The winners were confirmed in a ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday.
This years winners have been announced for the 50th anniversary Olivier Awards, with Paddington the Musical coming out on top with seven awards and with wins double wins also for All My Sons, Kenrex, Punch, Evita and Into the Woods.
Paddington the Musical’s seven wins included: the coveted Cunard Best New Musical award for writers Tom Fletcher & Jessica Swale. James Hameed & Arti Shah took home the Best Actor in a Musical award for their joint portrayal of the musical’s title character, whilst Victoria Hamilton-Barritt received the Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical award, and Tom Edden the Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical award. Meanwhile, the show’s creative team was also rewarded with wins for Luke Sheppard who received the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director, Tom Pye (Set Design) & Ash J Woodward (Video Design) taking home the award for Best Set Design supported by Blue-i Theatre Technology, and Gabriella Slade (Costume Design) & Tahra Zafar (Paddington Design) winning Best Costume Design, a second win in a row for Gabriella Slade, who won the same award for her work on Starlight Express last year.
Jamie Lloyd’s production of Evita has won two awards including Rachel Zegler’s performance as Eva Peron earning her the Best Actress in a Musical award, whilst Fabian Aloise received the Gillian Lynne Award for Best Theatre Choreographer. Bridge Theatre’s take on Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s fairytale misadventure Into The Woods won Best Musical Revival supported by Piper-Heidsieck, and Aideen Malone (Lighting Design) & Roland Horvath (Video Design) received the award for Best Lighting Design.
In terms of the awards presented for the play categories, All My Sons, Kenrex, and Punch – received two awards each. All My Sons – a new production of Arthur Miller’s visionary first play – was awarded Best Revival, with Paapa Essiedu taking home the Best Actor in a Supporting Role award. Jack Holden received the highly competitive Best Actor award for his performance in Kenrex (following his UK Theatre Award win last year), whilst Giles Thomas won Best Sound Design supported by d&b audiotechnik for his work on the play, which transferred to London from Sheffield Theatres. Another successful out-of-London transfer and previous UK Theatre Award winner, James Graham’s Punch, which originated at Nottingham Playhouse, received the award for Best New Play supported by The Londoner, with Julie Hesmondhalgh receiving the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
Meanwhile, the Best Actress Award was won by Rosamund Pike for her performance in Suzie Miller’s Inter Alia at the National Theatre. Elsewhere, the Barbican Theatre’s Good Night, Oscar received the award for Outstanding Musical Contribution for Chris Fenwick (Musical Supervision & Arrangements) & Sean Hayes (Live Piano Performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue).
Other new productions receiving accolades at the ceremony were Cole Escola’s Broadway hit Oh, Mary!, receiving the Noël Coward Award for Best New Entertainment or Comedy Play, Rose Theatre’s The Boy At The Back Of The Class, which received Best Family Show, and The Yard Theatre’s The Glass Menagerie, winning Best New Production in Affiliate Theatre.
Into The Hairy by Sharon Eyal for S-E-D at Sadler’s Wells won Best New Dance Production, and English National Opera’s Dead Man Walking won Best New Opera Production supported by TAIT, which were presented by this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Dance recipient Sir Wayne McGregor, and Outstanding Contribution to Opera recipient Danielle de Niese.
The special award was presented to Dame Elaine Paige by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber who also read a celebratory message from Her Majesty The Queen. Industry Recognition Award recipients Betty Laine OBE, Linda Tolhurst and David Wood OBE also received a special acknowledgement during the ceremony, honouring their significant contributions to the theatre industry.
The evening also featured a special performance marking 40 years of Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom Of The Opera, and a dazzling finale celebrating 20 years of Wicked in the West End. Additional performances throughout the evening included Cunard Best New Musical nominees Paddington The Musical, Shucked, and The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry, and Best Musical Revival nominees Evita, Into The Woods and The Producers.