'War Horse' was the most-nommed play with six Olivier nods.
The West End production of "Hairspray" has broken all Laurence Olivier Award records with 11 nominations, the highest number of nods ever received by a show in the 32-year history of London's leading legit honors.
Bucking the trend for Brit transfers of Broadway hits, which have often tended to leave London critics underwhelmed, "Hairspray" appears in every category in which a musical is eligible, including top tuner, director (Jack O'Brien), actor (Michael Ball), actress (Leanne Jones) and choreography (Jerry Mitchell).
O'Brien will go head to head against debuting director Rob Ashford, whose nomination is one of seven scored by the Donmar Warehouse revival of "Parade." Ashford also is up for a second gong for choreography.
The National Theater's critical and audience smash "War Horse" leads the field in play categories, with six noms including play, direction of a play (Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris) and every design category. With a further nine nods for other productions from its repertoire, including three for Elliott's "Saint Joan," the National heads the list with 15 nominations.
The Donmar has broken its own record, ratcheting up 13 nominations for four of its six 2007 productions. The company's current revival of "Othello" is up for actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), actress (Kelly Reilly), supporting performance (Michelle Fairley) and newcomer in a play (Tom Hiddleston).Hiddleston potentially could split his vote, having been separately nominated for newcomer honors for his performance in Cheek by Jowl's revival of "Cymbeline."
"The Lord of the Rings," "The Drowsy Chaperone" and "Macbeth" landed five noms apiece. The Bush Theater, recently saved from a major funding cut, has three nominations for its West End transfers, including both "Elling" and "Whipping It Up" in the running for new comedy.
Hosted by Richard E. Grant, the awards ceremony will take place March 9 at Grosvenor House Hotel, London.
And the nominees are:
MUSICAL“The Drowsy Chaperone,” Novello
“Hairspray,” Shaftesbury
“The Lord of the Rings,” Theater Royal, Drury Lane
“Parade,” Donmar Warehouse
PLAYSimon McBurney “A Disappearing Number,” Barbican
Nicholas Wright “The Reporter,” National Theater
Tanya Ronder, “Vernon God Little,” Young Vic
Nick Stafford, “War Horse,” National Theater
COMEDYMichael Frayn, “The Crimson Hotel,” Donmar Warehouse
Axel Hellstenius, Peter Naess, “Elling,” Trafalgar Studios
Ayub Khan-Din, “Rafta, Rafta,” National Theater
Steve Thompson, “Whipping It Up,” New Ambassadors
REVIVAL“Boeing-Boeing,” Comedy
“Dealer’s Choice,” Trafalgar Studios
“Macbeth,” Gielgud
“Saint Joan,” National Theater
“The Seagull,” Royal Court
MUSICAL REVIVAL“Fiddler on the Roof,” Savoy
“Little Shop of Horrors,” Duke of York’s and Ambassadors
“The Magic Flute -- Impempe Yomlingo,” Young Vic
ACTRESS IN A PLAYAnne-Marie Duff, “Saint Joan”
Kelly Reilly, “Othello,” Donmar Warehouse
Kristin Scott Thomas, “The Seagull”
Fiona Shaw, “Happy Days,” National Theater
Penelope Wilton, “John Gabriel Borkman,” Donmar Warehouse
ACTOR IN A PLAYChiwetel Ejiofor, “Othello”
Ian McKellen, “King Lear,” New London
Mark Rylance, “Boeing-Boeing”
John Simm, “Elling”
Patrick Stewart, “Macbeth”
SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A PLAYMichelle Fairley, “Othello”
Pam Ferris, “The Entertainer,” Old Vic
Conleth Hill, “Philistines,” National Theater
Rory Kinnear, “The Man of Mode,” National Theater
NEWCOMER IN A PLAYDavid Dawson, “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby,” Gielgud
Tom Hiddleston, “Cymbeline,” Barbican
Tom Hiddleston, “Othello”
Stephen Wight, “Dealer’s Choice”
ACTRESS IN A MUSICALLeanne Jones, “Hairspray”
Lara Pulver, “Parade”
Sheridan Smith, “Little Shop of Horrors”
Summer Strallen, “The Drowsy Chaperone”
ACTOR IN A MUSICALMichael Ball, “Hairspray”
Bertie Carvel, “Parade”
Henry Goodman, “Fiddler on the Roof”
Bob Martin, “The Drowsy Chaperone”
SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICALTracie Bennett, “Hairspray”
Elinor Collett, “Hairspray”
Shaun Escoffery, “Parade”
Alistair McGowan, “Little Shop of Horrors”
DIRECTIONRob Ashford, “Parade”
Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, “War Horse”
Rupert Goold, “Macbeth”
Jack O’Brien, “Hairspray”
CHOREOGRAPHYRob Ashford, “Parade”
Jerry Mitchell, “Hairspray”
Casey Nicholaw, “The Drowsy Chaperone”
Toby Sedgwick, “War Horse”
LIGHTINGKenneth Posner, “Hairspray”
Paul Pyant, “The Lord of the Rings”
Howard Harrison, “Macbeth”
Paule Constable, “War Horse”
SET DESIGNDavid Rockwell, “Hairspray”
Rob Howell, “The Lord of the Rings”
Anthony Ward and Lorna Heavey, “Macbeth”
Rae Smith, and Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler of Handspring Puppet Company, “War Horse”
COSTUME DESIGNGregg Barnes, “The Drowsy Chaperone”
William Ivey Long, “Hairspray”
Rob Howell, “The Lord of the Rings”
Vicki Mortimer, “The Man of Mode”
SOUND DESIGNSteve C. Kennedy, “Hairspray”
Simon Baker, “The Lord of the Rings”
Terry Jardine and Nick Lidster, “Parade”
Paul Arditti and Jocelyn Pook, “Saint Joan”
Christopher Shutt, Adrian Sutton and John Tams, “War Horse”
ACHIEVEMENT IN AN AFFILIATE THEATER“The Brothers Size,” Young Vic
“Cinderella,” Theater Royal, Stratford East
“Gone Too Far,” Theater Upstairs, Royal Court
The cast of “That Face,” Theater Upstairs, Royal Court
NEW OPERA PRODUCTION“Agrippina,” English National Opera
“La Fille du Regiment,” Royal Opera House
“Pelleas et Melisande,” Royal Opera House
“The Turn of the Screw,” English National Opera
ACHIEVEMENT IN OPERANatalie Dessay for her performance in “La Fille du Regiment”
Gerald Finley for his performance in “Pelleas et Melisande”
Angelika Kirchschlager for her performance in “Pelleas et Melisande”
David McVicar for directing English National Opera’s “The Turn of the Screw” and “Agrippina”
NEW DANCE PRODUCTION“The Bull,” Fabulous Beast Dance, Barbican
“Jewels,” The Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House
“Mozart Dances,” Mark Morris Dance Group, Barbican
“The Three Musketeers,” Northern Ballet Theater, Sadler’s Wells
ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCESavion Glover for his performance in “Live for London,” Sadler’s Wells
Jonathan Goddard for his performances with the Richard Alston Dance Company, Sadler’s Wells
The Royal Ballet Company for its performances in “Jewels”
Wendy Whelan for her performance in “Fool’s Paradise,” Christopher Wheeldon Company, Sadler’s Wells
Contact David Benedict at
benedictdavid@mac.com