The Young Vic has received a staggering 11 nominations for the Olivier Awards 2015 with MasterCard. Its phenomenal success is followed closely by Memphis The Musical, this year’s most nominated individual production with nine nods.
The acclaimed Waterloo theatre’s success comes following a hugely high profile year for the innovative venue, with productions including A Streetcar Named Desire, for which Gillian Anderson earns a Best Actress nomination, and Ivo Van Hove’s ground-breaking take on Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge, which has been rewarded with an impressive seven nominations.
Following his Critics’ Circle Theatre Award earlier this year, A View From The Bridge star Mark Strong leads the nominations in the Best Actor category, in which he will face stiff competition in the form of Richard Armitage (The Crucible), Tim Pigott-Smith (King Charles III) and The Ruling Class star James McAvoy, who in a twist of fate announced today’s nominations alongside 2014’s Best Actress Award winner Lesley Manville at an exclusive event at Rosewood London.
Celebrated US star Anderson will face tough competition from a line-up of well-known stage and screen performers in this year’s coveted Best Actress category that also includes Kristin Scott Thomas (Electra), Imelda Staunton (Good People) and Penelope Wilton (Taken At Midnight).
In the other acting categories, A View From The Bridge’s rising star Phoebe Fox is in the running for the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category alongside legendary performer Angela Lansbury (Blithe Spirit), King Charles III’s Lydia Wilson and a collective nomination for the young actresses sharing the role of Iris in unsettling futuristic drama The Nether.
In the Best Supporting Actor category, the Iris’ The Nether co-star David Calder faces competition from Taken At Midnight’s John Light, King Charles III’s Richard Goulding and Nathaniel Parker, who is nominated for his roles in the RSC’s epic double bill Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, for which Jeremy Herrin earns a Best Director nomination.
The Headlong Artistic Director will face off against his predecessor at the innovative company, Rupert Goold for King Charles III, A View From The Bridge’s Ivo Van Hove and Josie Rourke, who is recognised for City Of Angels.
Continuing Herrin’s success, Wolf Hall And Bring Up The Bodies earn a nomination for Best New Play, alongside his more recent production of The Nether. The pair are joined in the category by Almeida Theatre’s multi nominated King Charles III and the Wilton-led Taken At Midnight. In the Best New Comedy category, last year’s Outstanding Achievement In An Affiliate Award winner Handbagged receives a nomination following its West End transfer, and is pitched against screen to stage adaptation Shakespeare In Love and The Play That Goes Wrong.
With a host of critically acclaimed musicals opening in the West End over the past 12 months, the musical theatre categories are arguably even more hotly contested. One of the most coveted awards of the night, the MasterCard Best New Musical Award, boasts a shortlist of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, Here Lies Love, Memphis The Musical and Sunny Afternoon.
Leading the way in the Best Actress in a Musical category are former Bond girl Gemma Arterton (Made In Dagenham), musical newcomer Katie Brayben (Beautiful – The Carole King Musical), Grammy Award winning artist Beverley Knight (Memphis The Musical) and Olivier Award winning actress Tamsin Greig (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown), who is nominated for her musical theatre debut.
This year’s leading men fighting it out for the Best Actor in a Musical Award are Miss Saigon’s Jon Jon Briones, Sunny Afternoon’s John Dagleish, Knight’s Memphis The Musical co-star Killian Donnelly and Brandon Victor Dixon, who is nominated for his role The Scottsboro Boys.
Leading musicals Memphis and Beautiful also feature heavily in the supporting categories, with nods for Memphis’ Rolan Bell and Jason Pennycooke, and Beautiful’s Ian McIntosh facing off against Sunny Afternoon’s George Maguire, and Beautiful’s Lorna Want joining Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ Samantha Bond, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown’s Haydn Gwynne and US star Nicole Scherzinger, nominated for her West End debut in the legendary Cats.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic also crops up in the Magic Radio Best Musical Revival category, joined by the Donmar Warehouse’s City Of Angels, The Gershwins’ Porgy And Bess at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and West End hit Miss Saigon.
Rounding up the musical awards is the unique This Morning Audience Award, the only category to be voted for solely by the public. Today’s announcement marks the opening of the second round of voting in which the public can decide from shortlisted shows Billy Elliot The Musical, Jersey Boys, Matilda The Musical and Wicked.
