Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Merrily We Roll Along, two of this year’s hit musicals, lead this year’s Olivier Awards with MasterCard nominations with a staggering seven nominations apiece.
Sam Mendes’ colourful family adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic makes the coveted Best New Musical list, as well as earning nominations for its stars Douglas Hodge (Best Actor in a Musical) and Nigel Planer (Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical), and the show’s talented creative team including Peter Darling (Best Theatre Choreographer), Paul Pyant (Best Lighting Design) and Mark Thompson, who earns an impressive two nominations in the Best Costume Design and Best Set Design categories.
The Menier Chocolate Factory’s Merrily We Roll Along follows its five star West End run and multiple awards success to make the Best Musical Revival list alongside Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s The Sound Of Music and St James Theatre’s Tell Me On A Sunday. The elegant Sondheim show’s leading ladies Jenna Russell and Josefina Gabrielle both earn nominations for their performances (Best Actress in a Musical and Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical respectively), alongside creatives Gareth Owen (Best Sound Design) and Soutra Gilmour (Best Costume Design). The show’s orchestra also makes the list for this year’s inaugural Outstanding Achievement in Music Award.
The show’s seventh nominee comes for Olivier Award-winning performer Maria Friedman, who this year makes the list for her critically acclaimed efforts in her directorial debut. She will face competition in the female dominated Best Director Award category by Tony Award winner Susan Stroman (The Scottsboro Boys), five-time Olivier Award winner Richard Eyre (Ghosts) and first time Olivier nominee Lyndsey Turner (Chimerica).
Revealed today by former Olivier Award winners Nigel Harman and Leigh Zimmerman at an exclusive nominations announcement event at the Rosewood Hotel attended by many of this year’s nominated shows and performers, this year’s stand-out pair of musicals will face stiff competition on the night from fellow Best New Musical nominees The Book Of Mormon, Once and The Scottsboro Boys.
Once star Zrinka Cvitešić joins Russell in the Best Actress in a Musical category alongside The Sound Of Music’s Charlotte Wakefield and The Light Princess’ Rosalie Craig, while The Book Of Mormon dominate the Best Actor in a Musical category, with Gavin Creel and Jared Gertner both earning a place, joining Hodge and The Scottsboro Boys’ Kyle Scatliffe. Tony Award-winning imports The Book Of Mormon and The Scottsboro Boys also take one nomination apiece in the Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical category, with Mormon’s Stephen Ashfield and Scottsboro Boy Colman Domingo joining Gabrielle and Planer.
One of the most popular awards of the night, the BBC Radio 2 Audience Award, will see former winners Les Misérables and Wicked up against fellow long-runners The Phantom Of The Opera and 2012’s seven-time Olivier Award winner Matilda The Musical in the running to take home the only publically voted for award of the night.
In the hotly contended play categories, an illustrious line-up make the coveted Best Actor and Best Actress lists. Best Revival Award nominee Othello’s acclaimed Iago Rory Kinnear will attempt to follow his Critics Circle Award win by triumphing over two-time Olivier Award winner Henry Goodman (The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui), stage and screen star Jude Law (Henry V) and Coriolanus star Tom Hiddleston who previously took home 2008’s Most Promising Newcomer in a Play Award.
In the Best Actress category, Hayley Atwell (The Pride) and two actresses from Best Revival Award nominated shows, Anna Chancellor (Private Lives) and Lesley Manville (Ghosts), will face competition from seven-time Olivier Award winner and theatre legend Judi Dench, who returns to celebrate her role in Best New Play nominee Peter And Alice.
Joining Peter And Alice in the running for Best New Play is Robert Icke & Duncan Macmillan’s innovative adaptation of George Orwell’s classic 1984, Lucy Kirkwood’s three-time Critics Circle Award-winning Chimerica and Conor McPherson’s The Night Alive.
Returning for 2014, the Best New Comedy Award sees Dan Patterson and Colin Swash’s The Duck House, Simon Beaufoy’s stage adaptation of hit film The Full Monty, sibling writing duo Robert and David Goodale’s Jeeves & Wooster In Perfect Nonsense and 2013 Best New Play nominee Nick Payne’s The Same Deep Water As Me in the running for an award.
