The National Theatre's production of Caroline, Or Change, which ended its run in the Lyttelton at the start of January, has been named the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award Best New Musical. In one of the most hotly contested of categories of the 2007 awards – celebrating a year in which around 20 musicals opened in London – Caroline, Or Change won in the category where big-hitters Monty Python's Spamalot, The Gershwins' Porgy And Bess and Avenue Q were also nominated.
Jeanine Tesori, who composed the music for the show, and leading lady Tonya Pinkins mounted the stage to collect the award on behalf of the whole team. Speaking afterwards an emotional Tesori said: "We really did it together. We wrote it for her [Pinkins].We collaborated on this show. The first preview I was nervous. Tonya dragged all her kids over here from LA and New York, and it’s a lot to ask someone to do. The process is wonderful but sometimes the reward at the end [isn’t]. I'm so proud. And this is Tony’s [Kushner – writer] first, he’s never won an Olivier and I know that he’s so grateful."
Caroline, Or Change opened at the National Theatre in October 2006. It was first seen in New York in 2003, where it also received much acclaim, though was beaten to the Tony Award in 2004 by the American production of Avenue Q.
Caroline, Or Change follows a black maid and the family she works for in Louisiana at the time of the Kennedy assassination. It tells a story of how change, on a personal, cultural and political level, affects each member of the family. The show's book and lyrics are written by Kushner whose Perestroika, one half of Angels In America, was nominated for the Best New Play Laurence Olivier Award in 1994.
The National Theatre production of Caroline, Or Change was directed by George C Wolfe, who also directed the American production, and starred the show's Tony-nominated Broadway lead Pinkins. Most of the rest of the show's cast, which included Pippa Bennett-Warner, Angela M Caesar, Anna Francolini, Richard Henders, Ian Lavender, Hilton McRae and Clive Rowe, were recast for the London production.
MA
