The Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon was the big winner at the Olivier Awards 2015 with MasterCard, taking home a quartet of the coveted statuettes.
The very British musical, which follows the story of influential band The Kinks using their own music, collected both the MasterCard Best New Musical Award and the Autograph Sound Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music, which went to singer/songwriter Ray Davies.
There were two wins, of sorts, for Ray Davies on the night. The on-stage Davies, actor John Dagleish, won the Best Actor in a Musical award. His on-stage brother, George Maguire, collected the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical.
It was a good night too for the Young Vic, which also won four awards.
A trio of accolades went to the widely acclaimed production of A View From The Bridge, the West End transfer of which closed on Saturday. Mark Strong won for Best Actor, Ivo Van Hove for Best Director and the production won Best Revival.
The Young Vic’s award wins were completed by Mike Bartlett’s Bull, which won the prize for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.
It was a tremendous night for Bartlett, who also won the Virgin Atlantic Best New Play Award for King Charles III, which ran at the Almeida Theatre and in the West End.
The night saw a host of multiple wins, as awards were shared across a number of productions.
Beautiful – The Carole King Musical collected a brace of awards for its female stars. Katie Brayben, who plays King and previously appeared in King Charles III, won Best Actress in a Musical, with Lorna Want, who plays fellow songwriter Cynthia Weil, winning the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical.
Memphis The Musical also left with a pair of awards, Sergio Trujillo winning the Best Theatre Choreographer category and Gareth Owen winning for Sound Design.
The Donmar Warehouse production of City Of Angels too left with a matching set of statuettes for Best Musical Revival and Best Lighting Design, for Howard Harrison.
While new stars led the musical performance categories, acclaimed veterans of stage and screen led the straight performance awards.
Penelope Wilton collected the Best Actress Award for her performance in Nazi Germany-set Taken At Midnight, while Angela Lansbury, as she heads towards her 90th birthday, won her first Olivier Award. The Murder, She Wrote star won the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category for her turn as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit.
Nathaniel Parker won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Award for his Henry VIII in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, which also saw Christopher Oram triumph in the Best Costume Design category.
Other winners on the night included The Play That Goes Wrong, which managed to avoid its titular fate to win the Best New Comedy Award and La Soirée, which won Best Entertainment & Family,
Wicked won the This Morning Audience Award for the second time in its history, while a double was also achieved by designer Es Devlin, who followed 2014’s Best Set Design win for Chimerica with a 2015 win in the same category for The Nether.
English National Opera swept the board in the opera categories, winning Best New Opera Production for The Mastersingers Of Nuremberg and Outstanding Achievement in Opera for the show’s director Richard Jones, recognising his work across a number of productions.
Best New Dance Production was shared between Peeping Tom’s 32 Rue Vandenbranden and Royal Swedish Ballet’s Mats Ek’s Juliet And Romeo, with Crystal Pite winning Outstanding Achievement in Dance for her work across a trio of pieces. Iconic dancer Sylvie Guillem was also honoured with a Special Award.
The annual celebration of the excellence of London theatre was not all about prize-giving, and many tongues will be wagging about the show’s finale that saw Special Award winner Kevin Spacey join Beverley Knight in an exclusive duet, performing a one-off rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water.
Though that unique collaboration will surely catch the headlines, incredible performances were also given from all the musical nominees: Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, Sunny Afternoon, Memphis The Musical, Miss Saigon, Here Lies Love, City Of Angels, The Gershwins’ Porgy And Bess and Cats, which saw Nicole Scherzinger give a striking performance of Memory.
Catch the performances, the speeches and the glamour of the event in the extended highlights show to be screened on ITV at 22:15 tonight or on ITV Player from tomorrow.
Full list of winners:
BEST REVIVAL
A View From The Bridge at Young Vic & Wyndham’s Theatre
BEST NEW COMEDY
The Play That Goes Wrong at Duchess Theatre
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN AN AFFILIATE THEATRE
Bull at The Maria at Young Vic
WHITE LIGHT AWARD FOR BEST LIGHTING DESIGN
Howard Harrison for City Of Angels at Donmar Warehouse
BEST SOUND DESIGN
Gareth Owen for Memphis The Musical at Shaftesbury Theatre
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Christopher Oram for Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies at Aldwych Theatre
XL VIDEO AWARD FOR BEST SET DESIGN
Es Devlin for The Nether at Duke of York’s Theatre
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Nathaniel Parker for Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies at Aldwych Theatre
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Angela Lansbury for Blithe Spirit at Gielgud Theatre
BEST NEW OPERA PRODUCTION
The Mastersingers Of Nuremberg at London Coliseum
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN OPERA
Richard Jones for his direction of The Girl Of The Golden West, The Mastersingers Of Nuremberg and Rodelinda at London Coliseum
VIRGIN ATLANTIC BEST NEW PLAY
King Charles III at Almeida Theatre & Wyndham’s Theatre
BEST ACTOR
Mark Strong for A View From The Bridge at Young Vic & Wyndham’s Theatre
BEST ACTRESS
Penelope Wilton for Taken At Midnight at Theatre Royal Haymarket
THIS MORNING AUDIENCE AWARD
Wicked at Apollo Victoria Theatre
BEST NEW DANCE PRODUCTION (awarded jointly)
32 Rue Vandenbranden by Peeping Tom at Barbican
Mats Ek’s Juliet And Romeo by Royal Swedish Ballet at Sadler’s Wells
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE
Crystal Pite for her choreography in the productions of The Associates – A Picture Of You Falling, The Tempest Replica and Polaris at Sadler’s Wells
BEST ENTERTAINMENT & FAMILY
La Soirée at La Soirée Spiegeltent
BEST THEATRE CHOREOGRAPHER
Sergio Trujillo for Memphis The Musical at Shaftesbury Theatre
BEST DIRECTOR
Ivo Van Hove for A View From The Bridge at the Young Vic & Wyndham’s Theatre
AUTOGRAPH SOUND AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC
Ray Davies for Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
George Maguire for Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Lorna Want for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at Aldwych Theatre
MAGIC RADIO BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL
City Of Angels at Donmar Warehouse
BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
John Dagleish for Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre
BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Katie Brayben for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at Aldwych Theatre
MASTERCARD BEST NEW MUSICAL
Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre
SPECIAL AWARDS
Sylvie Guillem
Kevin Spacey
