Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton will compete at this year’s Theatre Awards UK for the title of best performance in a musical for their roles in Sweeney Todd, along with Daniel Evans for his part in Company.

Chichester Festival Theatre’s  production of Sweeney Todd, directed by Jonathan Kent, and Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre show, Company, directed by Jonathan Munby, also feature in the category for best  musical production. The Go-Between, directed by Roger Haines at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, joins them.

The awards ceremony, organised by the Theatrical Management  Association and formerly known  as the TMA Theatre Awards, takes place on October 28 at the London’s Guildhall, with 16 categories in total.

The best new play nominations  are In the Next Room by Sarah Ruhl, performed at Theatre Royal Bath’s Ustinov Studio; Lungs, by Duncan Macmillan, presented at Sheffield’s Crucible Studio; and David Hare’s South Downs, which was staged at Chichester Festival Theatre.

Meanwhile, in the best touring  production category, Swallows and Amazons returns to the awards from last year. The nomination is for Children’s Touring Partnership in association with the National Theatre, for its presentation of Bristol Old Vic’s original creation.

Rivals include Northern Broadsides’ production of We Are Three Sisters and Graeae Theatre Company and New Wolsey Theatre’s tour of Reasons to be Cheerful. Anne Boleyn, presented by Shakespeare’s Globe and English Touring Theatre, and The King and I, presented by Music and Lyrics and Leicester’s Curve  theatre, also feature.

Overall, Chichester Festival Theatre has picked up the most  nominations – five across four categories – closely followed by Sheffield Theatres, which has four nominations in the same number of categories.

TMA chief executive Julian Bird said: “For all the nominees – both  the theatre and management awards – the great and interesting thing is the regional spread. Very naturally, the nominations are from throughout the country, which I think shows  the strength and depth of regional theatre at the moment.”

In response to two out of the three nominations for the best performance in a musical award going to actors from Sweeney Todd, Bird said:  “I’m excited about that because it  is one of the main categories – and Sweeney Todd was acclaimed to be one of the great musical productions that started at Chichester – and I think the panel wanted to recognise both of the performances in that  production. It will be very interesting to see who wins on the day.”

Theatre Awards UK 2012 – nominations

Best new play

• Lungs by Duncan Macmillan, a Sheffield Theatres and Paines Plough co-production at the Crucible Studio, Sheffield
• South Downs by David Hare, a Chichester Festival Theatre production at Chichester Festival Theatre
• In The Next Room by Sarah Ruhl, a Theatre Royal Bath production at Theatre Royal Bath’s Ustinov Studio

Best performance in a play

• Leanne Best for The Match Box, a Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse production
• Henry Goodman for The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, a Chichester Festival Theatre production
• Tim Pigott-Smith for King Lear, a production at West Yorkshire Playhouse

Best supporting performance

• Stephen Boxer for Written On The Heart by David Edgar, an RSC production, Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon
• Claire-Louise Cordwell for Beautiful Thing, a Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester production
• Aidan McArdle for Democracy, a Sheffield Theatres production at the Crucible, Sheffield

Best musical production

• Company, directed by Jonathan Munby, a Sheffield Theatres production at the Crucible, Sheffield
• The Go-Between, directed by Roger Haines, a West Yorkshire Playhouse, Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Derby Live! production at West Yorkshire Playhouse
• Sweeney Todd, directed by Jonathan Kent, a Chichester Festival Theatre production

Best performance in a musical

• Michael Ball for Sweeney Todd, a Chichester Festival Theatre production
• Daniel Evans for Company, a Sheffield Theatres production at the Crucible, Sheffield
• Imelda Staunton for Sweeney Todd, a Chichester Festival Theatre production

Best show for children and young people

• Alice in Wonderland, a New Vic Theatre production at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme
• The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean, by Shona Reppe, a production on tour
• Something Very Far Away, a production by the Unicorn Theatre

Best touring production

• Anne Boleyn, English Touring Theatre’s presentation of the Shakespeare’s Globe production
• The King and I, a Music and Lyrics production with Curve, Leicester
• Reasons to be Cheerful, a Graeae Theatre Company and New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, production
• Swallows and Amazons, The Children’s Touring Partnership in association with the National Theatre presenting Bristol Old Vic’s production
• We Are Three Sisters, a production by Northern Broadsides

Best director

• Joe Harmston for The Father by August Strindberg, adapted by Laurie Slade, a Belgrade Theatre production
• Dominic Hill for Krapp’s Last Tape/Footfalls, by Samuel Beckett, a Citizens Theatre production
• Garry Hynes for DruidMurphy – plays by Tom Murphy, a Druid Theatre Company production at Hampstead Theatre and Oxford Playhouse

Best design

• Gary McCann for The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, a Lyric Theatre Belfast production in association with Lamplighter Drama at the Lyric, Belfast
• Amanda Stoodley for Manchester Lines, a Library Theatre Company production
• Neil Warmington for Further Than The Furthest Thing, a Dundee Repertory Ensemble production at Dundee Repertory Theatre

Achievement in opera

• Glyndebourne Festival Opera for Le Nozze Di Figaro
• Oliver Mears for his leadership of Northern Ireland Opera
• Christopher Alden for his production of Norma for Opera North/Theater Chemnitz

Achievement in dance

• DV8 Physical Theatre
• Akram Khan for Desh
• Michael Hulls for his contribution to lighting for dance

Theatre employee/manager of the year

• Ciaran McAuley, Lyric Theatre, Belfast
• Janthi Mills, Belgrade Theatre
• Graham Sutherland, Citizens Theatre
• Erica Whyman, Northern Stage

Achievement in marketing

• The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
• Shakespeare’s Globe, London
• York Theatre Royal

Most welcoming theatre

• Chipping Norton Theatre
• Curve (Leicester Theatre Trust)
• New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich

Promotion of diversity

• Graeae Theatre Company
• Oldham Coliseum Theatre
• Theatre Royal Stratford East

The Renee Stepham award for best presentation of touring theatre

• Graeae Theatre Company/New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich
• Hull Truck Theatre
• Music and Lyrics Limited