‘LEGALLY BLONDE: The Musical’ Triumphs At The Olivier Awards!

The 35th Annual Olivier Awards was held last night at the Theatre Royal (Dury Lane, London), and despite ‘Love Never Dies‘ dominating the nominees list, it was ‘Legally Blonde: The Musical‘ which turned out to be the star production of the night!

Sheridan Smith won the Best Musical Actress gong, Jill Halfpenny the Best Supporting Musical Performance, and the musical version of the MGM comedy also left with the Best New Musical prize!

The National Theatre swept the board with seven wins across two productions. Thea Sharrock’s production of ‘After the Dance‘ won four prizes for Best Revival, Best Actress for Nancy Carroll, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Adrian Scarborough and Best Costume Design. Howard Davies was recognised for his production of ‘The White Guard‘, by picking up the Best Director, Best Lighting and Best Set Design awards.

Thesp presenters included Sir Patrick Stewart, ‘Lost‘ star Matthew Fox, Rupert Everett, James Purefoy and Jonny Lee Miller.

For those who are interested, here is the winners list:

BEST ACTRESS – Nancy Carroll for After The Dance at the Lyttelton

BEST ACTOR – Roger Allam for Henry IV Part 1 & 2 at the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Michelle Terry for Tribes at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Adrian Scarborough for After The Dance at the Lyttelton

BEST NEW PLAY – Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court

BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL – Into The Woods at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

BEST NEW MUSICAL – Legally Blonde: The Musical book by Heather Hach, music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin at the Savoy

BEST ENTERTAINMENT – The Railway Children by E Nesbit, adapted by Mike Kenny at the Waterloo Station Theatre

BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL – Sheridan Smith for Legally Blonde: The Musical at the Savoy

BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL – David Thaxton for Passion at the Donmar Warehouse

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL – Jill Halfpenny for Legally Blonde: The Musical at the Savoy

BEST DIRECTOR – Howard Davies for The White Guard at the Lyttelton

BEST REVIVAL – After The Dance directed by Thea Sharrock at the Lyttelton

BEST THEATRE CHOREOGRAPHER – Leon Baugh for Sucker Punch at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN – The White Guard designed by Neil Austin at the Lyttelton

BEST SET DESIGN – The White Guard designed by Bunny Christie at the Lyttelton

BEST COSTUME DESIGN – After The Dance designed by Hildegard Bechtler at the Lyttelton

BEST SOUND DESIGN – King Lear designed by Adam Cork at the Donmar Warehouse

BBC RADIO 2 AUDIENCE AWARD FOR MOST POPULAR SHOW – We Will Rock You

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN AN AFFILIATE THEATRE – Lyric Hammersmith for Blasted

BEST NEW OPERA PRODUCTION – OperaUpClose and Soho Theatre’s La Bohème at the Soho Theatre

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN OPERA – Christian Gerhaher for his performance in Tannhäuser at the Royal Opera House

BEST NEW DANCE PRODUCTION – Babel (Words) by Eastman vzw and Royal Opera House La Monnaie at Sadler’s Wells. Choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE – Antony Gormley for his set design of Babel (Words) by Eastman vzw and Theatre Royal de la Monnaie at Sadler’s

SOCIETY OF LONDON THEATRE SPECIAL AWARD – Stephen Sondheim