Winners Jessie Buckley and Eddie Redmayne on the Green Carpet at the Olivier Awards 2022 with Mastercard. Picture: Getty
The winners have been unveiled for this year’s Olivier Awards with Mastercard, British theatre’s biggest night, which took place at London’s Royal Albert Hall in London, hosted by Jason Manford.
The biggest winner of the night was Cabaret, a revival of the 1966 Kander and Ebb musical which has transformed the West End’s Playhouse Theatre into the ‘Kit Kat Club’ to critical acclaim. The show won seven of the 11 categories it was nominated in, including the Magic Radio Best Musical Revival, equalling the amount previously won by the musicals Hamilton and Matilda the Musical.
Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as the Emcee and Best Actress in a Musical went to Jessie Buckley as Sally Bowles, with Liza Sadovy and Elliot Levey awarded in the supporting categories for their roles as Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz. Rebecca Frecknall was crowned Best Director, and Nick Lidster won the d&b audiotechnik Award for Best Sound Design.
This means Cabaret becomes the most award-winning revival of a musical in Olivier history and the first ever musical or play to win in all four acting categories.
Life Of Pi celebrated five wins (including Best New Play). Lolita Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation of the bestselling novel began life in Sheffield in 2019 and is currently playing at the Wyndham’s Theatre. Hiran Abeysekera won Best Actor for his central performance as Pi, and – in an historic first for the Olivier Awards – the seven performers who play ‘Richard Parker’, the puppet tiger (Fred Davis, Daisy Franks, Romina Hytten, Tom Larkin, Habib Nasib Nader, Tom Stacy and Scarlet Wilderink), were collectively awarded Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The production also picked up awards for set and lighting design.
Sheila Atim was named Best Actress for her role in Constellations, a Donmar Warehouse production of Nick Payne’s play which ran at the Vaudeville Theatre starring four rotating casts. Constellations also won in the Cunard Best Revival category.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role was won by Liz Carr, who played Dr Emma Brookner (based on a real-life US physician who was among the first to recognise the 1980s AIDs epidemic) in a revival of Larry Kramer’s play The Normal Heart at the National Theatre.
The cast of Best New Musical Back To The Future – The Musical performing at the Olivier Awards 2022 with Mastercard. Picture: Jeff Spicer for Getty
The coveted Mastercard Best New Musical award was given to Back To The Future – The Musical, a new stage adaptation of the hit 1985 sci-fi film currently playing at the Adelphi Theatre.
The Noël Coward/Geoffrey Johnson Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play went to Pride And Prejudice* (*sort of), a comedic, all-female retelling of the Jane Austen classic first seen in Glasgow.
Wolf Witch Giant Fairy, a family-friendly ‘folk opera’ collaboration between the Royal Opera and Little Bulb, won Best Family Show.
Elsewhere, renowned Broadway costume designer Catherine Zuber was awarded Best Costume Design for her work on Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Kathleen Marshall won Best Theatre Choreography for Anything Goes (which she also directed) and Simon Hale received the award for Best Original Score or New Orchestrations for Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical.
The award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre (representing the smaller London venues) went to Old Bridge at the Bush Theatre, a 2020 Papatango New Writing Prize-winning play by Igor Memic.
In the opera categories, Peter Whelan and the Irish Baroque Orchestra were awarded Outstanding Achievement in Opera for their production of Vivaldi’s Bajazet at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre, and Best New Opera Production went to the Royal Opera’s staging of the Janáček opera Jenůfa.
Outstanding Achievement in Dance was won by Arielle Smith for her choreography of Jolly Folly – part of English National Ballet’s Reunion, a project converting five films made in lockdown into live dance performed at Sadler’s Wells. Revisor, a collaboration from choreographer Crystal Pite and theatre-maker Jonathon Young performed by dancers from Kidd Pivot at Sadler’s Wells, was awarded Best New Dance Production.
Olivier Award winners: Moulin Rouge! The Musical (Picture: Christie Goodwin), Anything Goes and Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical (Picture: Craig Sugden)
The star-studded Olivier Awards ceremony featured performances from all nine nominated musicals: Anything Goes, Back To The Future – The Musical, Cabaret, The Drifters Girl, Frozen, Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical, Moulin Rouge! The Musical and Spring Awakening – plus a performance from Life Of Pi.
The show culminated in a special musical tribute to legendary theatre composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who died last year aged 91. This was performed by a group of swings and understudies from tonight’s performing companies (in recognition of all that the swings, understudies, standbys and alternates of the West End have done to keep our theatres open) along with the next generation in the form of a choir from performing arts school ArtsEd.
The Olivier Awards continues its partnership with ITV, which broadcasts the ceremony tonight at 10:15pm (available to watch afterwards on the ITV Hub). The full ceremony was also broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall on Magic Radio. Outside the UK, the Olivier Awards will stream around the world tonight at 10:15pm UK time (5:15pm EST) on YouTube.
Olivier Awards 2022 with Mastercard – Musical Theatre Winners
Noël Coward/Geoffrey Johnson Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play
Pride And Prejudice* (*sort of) at Criterion Theatre
Magic Radio Best Musical Revival
Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre
Best Costume Design
Catherine Zuber for Moulin Rouge! The Musical at Piccadilly Theatre
d&b audiotechnik Award for Best Sound Design
Nick Lidster for Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre
Best Original Score or New Orchestrations
Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical – Orchestrator: Simon Hale at Lyric Theatre
Best Theatre Choreographer
Kathleen Marshall for Anything Goes at Barbican Theatre
Best Actress In A Supporting Role In A Musical
Liza Sadovy for Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre
Best Actor In A Supporting Role In A Musical
Elliot Levey for Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre
Best Actor In A Musical
Eddie Redmayne for Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre
Best Actress In A Musical
Jessie Buckley for Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre
Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director
Rebecca Frecknall for Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre
Mastercard Best New Musical
Back To The Future – The Musical at Adelphi Theatre
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