ASMS founder members Norman Luke & Paul Toward
Alnwick’s, Award Winning,
Stage Musical Society
Alnwick Stage Musical Society formed in October 1986. It was the brainchild of two friends Norman Luke and Paul Toward, who produced and musically directed the Society’s first show, The Sound of Music, in March 1987.
Over the years, the company has performed many classic musicals including Me & My Girl, The Pirates of Penzance, Kiss Me Kate, HMS Pinafore, Fiddler On The Roof, Annie Get Your Gun and many more.
In 2016 ASMS became an award winning society for the first time when Leonie Airlie won a best lead NODA award for her role as Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act. Since then we have gone from strength to strength. For every year to date, ASMS has won at least one NODA award for our shows. Evita in 2017 winning best individual performance for Darren Lewis and best Musical in the North for the show itself.
Our production of My Fair Lady in 2018 won a total of 4 awards, one of these being the prestigious Councillors Award for best performance in the region, awarded to Mark Stenton for his performance as Alfred Doolittle.
In 2019, our original production, Cabaret on Broadway, supported the fundraising efforts for the refurbishment of the Playhouse, and went on to win Best Concert both in 2019 and again in 2021 after we brought it to the newly refurbished Playhouse Stage. The latter year, it also won Best Concert for the North.
Jesus Christ Superstar, performed later in 2020 due to the pandemic, won awards for both cast and whole production. Last years’ performance of Oklahoma was no exception to all our recent success, winning best production and best supporting actor for Mark Stenton.
Here’s hoping this years’ sell-out production of Made in Dagenham will follow the trend!