The Sound of Music star Connie Fisher has picked up her first award after being named theatreland's most promising newcomer.

Fisher, discovered on BBC1 talent contest How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, received the accolade at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards.

This is the first major prize for Fisher, the 23-year-old former call centre worker who has garnered rave reviews since landing the lead role of Maria in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End hit.

She was snubbed in the recent Olivier Awards nominations and missed out on a South Bank Show award.

Today she jointly shared the best newcomer prize with Andrew Garfield, who has appeared in productions including Beautiful Thing at the Sound Theatre and Burn/Chatroom/Citizenship at the National Theatre.

Green Wing's Tamsin Greig was also a winner. The comic actress picked up the best Shakespearean performance award for her RSC debut as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. The awards ceremony took place at the Prince of Wales Theatre in central London.

Tom Stoppard's production Rock'n'Roll was a double winner - it was named best new play and its star Rufus Sewell was crowned best actor.
The best actress prize went to Kathleen Turner for her performance in West End hit Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Best New Play - Rock'n'Roll
Best Actor - Rufus Sewell (Rock'n'Roll)
Best Actress - Kathleen Turner (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)
Best Musical - Caroline, Or Change
Best Shakespearean Performance - Tamsin Greig (Much Ado About Nothing)
Best Director - John Tiffany (Black Watch)
Best Design - Punchdrunk Faust Company
Jack Tinker Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Connie Fisher (The Sound of Music) and Andrew Garfield (Beautiful Thing, Burn/Chatroom/Citizenship, The Overwhelming)
Most Promising Playwright - Nina Raine