The Olivier Awards with MasterCard celebrates success across all aspects of London’s unparalleled Theatreland, including the all-important lighting, sound and set designers. This year’s major success comes from City Of Angels’ Rob Jones and A View From The Bridge’s Jan Versweyveld, the only people to be nominated across two categories at this year’s awards.
The awards also mark the huge achievements in dance and opera across the capital. The Royal Opera House, which will host the star-studded ceremony next month, leads the way with one dance and three opera nominations, with Sadler’s Wells following closely behind with three dance nominations.
This year’s ceremony will be held on 12 April when a host of the theatre industry’s best known faces, industry insiders and well known guests will gather to hear whose name will be called to collect one of theatre’s most prestigious prizes. As the official news channel, Official London Theatre will be the first to interview the winners on the night, as well as bringing you a host of exciting coverage in the lead up to the biggest night in the theatre calendar.
Full list of nominees:
Best Revival
A View From The Bridge at Young Vic & Wyndham’s Theatre
A Streetcar Named Desire at Young Vic
The Crucible at Old Vic
My Night With Reg at Donmar Warehouse & Apollo Theatre
Skylight at Wyndham’s Theatre
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
David Calder for The Nether at Duke of York’s Theatre
Richard Goulding for King Charles III at Almeida Theatre & Wyndham’s Theatre
John Light for Taken At Midnight at Theatre Royal Haymarket
Nathaniel Parker for Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies at Aldwych Theatre
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Phoebe Fox for A View From The Bridge at Young Vic & Wyndham’s Theatre
The Girls playing Iris for The Nether at Duke of York’s Theatre
Angela Lansbury for Blithe Spirit at Gielgud Theatre
Lydia Wilson for King Charles III at Almeida Theatre & Wyndham’s Theatre
White Light Award for Best Lighting Design
Jon Clark for King Charles III at Almeida Theatre & Wyndham’s Theatre
Paule Constable and David Plater for Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies at Aldwych Theatre
Howard Harrison for City Of Angels at Donmar Warehouse
Jan Versweyveld for A View From The Bridge at the Young Vic & Wyndham’s Theatre
Best Sound Design
Tom Gibbons for A View From The Bridge at the Young Vic & Wyndham’s Theatre
Matt McKenzie for Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre and Harold Pinter Theatre
Gareth Owen for Memphis The Musical at Shaftesbury Theatre
Brian Ronan for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at Aldwych Theatre
Best Entertainment and Family
Dance ‘Til Dawn at Aldwych Theatre
Hetty Feather at Vaudeville Theatre
La Soirée at La Soirée Spiegeltent
Best Costume Design
Rob Jones for City Of Angels at Donmar Warehouse
Christopher Oram for Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies at Aldwych Theatre
Paul Tazewell for Memphis The Musical at Shaftesbury Theatre
Alejo Vietti for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at Aldwych Theatre
XL Video Award for Best Set Design
Bunny Christie for Made In Dagenham at Adelphi Theatre
Es Devlin for The Nether at Duke of York’s Theatre
Rob Jones for City Of Angels at Donmar Warehouse
Jan Versweyveld for A View From The Bridge at Young Vic & Wyndham’s Theatre
Best New Dance Production
32 Rue Vandenbranden by Peeping Tom at Barbican
Mats Ek’s Juliet And Romeo by Royal Swedish Ballet at Sadler’s Wells
Tabac Rouge by Compagnie Du Hanneton/James Thiérrée at Sadler’s Wells
Outstanding Achievement in Dance
Christopher Wheeldon for The Winter’s Tale at Royal Opera House
Crystal Pite for her choreography in the productions of The Associates – A Picture Of You Falling, The Tempest Replica and Polaris at Sadler’s Wells
Rocio Molina for Bosque Ardora at Barbican
The Elders Project as part of the Elixir Festival at Sadler’s Wells
Virgin Atlantic Best New Play
King Charles III at Almeida Theatre & Wyndham’s Theatre
The Nether at Duke of York’s Theatre
Taken At Midnight at Theatre Royal Haymarket
Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies at Aldwych Theatre
Best Actor
Richard Armitage for The Crucible at Old Vic
James McAvoy for The Ruling Class at Trafalgar Studio 1
Tim Pigott-Smith for King Charles III at Almeida Theatre & Wyndham’s Theatre
Mark Strong for A View From The Bridge at the Young Vic & Wyndham’s Theatre