Also returning for 2014 is Cush Jumbo who, following her nomination last year for Julius Caesar, makes the Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre list for her one-woman show Josephine And I. She will face competition from Soho Theatre’s Critics Circle Award-winning Fleabag, Tricycle Theatre’s Handbagged and Theatre Royal Stratford East’s revival of Oh What A Lovely War.
Concluding the theatre awards are Best Entertainment and Family nominees Eric And Little Ern, Barry Humphries’ Farewell Tour – Eat, Pray, Laugh!, The Wind In The Willows and Derren Brown: Infamous, the latter of which would earn Brown his third Olivier Award.
In the opera categories, the Royal Opera House dominates proceedings, earning nods for its productions of The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, Les Vêpres Siciliennes, La Donna Del Lago and Nabucco. English Touring Opera is also nominated for its “brave and challenging touring productions” staged in the Royal Opera House’s intimate Linbury Studio Theatre.
In the dance categories, the Royal Opera House once again makes the list with mentions for Arthur Pita’s choreography for Ballet Black’s A Dream Within A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Witch-Hunt.
The Barbican will also be celebrating success with productions Compagnie 111 Aurélien Bory/Stéphanie Fuster for What’s Become Of You? (Questcequetudeviens?) and Britten Sinfonia for Barbican Britten: Phaedra making the Best New Dance Production list alongside Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Sadler’s Wells’ Puz/zle.
All the winners will be revealed at a star-studded ceremony packed with glamorous presenters and exclusive performances to be held on 13 April at the Royal Opera House. Highlights of the event will be shown in a special ITV broadcast to be screened shortly after the event.
Full list of nominations:
Best Actor
Henry Goodman for The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui at the Duchess Theatre
Tom Hiddleston for Coriolanus at the Donmar Warehouse
Rory Kinnear for Othello at the National Theatre, Olivier
Jude Law for Henry V at the Noël Coward Theatre
Best Actress
Hayley Atwell for The Pride at the Trafalgar Studios
Anna Chancellor for Private Lives at the Gielgud Theatre
Judi Dench for Peter And Alice at the Noël Coward Theatre
Lesley Manville for Ghosts at the Almeida Theatre & Trafalgar Studios
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Ron Cook for Henry V at the Noël Coward Theatre
Mark Gatiss for Coriolanus at the Donmar Warehouse
Jack Lowden for Ghosts at the Almeida Theatre & Trafalgar Studios
Ardal O’Hanlon for The Weir at the Donmar Warehouse & the Wyndham’s Theatre
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Sharon D Clarke for The Amen Corner at the National Theatre, Olivier
Sarah Greene for The Cripple Of Inishmaan at the Noël Coward Theatre
Katherine Kingsley for A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Noël Coward Theatre
Cecilia Noble for The Amen Corner at the National Theatre, Olivier
American Airlines Best New Play
1984 at the Almeida Theatre
Chimerica at the Almeida Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre
The Night Alive at the Donmar Warehouse
Peter And Alice at the Noël Coward Theatre
Best New Comedy
The Duck House at the Vaudeville Theatre
The Full Monty at the Noël Coward Theatre
Jeeves & Wooster In Perfect Nonsense at the Duke of York’s Theatre
The Same Deep Water As Me at the Donmar Warehouse
Best Director
Richard Eyre for Ghosts at the Almeida Theatre & Trafalgar Studios
Maria Friedman for Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter Theatre
Susan Stroman for The Scottsboro Boys at the Young Vic
Lyndsey Turner for Chimerica at the Almeida Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre
Best Actor in a Musical
Gavin Creel for The Book Of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre
Jared Gertner for The Book Of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre
Douglas Hodge for Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Kyle Scatliffe for The Scottsboro Boys at the Young Vic
Best Actress in a Musical
Rosalie Craig for The Light Princess at the National Theatre, Lyttelton
Zrinka Cvitešić for Once at the Phoenix Theatre
Jenna Russell for Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter Theatre
Charlotte Wakefield for The Sound Of Music at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical
Stephen Ashfield for The Book Of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre
Colman Domingo for The Scottsboro Boys at the Young Vic
Josefina Gabrielle for Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter Theatre
