Winners of the 34th annual Laurence Olivier Awards, London’s equivalent of the Tonys and the UK’s most prestigious stage awards, are announced this Sunday evening, 21 March 2010 (See News, 8 Feb 2010).
From 5pm on the night, Whatsonstage.com will be reporting and tweeting live from the event, with details of winners across all 26 categories – the 25 shortlisted below and the annual Special Award given for overall career achievement – announced to you as they’re announced to the industry guests. In addition to up-to-the-minute results, our multimedia Oliviers coverage will include video footage, photo galleries, speech highlights, gossip, interactive discussion and in-depth analysis, capturing all of the event’s glitz, glamour and overall buzz.
ALL AWARDS COVERAGE IS AVAILABLE VIA OUR DEDICATED
LAURENCE OLIVIERS’ MICROSITE – www.whatsonstage.com/oliviers!
This year’s star-studded Oliviers ceremony is hosted by Anthony Head at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, with nominees, guest presenters and other VIPs confirmed to attend including: Gillian Anderson, Rowan Atkinson, Hayley Atwell, Aneurin Barnard, Sierra Boggess, Ramin Karimloo, Matthew Bourne, Derren Brown, Lorraine Burroughs, Mackenzie Crook, Michelle Dockery, David Essex, Shirley Jones, Aled Jones, Rory Kinnear, Maureen Lipman, Patina Miller, Elaine Paige, Simon Paisley Day, Tim Pigott-Smith, Kelly Price, Jonathan Pryce, Phylicia Rashad, Roger Rees, Iwan Rheon, Mark Rylance, Lesley Sharp, Tony Sheldon, Samantha Spiro, Imelda Staunton, Juliet Stevenson, Rachael Stirling, Tom Stoppard, Margaret Tyzack, Hannah Waddigham, Charlotte Wakefield, Rachel Weisz, Samuel West, Ruth Wilson, Jude Law, Kim Cattrall, Rosamund Pike, Tamsin Greig, Rupert Friend, David Essex, Arlene Phillips, Jill Halfpenny, Adam Cooper, Elaine Paige, Russell Watson, Duncan James, James Earl Jones, Larry Lamb and Barbara Windsor.
The evening’s entertainment will comprise performances from many of this year’s nominees and nominated productions, including Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Sister Act (Patina Miller), Spice Girl turned Blood Brothers star Melanie C, and, marking its 25th anniversary, casts of two Les Miserables companies performing together for the first time (See The Goss, 17 Mar 2010).
Who’s in the running?
In terms of nomination tallies, the Royal Court leads the shortlists thanks largely to Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem and Headlong’s production of Lucy Prebble’s Enron, with six nods apiece, the Court comes tops with 15 nominations. The Court is followed by the Donmar – which has dominated the Olivier shortlists for the past two years – with ten and the National Theatre with nine.
Amongst musicals, despite its short-lived West End season last spring, Spring Awakening receives the most nominations (seven) for any single production in 2010. Spring’s closest musical contender is Trevor Nunn’s Menier Chocolate Factory revival of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, which transferred to the Garrick Theatre and is nominated five Oliviers.
Last year’s newly introduced category celebrating ensemble work, Best Company Performance, has been dropped this year, but taking another leaf out of the Whatsonstage.com Awards book, a category for long-runners voted for by the public, has been reinstated.
The Laurence Olivier Awards were created in 1976, then called the Society of West End Theatre Awards, to recognise excellence on the London stage. They were rebranded in 1984 when Lord Olivier agreed to have his name associated with them. The full list of nominations follows. (For further analysis of this year’s nominations: See News, 8 Feb 2010).
How will the decisions of this year’s Olivier judges compare with those of the Evening Standard & Critics’ Circle judges as well as the public’s choices in our own Whatsonstage.com Awards. Tune in on Sunday to find out!
The full list of 2010 Olivier nominations is as follows:
BEST ACTRESS
BEST ACTOR
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
BEST NEW PLAY
BEST NEW COMEDY
BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL
BEST NEW MUSICAL
BEST ENTERTAINMENT
BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL OR ENTERTAINMENT
BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL OR ENTERTAINMENT
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL OR ENTERTAINMENT
BEST DIRECTOR
BEST REVIVAL
BEST THEATRE CHOREOGRAPHER
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN
BEST SET DESIGN
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
BEST SOUND DESIGN
THE AUDIENCE AWARD FOR MOST POPULAR SHOW
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN AN AFFILIATE THEATRE
BEST NEW OPERA PRODUCTION
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN OPERA
BEST NEW DANCE PRODUCTION
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE
ALL AWARDS COVERAGE IS AVAILABLE VIA OUR DEDICATED
LAURENCE OLIVIERS’ MICROSITE – www.whatsonstage.com/oliviers!