Best Actress
Gillian Anderson for A Streetcar Named Desire at Young Vic
Kristin Scott Thomas for Electra at Old Vic
Imelda Staunton for Good People at Hampstead Theatre & Noël Coward Theatre
Penelope Wilton for Taken At Midnight at Theatre Royal Haymarket
This Morning Audience Award
Billy Elliot The Musical at Victoria Palace Theatre
Jersey Boys at Piccadilly Theatre
Matilda The Musical at Cambridge Theatre
Wicked at Apollo Victoria Theatre
Best New Comedy
Handbagged at Vaudeville Theatre
The Play That Goes Wrong at Duchess Theatre
Shakespeare In Love at Noël Coward Theatre
Magic Radio Best Musical Revival
Cats at London Palladium
City Of Angels at Donmar Warehouse
The Gershwins’ Porgy And Bess at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Miss Saigon at Prince Edward Theatre
Best New Opera Production
Benvenuto Cellini at London Coliseum
Dialogues Des Carmélites at Royal Opera House
Die Frau Ohne Schatten at Royal Opera House
The Mastersingers Of Nuremberg at London Coliseum
Outstanding Achievement in Opera
Jonas Kaufmann for Andrea Chénier and Manon Lescaut at Royal Opera House
Richard Jones for his direction of The Girl Of The Golden West, The Mastersingers Of Nuremberg and Rodelinda at London Coliseum
Royal Opera House and Early Opera Company for their offsite programme at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and Roundhouse
Welsh National Opera Chorus for Moses Und Aron at Royal Opera House
Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre
Bull at The Maria at Young Vic
Four Minutes Twelve Seconds at Hampstead Downstairs
Juma Sharkah for her performance in Liberian Girl at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court
Tanya Moodie for her performances in Intimate Apparel at Park Theatre and The House That Will Not Stand at Tricycle Theatre
Best Theatre Choreographer
Jerry Mitchell for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels The Musical at Savoy Theatre
Annie-B Parson for Here Lies Love at National Theatre, Dorfman
Josh Prince for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at Aldwych Theatre
Sergio Trujillo for Memphis The Musical at Shaftesbury Theatre
Best Director
Rupert Goold for King Charles III at Almeida Theatre & Wyndham’s Theatre
Jeremy Herrin for Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies at Aldwych Theatre
Josie Rourke for City Of Angels at Donmar Warehouse
Ivo Van Hove for A View From The Bridge at the Young Vic
Autograph Sound Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music
The Orchestra for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at Aldwych Theatre
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim for Here Lies Love at National Theatre, Dorfman
David Bryan, Joe DiPietro, Tim Sutton and the Memphis Band for Memphis The Musical at Shaftesbury Theatre
Ray Davies for Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical
Rolan Bell for Memphis The Musical at Shaftesbury Theatre
George Maguire for Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre and Harold Pinter Theatre
Ian McIntosh for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at Aldwych Theatre
Jason Pennycooke for Memphis The Musical at Shaftesbury Theatre
Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical
Samantha Bond for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels The Musical at Savoy Theatre
Haydn Gwynne for Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown The Musical at Playhouse Theatre
Nicole Scherzinger for Cats at London Palladium
Lorna Want for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at Aldwych Theatre
Best Actor in a Musical
Jon Jon Briones for Miss Saigon at Prince Edward Theatre
John Dagleish for Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre
Killian Donnelly for Memphis The Musical at Shaftesbury Theatre
Brandon Victor Dixon for The Scottsboro Boys at Garrick Theatre
Best Actress in a Musical
Gemma Arterton for Made In Dagenham at Adelphi Theatre
Katie Brayben for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at Aldwych Theatre
Tamsin Greig for Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown at Playhouse Theatre
Beverley Knight for Memphis The Musical at Shaftesbury Theatre
MasterCard Best New Musical
Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at Aldwych Theatre
Here Lies Love at National Theatre, Dorfman
Memphis The Musical at Shaftesbury Theatre
Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre