The awards ceremony was presented by the Whatsonstage.com theatre news website at a lavish concert on Sunday night. The Whatsonstage.com Awards is the only major prize-giving celebration for theatre voted on by the theatre-going public. The Best Lighting Designer Award is sponsored by leading entertainment lighting supplier White Light.
Henderson secured the prize for his work on Sweeney Todd, which opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre and then transferred to London's Adelphi Theatre. Henderson's was not the only award presented to the show, which also won prizes for its leading performers (Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton), its director (Jonathan Kent), and for the show itself, which was named Best Musical Revival.
Henderson's fellow nominees in the category were Humphrey McDermott for Let It Be, Lee Curran for Constellations, Patrick Woodroffe for Jesus Christ Superstar at the O2, Paul Anderson for The Master & Margarita, and Paule Constable for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and This House.
In the Awards' other design category, for Best Set Designer, Tom Scutt took home the prize for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at Kensington Gardens and Constellations at the Royal Court, ahead of Bunny Christie (for The Curious Incident...), Hildegard Bechtler (for Scenes from an Execution), Michael Taylor (for The Ladykillers), Miriam Buether (for Chariots of Fire, Wild Swans and The Effect) and Tim Hatley (for The Bodyguard).
"Congratulations to Mark and all of the other winners and nominees," comments White Light's managing director, Bryan Raven. "It's been a fantastic year for theatre in London, and we were delighted to be able to help recognise the work of so many people involved in making it so great - though, as always with the Whatsonstage awards, it's been fascinating to see what the public, rather than theatre professionals, decides is the best."
(Jim Evans)
