Photo Source: Johan Person
The “Matilda” sweep included awards for Best New Musical, Outstanding Director (Matthew Warchus), Best Actor in a Musical (Bertie Carvel), choreography (Peter Darling), set design (Rob Howell), sound design (Simon Baker), and, most notably an Best Actress win for the four girls – Cleo Demetriou, Kerry Ingram, Sophia Kiely and Eleanor Worthington-Cox – who share the title role in this production.
This haul broke the previous record of six Oliviers, won by “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby” 32 years ago. The win by the four Matildas also set a new record, as ten-year-old Worthington-Cox, the youngest of this quartet, becomes the youngest winner in Olivier history. Warchus praised the show’s “four little miracles.”
“Shows, too, are like children,” Warchus added, accepting from a ceremony at New York City’s Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He is in town for the Broadway opening of “Ghost the Musical.” He went on to champion the promotion of the arts in schools, citing the “healing power of the creative imagination” as “the key to surviving life and improving it for all of us.”
Nigel Harman won Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for “Shrek the Musical,” while the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of “Crazy for You” won for Best Musical Revival and Costume Design.
The National Theatre production of “Collaborators,” written by John Hodge, took the honors for Best New Play, while Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller won Best Actor in a Play for their alternating roles as monster and creator in “Frankenstein,” which also claimed the White Light Award for Bruno Poet’s lighting design. Ruth Wilson won her second Olivier for Best Actress in a Play for “Anna Christie,” which also won the award for Best Revival of a Play.
“Rob Ashford is my lucky charm,” she said of her director. The last time she worked with him, on “A Streetcar Named Desire,” was when she won her first Olivier Award.
Sheridan Smith received the Best Performance in a Supporting Role Olivier for “Flare Path.”
The Society of London Theatre (SOLT), the organization that presents the Olivier Awards, also bestowed two honorary awards to Dame Monica Mason of the Royal Ballet and to Sir Tim Rice, the lyricist. Elaine Page presented Rice with his award and also sang “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” while Maria Friedman and Siobhán McCarthy duetted on “I Know Him So Well,” in tribute to Rice.
Performances included extracts from such nominated shows as “Ghost the Musical,” “Betty Blue Eyes,” “Shrek the Musical,” “Matilda the Musical,” “Crazy for You,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” “The Wizard of Oz,” and “South Pacific.” Brian May joined the case of “We Will Rock You” to open the show, and the cast of “The Lion King” performed “The Circle of Life” to close it. Presenters included Hayley Atwell, Tyne Daly, James McAvoy, Dan Stephens, David Suchet, and Laurie Metcalf. James Earl Jones was on hand at the Allen Room to present Best Director to Warchus.
Below is a full list of 2012 Olivier nominees. Winners have been denoted with an asterisk.
BEST NEW PLAY
*Collaborators at the Cottesloe
Jumpy at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court
The Ladykillers at the Gielgud
One Man, Two Guvnors at the Lyttelton
BEST REVIVAL
*Anna Christie at the Donmar Warehouse
Flare Path at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket
Much Ado About Nothing at the Wyndham’s
Noises Off at the Old Vic
BEST ENTERTAINMENT AND FAMILY
*Derren Brown - Svengali at the Shaftesbury
Midnight Tango at the Aldwych
Potted Potter at the Garrick
The Tiger Who Came To Tea at the Vaudeville
BEST ACTRESS
Celia Imrie - Noises Off at the Old Vic
Lesley Manville - Grief at the Cottesloe
Kristin Scott Thomas - Betrayal at the Harold Pinter
Marcia Warren - The Ladykillers at the Gielgud
*Ruth Wilson - Anna Christie at the Donmar Warehouse
BEST ACTOR
James Corden - One Man, Two Guvnors at the Lyttelton
*Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller - Frankenstein at the Olivier
David Haig - The Madness of George III at the Apollo
Douglas Hodge - Inadmissable Evidence at the Donmar Warehouse
Jude Law - Anna Christie at the Donmar Warehouse
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Mark Addy - Collaborators at the Cottesloe
Oliver Chris - One Man, Two Guvnors at the Lyttelton
Johnny Flynn - Jerusalem at the Apollo
Bryony Hannah - The Children’s Hour at the Harold Pinter
