Elena Roger and Douglas Hodge have been named Best Actress and Actor in a Musical at the Laurence Olivier Awards 2009, while cabaret show La Clique picks up the Best Entertainment prize.
Roger has claimed Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of doomed French singer Edith Piaf in Jamie Lloyd’s production of Pam Gems’s Piaf, which opened at the Donmar Warehouse in August before transferring to the Vaudeville theatre.
The win tops a highly successful couple of years for the Argentine actress, who made her UK stage debut in Michael Grandage’s production of Evita at the Adelphi theatre in 2006, collecting her first Laurence Olivier Award nomination for her performance as Eva Perón. After a spell in comedy Boeing Boeing, the actress was chosen by Grandage’s Donmar Warehouse to take the title role in Piaf, which charted the sharp rise and tragic fall of the Parisian chanteuse.
Clutching her statuette, Roger told Official London Theatre “It’s very nice to have one of these! I can take it to my country now, my mum is going to be very proud. I work very hard but there is a lot of people around me who help me to be in this country and be comfortable.” She singled out Piaf director Jamie Lloyd, who she forgot to thank in her acceptance speech. “Without him I wouldn’t be able to do it,” she said.
Hodge was awarded Best Actor in a Musical for playing drag queen Albin/Zaza in the Menier Chocolate Factory production of comedy musical La Cage Aux Folles at the Playhouse theatre, triumphing in a category that included his co-star Denis Lawson. Hodge first assumed the role at the Menier in December 2007, before the show came into the West End in October 2008.
It was a bittersweet night for Hodge, as, sadly, his father passed away just three days ago. “It’s been the most awful week and he would have loved this, so it’s fantastic,” he told Official London Theatre. “I spoke to my mum before and I wasn’t going to come but she said we won’t forgive you if you don’t come, so I’m delighted that I’ve won.”
La Cage Aux Folles is one of the few nominated shows still running, though Hodge left the musical in January, to be replaced by Graham Norton. Earlier in the ceremony Hodge reprised the role of Albin to give a performance of show stopping number I Am What I Am. “I miss it, I miss them, I don’t miss the exhaustion or the worry but… singing it again tonight you just think it’s a gift of a role.”
This is the first Laurence Olivier Award win for Hodge, who has twice been nominated in previous years, in 2001 for The Caretaker and in 2006 for Guys And Dolls. A director as well as actor, Hodge is currently directing Dimetos, which opens at the Donmar Warehouse, of which he is Associate Director, on 25 March.
In the Best Entertainment category, quirky show La Clique has triumphed over Brief Encounter and Maria Friedman: Rearranged. Billed as a mixture of cabaret, new burlesque, circus and contemporary variety, La Clique opened at the Hippodrome in October with an ever-changing cast that has included a Norwegian contortionist, a strip-artist, a Russian hula-hoop artist and London’s own Miss Behave. Though it has twice extended its run, La Clique faces an uncertain future as a license has been granted to convert the Hippodrome into a casino.
CB
