Nicole Scherzinger won the Olivier award for best actress in a musical for her role as Norma Desmond in the West End revival of Sunset Boulevard. Photo: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for SOLT
Jamie Lloyd’s lavish revival of Sunset Boulevard, starring Nicole Scherzinger, was the standout show at this year’s Olivier awards, picking up seven wins on an evening when productions with big-name talent are often overlooked.
The Savoy theatrical adaptation of the classic 1950 film about the dark side of Billy Wilder’s Hollywood dream won best actor in a musical for Tom Francis and best actress in a musical for Scherzinger. Said by the Guardian to have created “a tremendous sense of rediscovery”, Lloyd won the award for best director.
Sunset Boulevard’s wins followed its dominance of the WhatsOnStage awards, where it won seven awards. Once again, the technical team was honored with awards for best lighting design (Jack Knowles), music supervision (Alan Williams) and best sound design (Adam Fisher), all thanks to Lloyd’s revival.
Lloyd thanked Scherzinger for putting on a “perennial performance” and said he expected the production to take Broadway by storm when it moves to New York later this year.
The event, which recognizes only London-based productions or regional shows transferring to the capital, nominated a host of stars from the world of television and film who brought mainstream appeal to West End productions that sold out quickly but left some unfinished. the industry questions whether celebrity casting ultimately hurts the industry.
Happy Valley’s James Norton (A Little Life), Fleabag’s Andrew Scott (Vanya), Sex in The City’s Sarah Jessica Parker (Plaza Suite) and former Doctor Who stars David Tennant (Macbeth) and Sheridan Smith (Shirley Valentine). ) was nominated. and Joseph Fiennes (Dear England).
But almost all of the big names were missed in the show, which began with host Hannah Waddingham singing a rendition of Anything Goes.
Succession star Sarah Snook won the best actress award for her 26 roles in The Picture of Dorian Gray, her first film in the West End. [Snook said she learned her lines while breast-feeding her baby at night, regularly asking herself: “Why am I doing a 60,000-word monologue with an eight-month-old baby?”
Story continues
The National theatre, which bagged 15 nominations during its 60th anniversary year, managed to convert only three of those into wins, with James Graham’s football drama Dear England taking home two gongs for best new play and best actor in a supporting role for Will Close.
Best actor went to Mark Gatiss for his performance in The Motive and the Cue, the National’s production about the tempestuous but ultimately successful Broadway staging of Hamlet, where John Gielgud (played by Gatiss) and Richard Burton butted heads over “creative differences”.
Gatiss was one of several winners who decried the lack of opportunities for working-class voices in British theatre.
Close dedicated his award to “all the single mums in council houses” and said his mother’s encouragement was the reason he continued in theatre, while Gatiss said “as a working-class man who went to comprehensive school, all the routes that took me here have virtually vanished”.
James Graham said Dear England’s football theme was a way to make it accessible to a wider audience beyond the usual middle-class crowds who attend theatre. “I’m so glad that a play about football did bring in lads who’d never seen a play before,” he said.
One production that bucked the big-name trend entirely was Operation Mincemeat, a former fringe production about a second world war plot to fool the Nazis. It took home best new musical in a hyper competitive field where the Old Vic’s Groundhog Day, the Bridge theatre’s immersive Guys & Dolls, and Hadestown at the Lyric theatre were also nominated.
Jak Malone, who played put-upon secretary Hester, also won best actor in a supporting role in a musical.
Amy Trigg took home a surprise win in the best actress in a supporting role in a musical category for her performance as Agnes in The Little Big Things, while best revival went to Chekov’s Vanya adapted by Simon Stephens at the Duke of York’s Theatre.
One of the highlights was a standing ovation for Arlene Phillips, who won best choreography with James Cousins for Guys and Dolls at the Bridge theatre, while early in the evening there was a posthumous recognition for The Windsors and Drop the Dead Donkey star Haydn Gwynne, who died aged 66 in October.
She won best actress in a supporting role for When Winston Went to War with The Wireless.
Complete list of winners
Noël Coward award for best new entertainment or comedy play Stranger Things: The First Shadow by Kate Trefry at the Phoenix theatre
Best family show Dinosaur World Live by Derek Bond at Regent’s Park Open Air theatre
Gillian Lynne award for best theatre choreographer Arlene Phillips with James Cousins for Guys and Dolls at the Bridge theatre
Best costume design Marg Horwell for The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Theatre Royal Haymarket
Best revival Vanya by Anton Chekhov, adapted by Simon Stephens at the Duke of York’s theatre
Best musical revival Sunset Boulevard, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton at the Savoy theatre
Best sound design Adam Fisher for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy theatre
Outstanding musical contribution Alan Williams for musical supervision and musical direction for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy theatre
Best actor in a supporting role Will Close for Dear England at the National theatre – Olivier and Prince Edward theatre
Best actress in a supporting role Haydn Gwynne for When Winston Went to War With the Wireless at the Donmar Warehouse
Best set design Miriam Buether for set design and 59 Productions for video design for Stranger Things: The First Shadow at the Phoenix theatre
Best lighting design Jack Knowles for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy theatre
Best actress in a supporting role in a musical Amy Trigg for The Little Big Things at @sohoplace
Best actor in a supporting role in a musical Jak Malone for Operation Mincemeat at the Fortune theatre
Best new opera production Innocence by the Royal Opera at the Royal Opera House
Outstanding achievement in opera Antonio Pappano for his role as Musical Director of the Royal Opera House
Best actor in a musical Tom Francis for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy theatre
Best actress in a musical Nicole Scherzinger for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy theatre
Best new dance production La Ruta by Gabriela Carrizo, part of Nederlands Dans theater – NDT 1 at Sadler’s Wells
Outstanding achievement in dance Isabela Coracy for her performance in NINA: By Whatever Means, part of Ballet Black: Pioneers at the Barbican theatre
Outstanding achievement in affiliate theatre Sleepova by Matilda Feyişayo at the Bush theatre
Sir Peter Hall award for best director Jamie Lloyd for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy theatre
Best actress Sarah Snook for The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Theatre Royal Haymarket
Best actor Mark Gatiss for The Motive and the Cue at the National theatre – Lyttelton and Noël Coward theatre
Best new play Dear England by James Graham at the National theatre – Olivier and Prince Edward theatre
Best new musical Operation Mincemeat, music, lyrics and book by David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts at the Fortune theatre