*Sheridan Smith - Flare Path at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket
BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Kat Fleetwood - London Road at the Cottesloe
Sarah Lancashire - Betty Blue Eyes at the Novello
*The Matildas - Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge
Scarlett Strallen - Singin’ In The Rain at the Palace
BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
*Bertie Carvel - Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge
Nigel Lindsay - Shrek The Musical at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Reece Shearsmith - Betty Blue Eyes at the Novello
Paulo Szot - South Pacific at the Barbican
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Sharon D Clarke - Ghost The Musical at the Piccadilly
Sophie-Louise Dann - Lend Me A Tenor The Musical at the Gielgud
*Nigel Harman - Shrek The Musical at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Paul Kaye - Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge
Katherine Kingsley - Singin’ In The Rain at the Palace
BEST NEW MUSICAL
Betty Blue Eyes at the Novello
Ghost The Musical at the Piccadilly
London Road at the Cottesloe
*Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge
Shrek The Musical at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL
*Crazy For You at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Singin’ In the Rain at the Palace
South Pacific at the Barbican
The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium
BEST DIRECTOR
Sean Foley - The Ladykillers at the Gielgud
Nicholas Hytner - One Man, Two Guvnors at the Lyttelton
Rufus Norris - London Road at the Cottesloe
*Matthew Warchus - Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge
BEST THEATRE CHOREOGRAPHER
*Peter Darling - Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge
Javier de Frutos - London Road at the Cottesloe
Stephen Mear - Crazy For You at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Andrew Wright - Singin’ In The Rain at the Palace
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN
Anna Christie at the Donmar Warehouse
*Frankenstein at the Olivier
Ghost The Musical at the Piccadilly
Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge
BEST SET DESIGN
Ghost The Musical at the Piccadilly
The Ladykillers at the Gielgud
*Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge
One Man, Two Guvnors at the Lyttelton
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
*Crazy For You at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge
Shrek The Musical at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
South Pacific at the Barbican
BEST SOUND DESIGN
Ghost The Musical at the Piccadilly
Frankenstein at the Olivier
The Ladykillers at the Gielgud
*Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN AN AFFILIATE THEATRE
The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester for Mogadishu at the Lyric Hammersmith
*Theatre Royal, Stratford East/Barbican/Traverse Theatre for Roadkill
The Donmar Warehouse for Salt, Root and Roe at the Trafalgar Studios 2
The Royal Court for The Village Bike at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
BEST NEW OPERA PRODUCTION
*English National Opera’s Castor and Pollux at the London Coliseum
English National Opera’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the London Coliseum
English National Opera’s The Passenger at the London Coliseum
ROH2’s Clemency (in association with Scottish Opera) at the Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN OPERA
*ENO for the breadth and diversity of its artistic programme
Amanda Holden for her translation of Castor and Pollux at the London
Coliseum
Richard Jones for his direction of Anna Nicole and Il Trittico at the Royal Opera House and The Tales of Hoffmann at The London Coliseum
Mark-Anthony Turnage for his composition of Anna Nicole at the Royal Opera House and Twice Through The Heart at Sadler’s Wells
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE
The Design Team for their work on the Royal Ballet’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at the Royal Opera House
*Edward Watson for his performance in The Metamorphosis at the Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House
Sylvie Guillem for her performance in her production of 6000 Miles Away at Sadler’s Wells
Tommy Franzen for his performance in ZooNation’s Some Like It Hip Hop at the Peacock
BEST NEW DANCE PRODUCTION
*Desh by Akram Khan Company at Sadler’s Wells
Gardenia by Les Ballets C de la B at Sadler’s Wells
The Metamorphosis by ROH2 at the Linbury Studio
Some Like It Hip Hop by ZooNation at the Peacock
