Alex Young hosts this year's Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize at The Other Palace on Monday 12 October, and the thirteen performers singing the twelve songs in contention have now been announced.
Alex Young hosts this year's Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize, and the company joining her for it has now been announced in full. Thirteen performers will sing the twelve songs in contention at The Other Palace on Monday 12 October, in a one-night concert presented by Mercury Musical Developments and Stiles + Drewe in partnership with Theatrical Rights Worldwide.
Young, whose credits include Operation Mincemeat and Fun Home, is joined by a line-up drawn largely from current and recent West End companies.
- Roshani Abbey (Operation Mincemeat, Hamilton)
- Jessica Aubrey (SIX, Wicked)
- Norman Bowman (Brigadoon, Mamma Mia!)
- Lewis Cornay (Pride, The SpongeBob Musical)
- Morgan Gregory (Hot Mess, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical)
- Ryan Kopel (Dear Evan Hansen, The Addams Family)
- Frances McNamee (The Last Ship, Ballad Lines)
- Christina Modestou (SIX, Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World)
- Joel Montague (Elf the Musical, Hamilton)
- Cheeyang Ng, who received the Fred Ebb Award and the Jonathan Larson Award in 2024
- Nia Stephen (SIX, & Juliet)
- Daniel Urch (Phantom of the Opera)
- Alex Young (Operation Mincemeat, Fun Home)
The winner is chosen by a panel that includes George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, the prize's co-sponsor Joanne Benjamin, and Jon Robyns. Whoever writes the winning song takes £1,000 towards developing the show it comes from, and a second award, for Voice, Vision & Potential, will also be given on the night.
The concert is directed by Alex Jackson, with musical direction by Livi van Warmelo. Alongside the contenders, the evening takes in a selection of songs from recent and forthcoming British musicals.
The twelve songs in contention are:
- A Sliver of Sunlight from Hyacinthus, by Trevor K. Band
- Be Your Own Man from Rising, by Tom James McGrath and Amy Clare Tasker
- Earth To Theo from Theo In Between, by Jordan Li Smith and Gareth Mattey
- Every Day from The Deep End, by Paul Grady, Dom Patterson and Kate Peters
- Father from Confessional, by James Lark
- First from Sally In The Woods, by P Burton-Morgan and James Joshua Otto
- In The Beginning from Legendary, by Cheeyang Ng
- Monster In The Mirror from Stigma, by Jane Subachus
- Paris Is Calling from Le Pétomane - The Musical, by Tim Waters
- Shadows from The Last Lost Boy, by Jacob Attwooll and Kyla Stroud
- Skylines from Elbow Deep, by Elinor Peregrin
- There's More To Me from The Most Hated Family In America, by Matt Bond and Aveev Isaacson
Mercury Musical Developments is the UK's leading development organisation for musical theatre writers, and one of the two bodies behind the BEAM2027 showcase. The Best New Song Prize concert is supported by Theatrical Rights Worldwide, Dorico, Sonia Friedman Productions, Tarento Productions, Joanne Benjamin, Music Theatre International (Europe), John Good and About Grace.
The Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize 2026 is at The Other Palace, 12 Palace Street, London SW1E 5BJ, on Monday 12 October 2026 at 7.30pm. Tickets are £36, with a limited number of discounted tickets released to Mercury Musical Developments members.
