistant Director Craig Legg

Last of all thanks to Craig Glenday and Tina Foote for producing this wonderful event

07/06/2026

Enormous Thanks to BELLA BROWN who is stepping in at the last minute to host today's STEPHEN SONDHEIM SOCIETY STUDENT PERFORMER OF THE YEAR award, after Oscar Conlon-Morrey was put on vocal rest.

Bella has recently been giving a wonderful performance as Rapunzel in Into The Woods at The Bridge Theatre and you may have caught her singing from The Palladium balcony last summer as the alternate Evita. It's so kind of her to agree to step in to the role of host at the last minute (there's always a song from the host too) Thank-you Bella, we really appreciate it,

Come along and give her, and all of our wonderful contestants some support. There are still tickets available and it money raised goes towards "promoting the public knowledge and appreciation of the works of Stephen Sondheim by such means as are charitable" such as working with the NYMT

We send all our best wishes to Oscar for a speedy recovery

Ticket link in comments

02/06/2026

THIS SUNDAY!

Ticket link in comments

The Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year competition - affectionately known as
SSSSPOTY - returns for its 18th year with a gala final to be held, fittingly, in the Sondheim Theatre on
Sunday 7 June.
The final will be hosted by the award-winning actor, singer, comedian and cabaret artist OSCAR
CONLON-MORREY. Oscar, currently terrifying the children of Victorian London as Mr Bumble in Oliver!,
just next door to the Sondheim Theatre at the Gielgud, is returning to SSSSPOTY after winning the
special Julia McKenzie prize at the event back in 2017 while a student at Mountview. Since then,
Oscar’s credits have included featured roles in Only Fools and Horses (Theatre Royal Haymarket),
earning a WhatsOnStage nomination for Best Actor in a Musical; in Mother Goose, opposite Sir Ian
McKellen (Duke of York/UK Tour) and Nativity the Musical (Hammersmith Apollo/UK Tour).
The Stephen Sondheim Society (a charitable trust founded in 1993) asked for the first round of
auditions to be made via video. More than 350 submissions were received, 81 of which qualified for a
live, in-person audition with Chair of Judges EDWARD SECKERSON, Musical Director NIGEL LILLEY (Here
We Are and Follies, National Theatre) and guest judge LAURA PITT-PULFORD (Follies in Concert,
A Little Night Music in Concert, Marry Me a Little). Twelve finalists were selected, with 3 students held
in reserve.
The finalists are:
Ruby Decent (Bristol Old Vic Theatre School)
Charlotte English (Bird College)
Cait du Feu (Mountview)
Marcus Harman (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama)
Rebecca Hennessey (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama)
Róisín Holland (Emil Dale Academy)
Taziva-Faye Katsande (Bird College)
Samuel Louis Bennett (Trinity Laban)
Erica Schoebinger (Drama Studio London)
Josephine Shaw (Royal College of Music)
Rosie Sutton (University of Oxford)
Freddy Thompson (Trinity Laban)
Reserves:
Phoebe Graham (LAMDA), Nicholas McKeown (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama) and Teddy
Thompson (ArtsEd).
The winner will receive £1,000 and the chance to headline their own Sondheim-infused cabaret in
London. The runner-up is awarded £500. A 3rd prize of £250 has been donated in memory of critic and
Stephen Sondheim Society member, Jeremy Chapman.

Each finalist will be required to sing one song with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, plus a new
song chosen by them from the selection at NEW UK MUSICALS - the organisation founded by the
Olivier-Award-winning Benjamin Button composer Darren Clark to showcase the UK’s best new
musical-theatre writing for the stage. It was the express wish of Mr Sondheim that for every one of his
songs selected by the finalists, a new song is performed, in order to encourage and support the creation
of new work.
The Society is also excited to partner once again with the National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT), and look
forward to featuring a performance from cast members from their upcoming production of West Side
Story, which will be staged in Birmingham in August 2026.
Also performing at the gala will be Gracie McGonigal (Little Red Riding Hood in the London revival of Into
the Woods) and Stuart Thompson, a returning SSSSPOTY winner and just announced as a runner up in
the Ian Charleson Award, will be performing new piece of writing from FlyBy.
The competition has an impressive track record for identifying young talent. Finalists have included
Cynthia Erivo, Oscar Conlon-Morrey, Dónal Finn and winners include Alex Young, Taron Egerton, Erin
Doherty, Stuart Thompson, Desmonda Cathabel, Izuka Hoyle, Courtney Bowman and, most recently,
Georgia Blessitt from the Royal Academy of Music, who will reprise her winning number at this year’s
competition.
Oscar Conlon-Morrey will host and also perform.
The Final will be directed by Hannah Chissick (Marry Me A Little, Pack of Lies, Amour).
The students will perform for a panel of highly respected West End performers and critics. Jenna Russell,
a patron of The Stephen Sondheim Society, will join the Chair of Judges Edward Seckerson, whose panel
will also include WhatsOnStage Best Supporting Actress Melanie La Barrie (currently The Witch in Into
The Woods, previously Hadestown, Mary Poppins, & Juliet; Olivier-nominated actor Andy Nyman (The
Producers, Hello, Dolly!, Assassins); Olivier nominated actress and singer Rachel Tucker (Baker’s Wife in
Into The Woods, previously Come From Away, The Last Ship, Hadestown); and renowned theatre critic
Matt Wolf.
Previous judges include John Wilson, Imelda Staunton, Fra Fee, Callum Scott Howells and Andrew Lippa.
Craig Glenday, Chair of The Stephen Sondheim Society, said:
“Whatever the outcome of this year’s competition, it’s going to be a fantastic afternoon of music at the
Sondheim. The calibre of the finalists is going to make the job of picking a winner a difficult one, and
I don’t envy Edward and his jury. I say this every year, but the standards just keep on rising, which is
a sign of the UK’s very healthy musical-theatre scene. Thank you to all the colleges and students that
applied – it’s been a privilege to hear you all perform. And best of luck to the Finalists!”