Beverley Knight is just one of the actors to have signed the open letter. Picture: Vivienne Vincent
Over 160 British writers, actors and creatives, including multiple Olivier, Tony, Grammy, International Emmy and Drama Desk Award winners have signed an open letter calling on the Society of London Theatre (SOLT), the organisers of the Laurence Olivier Awards, to introduce a ‘Best Book of a Musical’ and ‘Best Score of a Musical’ categories for the 2025 Olivier Awards.
Timed to coincide with the announcement of the 2024 Oliviers, the letter which was authored and organised by Off-West End Award-winning actor and librettist, Jack Reitman (Rent, Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story) is aimed at persuading SOLT to follow the Tony Awards which have been recognising the achievement of librettists, composers and lyricists on Broadway since the 1940s.
The letter is co-signed by theatre writers including Jake Brunger (The Great British Bake-off Musical, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole), George Stiles and Anthony Drewe (Mary Poppins, Half A Sixpence, Honk!), Dennis Kelly (Matilda the Musical, DNA), Toby Marlow (Six, Why Am I So Single?), John O’Farrell (Mrs Doubtfire, Just For One Day), Grant Olding (One Man, Two Guvnors) and Jeremy Sams (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Amour)
Actors who signed the letter include Olivier Award winners Tracie Bennett, Ruthie Henshall, Michael Jibson, Beverley Knight and Clive Rowe, and BAFTA winner Matt Lucas and multiple BAFTA nominee Ruth Jones.
Creatives who are co-signatories include multiple award-winning director and writer John Caird, orchestrator and composer John Cameron, Olivier Award-winning choreographer Matt Cole, the artistic director of Curve, Nikolai Foster, and Tony and Grammy Award-winning orchestrator and music supervisor Martin Lowe
The open letter also has support from David James, the founder of BOOK, Music & Lyrics (the UK’s only weekly workshop for the professional development of musical theatre practitioners) and Natalia Scorer, the executive director of Mercury Musical Developments (the UK’s foremost organisation dedicated to supporting & nurturing musical theatre writers).
To read the open letter and add your signature click HERE.
Angela Thomas
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