What a night it’s been! The Olivier Awards 2023 with Mastercard has been – as it always is – an all-singing, all-dancing celebration of the very best of British theatre.
First off, take a look at some of our amazing guests and nominees on our Green Carpet below!
After speeches from our Co-Chief Executives and President, the ceremony began with our first ever original Olivier Awards Opening Number, written by Pippa Cleary – the first female British composer to have had 3 shows produced on the West End. The number celebrating musical theatre was performed by Hannah Waddingham alongside the casts of some of the West End’s biggest shows, including Back To The Future The Musical, The Book Of Mormon, Cabaret, Jersey Boys, Disney’s The Lion King, Mamma Mia!, Matilda The Musical, Les Misérables, The Phantom Of The Opera, Six and Tina The Tina Turner Musical.
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The very first award saw A Streetcar Named Desire winning Best Revival, before we saw Will Keen win Best Actor In A Supporting Role for his role in Patriots and Best Actress in a Supporting Role went to Anjana Vasan, who played Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire. So all of the first three awards went to Almeida Theatre productions!
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The incredible Beverley Knight and the ensemble of Sister Act sang Raise Your Voice before we found out the winners of the Best Set Design and Best Costume Design, which went to Tom Pye and Kimie Nakano – both for RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro. Best Actor and Actress took a starry turn, going to Paul Mescal and Jodie Comer.
After taking a moment to celebrate our Industry Recognition Award Recipients, we were treated to Georgia Onuorah belting out the hilarious I’m Just A Girl Who Can’t Say No, mixed into a medley with Oklahoma!, the titular number in the Best Musical Revival-nominated production.
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The winners of our two opera awards were next – Outstanding Achievement in Opera went to William Kentridge for Sibyl and Best New Opera was won by Alcina. We found out that Prima Facie is this year’s Best New Play!
The cast of the Donmar Warehouse’s The Band’s Visit treated us to the song Omar Sharif before we learned the winners of Best Director and Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre, which saw another win for RSCs My Neighbour Totoro, this time for Phelim McDermott, and a win for Waleed Akhtar’s new play The P Word.
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After a rousing performance of Light Of The World from Tammy Faye, we took a look at the long and illustrious career of Sir Derek Jacobi, this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, before Disney’s Newsies closed out the first half of the show with a stunning medley.
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If you’re enjoying all of these performances, don’t forget you can watch highlights from the ceremony on ITVX, and head over to our YouTube Channel for clips from the night!
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Olivier Awards Act Two!
We couldn’t resist opening Act Two with a performance from The Book Of Mormon – singing, of course, Hello – to celebrate their 10 years on the West End. RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro picked up it’s fourth award of the night, taking home Best Entertainment or Comedy Play.
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Children’s TV favourite turned stage show Hey Duggee The Live Theatre Show won Best Family Show before we saw Beverley Knight for the second time tonight – this time alongside Sharon Rose and her Sylvia co-stars to sing March Women March.
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Dickson Mbi accepted Outstanding Achievement In Dance and Best New Dance went to Traplord by Ivan Michael Blackstock. We were treated to a belted performance – complete with guitar solo – from the cast of Standing At The Sky’s Edge before the coveted Best Musical Revival was won by Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!.
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Best Original Score or New Orchestrations went to Richard Hawley & Tom Deering for Standing At The Sky’s Edge, and the next award went to Matt Cole for his choreography of Disney’s Newsies. Jessica Hung Han Yun and Tony Gayle took RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro’s fifth and sixth awards for Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design.
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Shanay Holmes graced the stage to sing Seasons Of Love to accompany this year’s In Memoriam, taking a moment to remember those that the London theatre industry have lost over the last year. We saw Beverley Knight for a third appearance as she won Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical for her role in Sylvia.
Zubin Varla took home Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical before Arthur Darvill and Katie Brayben scooped up the final two acting categories.
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The final award of the night was the Mastercard Best New Musical award, which went this year to Standing At The Sky’s Edge. The night ended with a celebration of Arlene Phillips who was awarded this year’s Special Award, which included a medley from Grease The Musical.