Nigel Planer for Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
MasterCard Best New Musical
The Book Of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Once at the Phoenix Theatre
The Scottsboro Boys at the Young Vic
Best Revival
The Amen Corner at the National Theatre, Olivier
Ghosts at the Almeida Theatre & Trafalgar Studios
Othello at the National Theatre, Olivier
Private Lives at the Gielgud Theatre
Best Musical Revival
Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter Theatre
The Sound Of Music at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Tell Me On A Sunday at the St James Theatre & the Duchess Theatre
Best Theatre Choreographer
Peter Darling for Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Steven Hoggett for Once at the Phoenix Theatre
Casey Nicholaw for The Book Of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre
Susan Stroman for The Scottsboro Boys at the Young Vic
Best Entertainment and Family
Derren Brown: Infamous at the Palace Theatre
Eric And Little Ern at the Vaudeville Theatre
Barry Humphries’ Farewell Tour – Eat, Pray, Laugh! at the London Palladium
The Wind In The Willows at the Duchess Theatre
Autograph Sound Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music
The Book Of Mormon – Trey Parker, Robert Lopez & Matt Stone for book, music & lyrics
Merrily We Roll Along – The orchestra
Once – Martin Lowe for composition & arrangements, Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová for music & lyrics
The Scottsboro Boys – John Kander & Fred Ebb for music & lyrics
White Light Award for Best Lighting Design
Paule Constable for The Light Princess at the National Theatre, Lyttelton
Tim Lutkin & Finn Ross for Chimerica at the Almeida Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre
Peter Mumford for Ghosts at the Almeida Theatre & Trafalgar Studios
Paul Pyant for Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Best Sound Design
Simon Baker for The Light Princess at the National Theatre, Lyttelton
Carolyn Downing for Chimerica at the Almeida Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre
Clive Goodwin for Once at the Phoenix Theatre
Gareth Owen for Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter Theatre
Best Costume Design
Nicky Gillibrand for The Wind In The Willows at the Duchess Theatre
Soutra Gilmour for Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter Theatre
Rae Smith for The Light Princess at the National Theatre, Lyttelton
Mark Thompson for Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
XL Video Award for Best Set Design
Bob Crowley for Once at the Phoenix Theatre
Es Devlin for Chimerica at the Almeida Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre
Tim Goodchild for Strangers On A Train at the Gielgud Theatre
Mark Thompson for Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre
Cush Jumbo for Josephine And I at the Bush Theatre
Fleabag at the Soho Theatre
Handbagged at the Tricycle Theatre
Oh What A Lovely War at the Theatre Royal Stratford East
Best New Dance Production
Compagnie 111 Aurélien Bory/Stéphanie Fuster for What’s Become Of You? (Questcequetudeviens?) at the Barbican Theatre
Eastman – Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui & Sadler’s Wells for Puz/zle at Sadler’s Wells
Richard Alston Dance Company/Britten Sinfonia for Barbican Britten: Phaedra at the Barbican Theatre
Outstanding Achievement in Dance
Arthur Pita for his choreography of Ballet Black – A Dream Within A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House
Clemmie Sveaas for her performance in Witch-Hunt at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House
The Mark Morris season at Sadler’s Wells
Michael Hulls for his body of lighting work including Ballet Boyz – The Talent at Sadler’s Wells
Best New Opera Production
The Firework-Maker’s Daughter at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House
Les Vĕpres Siciliennes at the Royal Opera House
Wozzeck by English National Opera at the London Coliseum
Outstanding Achievement in Opera
Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez for their performances in La Donna Del Lago at the Royal Opera House
Plácido Domingo for his performance in Nabucco at the Royal Opera House
English Touring Opera for its brave and challenging touring productions at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House
BBC Radio 2 Audience Award
Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre
Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre
The Phantom Of The Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre
Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre