Michael Bond’s jam-loving bear will go up against a bevy of fairytale characters at the Olivier Awards next month, as two musicals dominated the nominations announced on Thursday.
The favorites for London’s top theater awards are Paddington: The Musical and Into the Woods, which received 11 nominations each. Paddington, which premiered to five-star reviews at the Savoy Theatre, is nominated for best new musical, best director (Luke Sheppard), best stage choreographer (Ellen Kane) and best actor in a musical for the duo playing the lovable ursine hero. James Hameed provides the voice of the bear and is the remote puppeteer, while Arti Shah dons the furry costume. Her co-stars Tom Edden, Amy Booth-Steel and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt are also nominated for their supporting roles. Acknowledged were Gabriella Slade’s costumes, Tahra Zafar’s puppet designs, Tom Pye’s set, Ash J Woodward’s video, Gareth Owen’s sound and Matt Brind’s orchestrations and arrangements.
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods, which combines the plots of several fairy tales, has been a hit at the Bridge Theatre. It is also competing for best director (Jordan Fein), best musical revival, best actor and actress in a musical (Jamie Parker and Katie Brayben respectively), best supporting actor in a musical (with Jo Foster and Oliver Savile nominated) and best supporting actress in a musical (Kate Fleetwood). Adam Fisher’s sound, Aideen Malone’s lighting, Roland Horvath’s video, and Tom Scutt’s set and costume designs were nominated.
A second Sondheim musical, the great American composer’s swan song Here We Are, staged at the National Theatre, is also up for best new musical along with Shucked at the Regent’s Park open-air theater and Harold Fry’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage, which moved from the Chichester Festival theater to the West End. Two of Here We Are’s stars, Jane Krakowski and Tracie Bennett, received nominations.
One of last year’s most talked-about musicals, Evita, will go up against Into the Woods for best musical revival, with competition from Almeida’s American Psycho and The Producers, playing at the Garrick Theatre. Rachel Zegler, whose performance as Evita included singing from the balcony of the Palladium to the late-night crowd, received a nomination for best actress in a musical as did Brayben, Krakowski, Jenna Russell (Harold Fry’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage) and Danielle Fiamanya and Georgina Onuorah, who shared a lead role in Brigadoon at Regent’s Park. Onuorah received a nomination in a second category, best supporting actress in a musical, for Shucked at the same theater.
The other nominees for best actor in a musical are Marc Antolin and Andy Nyman (both for The Producers) and Diego Andrés Rodríguez for Evita. Trevor Ashley (The Producers) and Corbin Bleu (The Great Gatsby) are also shortlisted for best supporting actor in a musical.
The most nominated plays, with six each, are a star-studded version of Arthur Miller’s classic All My Sons, Jack Holden’s one-man show Kenrex and the Broadway hit transfer Stereophonic, about the implosion of a rock band, which in 2024 became the most nominated play in Tony Awards history. All My Sons, which closes at the Wyndham’s Theater this weekend, was recognized in the best revival category alongside Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, which opened at the Old Vic weeks after the celebrated playwright’s death, Duncan Macmillan and Thomas Ostermeier’s version of Chekhov’s The Seagull at the Barbican and Jamie Lloyd’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Theater Royal Drury Lane. Much Ado’s Tom Hiddleston, who drew autograph hunters around the block each night, will compete for best actor with Bryan Cranston (All My Sons), Sean Hayes (Good Night, Oscar), Jack Holden (Kenrex) and David Shields (Punch). Hiddleston’s co-star Hayley Atwell was a notable omission among the nominees, as was audacious director Jamie Lloyd, who directed Evita and Much Ado About Nothing.
The best actress award is between Cate Blanchett (The Seagull), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (All My Children), Rosamund Pike (Inter Alia), Rosie Sheehy (Guess How Much I Love You?) and Julia McDermott for her solo performance in Weather Girl. The nominees for best supporting actress are Isis Hainsworth (Arcadia), Julie Hesmondhalgh (Punch), Lucy Karczewski (Stereophonic), Hayley Squires (All My Sons) and Sophie Thompson (When We Are Married). Zachary Hart has two nominations for best supporting actor, for his portrayal of the bassist in Stereophonic and Medvedenko, with a similar guitar, in The Seagull. Also nominated in that category are Hammed Animashaun (Dealer’s Choice), Paapa Essiedu (All My Sons) and Giles Terera (Oh, Mary!, which also receives a nomination for best new entertainment or comedy work).
The other nominees for the Sir Peter Hall award for best director are Ed Stambollouian for Kenrex, Ivo van Hove for All My Sons and Lyndsey Turner for the drama Tudor 1536, written by Ava Pickett, which is also competing for best new play alongside Suzie Miller’s legal drama Inter Alia, Holden’s Kenrex and Stambollouian and James Graham’s Punch. Kenrex was a transfer from Sheffield Theaters and Punch originated at Nottingham Playhouse.
A surprising omission from the nominees was Conor McPherson’s five-star revival of his play The Weir, starring Brendan Gleeson. McPherson is currently filming a version of the play in Ireland with the revival’s cast. The Weir won the Olivier Award in 1999.
The list of finalists for best new dance production is made up of Into the Hairy by Sharon Eyal for SED, Mimi’s Shebeen by Alesandra Seutin and KVS, Random Taranto by María del Mar Suárez (La Chachi) and She’s Auspicious by Mythili Prakash. Three Royal Opera House productions, The Makropulos Case, Tosca and Die Walküre, compete for best new opera alongside English National Opera’s Dead Man Walking.
The Olivier Awards, which celebrate their 50th anniversary this year, are overseen by the Society of London Theatre. Winners are chosen by a team of industry figures, stage luminaries and theatre-loving audience members. The ceremony will take place at London’s Royal Albert Hall on April 12 and will be hosted by actor and Celebrity Traitors finalist Nick Mohammed.
