Sunset Boulevard wins big at Oliviers as celebrity talent largely overlooked
Jamie Lloyd’s bombastic reimagining of Sunset Boulevard starring Nicole Scherzinger was the standout show at this year’s Olivier awards, with seven wins on an evening when productions with celebrity talent were often overlooked.
The Savoy theatre adaptation of Billy Wilder’s classic 1950 film about the dark side of the Hollywood dream took home best actor in a musical for Tom Francis and best actress in a musical for Scherzinger. Lloyd – described as creating “a stupendous sense of reinvention” by the Guardian – won best director.
Sunset Boulevard’s wins followed its domination of the WhatsOnStage awards where it also won seven. Once again its technical team was also recognised with best lighting design (Jack Knowles), musical supervision (Alan Williams) and best sound design (Adam Fisher) all going to Lloyd’s revival.
Lloyd thanked Scherzinger for giving a “performance for the ages” and said he expected the production to take Broadway by storm when it transfers to New York later this year.
The event – which recognises only London-based productions or regional shows that have gone on to transfer to the capital – saw several stars from television and film nominated after they brought their mainstream appeal to West End productions that sold out rapidly but left some in the industry questioning whether celebrity casting ultimately hurts the sector.
Happy Valley’s James Norton (A Little Life), Fleabag’s Andrew Scott (Vanya), Sex in The City’s Sarah Jessica Parker (Plaza Suite) and former Doctor Who star David Tennant (Macbeth) were all nominated, as were Sheridan Smith (Shirley Valentine) and Joseph Fiennes (Dear England).
However, the big names were nearly all overlooked at the show which began with host Hannah Waddingham singing a rendition of Anything Goes.
Succession star Sarah Snook was a marquee name who did win, taking home best actress for the 26 roles she played in The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was her West End debut. [Snook said she learned her lines while breast-feeding her baby at night, regularly asking herself: “Why am I doing a 60,000-word monologue with an eightmonth-old baby?”
The National theatre, which bagged 15 nominations during its 60th anniversary year, managed to convert only three of those into wins, with James Graham’s football drama Dear England taking home two gongs for best new play and best actor in a supporting role for Will Close.
Best actor went to Mark Gatiss for his performance in The Motive and the Cue, the National’s production about the tempestuous but ultimately successful Broadway staging of Hamlet, where John Gielgud (played by Gatiss) and Richard Burton butted heads over “creative differences”.
Gatiss was one of several winners who decried the lack of opportunities for working-class voices in British theatre.
Close dedicated his award to “all the single mums in council houses” and said his mother’s encouragement was the reason he continued in theatre, while Gatiss said “as a workingclass man who went to comprehensive school, all the routes that took me here have virtually vanished”.
James Graham said Dear England’s football theme was a way to make it accessible to a wider audience beyond the usual middle-class crowds who attend theatre. “I’m so glad that a play about football did bring in lads who’d never seen a play before,” he said.
One production that bucked the big-name trend entirely was Operation Mincemeat, a former fringe production about a second world war plot to fool the Nazis. It took home best new musical in a hyper-competitive field in which Next to Normal, A Strange Loop and The Little Big Things were also nominated.
Jak Malone, who played put-upon secretary Hester, also won best actor in a supporting role in a musical.
Amy Trigg took home a surprise win in the best actress in a supporting role in a musical category for her performance as Agnes in The Little Big Things, while best revival went to Chekov’s Vanya adapted by Simon Stephens at the Duke of York’s Theatre.
One of the highlights was a standing ovation for Arlene Phillips, who won best choreography with James Cousins for Guys and Dolls at the Bridge theatre, while early in the evening there was a posthumous recognition for The Windsors and Drop the Dead Donkey star Haydn Gwynne, who died aged 66 in October.
She won best actress in a supporting role for When Winston Went to War with The Wireless.
Complete list of winners
Noël Coward award for best new entertainment or comedy playStranger Things: The First Shadow by Kate Trefry at the Phoenix theatre
Best family showDinosaur World Live by Derek Bond at Regent’s Park Open Air theatre
Gill ian Lynn ea ward for best theatre choreographer Arlene Phillips with James Cousins for Guys and Dolls at the Bridge theatre
Best costume designMarg Horwell for The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Theatre Royal Haymarket
Best revivalVanya by Anton Chekhov, adapted by Simon Stephens at the Duke of York’s theatre
Best musical revivalSunset Boulevard, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton at the Savoy theatre
Best sound designAdam Fisher for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy theatre
Outstanding musical contributionAlan Williams for musical supervision and musical direction for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy theatre
Best actor in a supporting roleWill Close for Dear England at the National theatre – Olivier and Prince Edward theatre
Best actress in a supporting roleHaydn Gwynne for When Winston Went to War With the Wireless at the Donmar Warehouse
Best set designMiriam Buether for set design and 59 Productions for video design for Stranger Things: The First Shadow at the Phoenix theatre
Best lighting designJack Knowles for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy theatre
Best actress in a supporting role in a musicalAmy Trigg for The Little Big Things at @sohoplace
Best actor in a supporting role in a musicalJak Malone for Operation Mincemeat at the Fortune theatre
Best new opera production Innocence by the Royal Opera at the Royal Opera House
Outstanding achievement in operaAntonio Pappano for his role as Musical Director of the Royal Opera House
Best actor in a musicalTom Francis for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy theatre
Best actress in a musicalNicole Scherzinger for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy theatre
Best new dance productionLa Ruta by Gabriela Carrizo, part of Nederlands Dans theater – NDT 1 at Sadler’s Wells
Outstanding achievement in danceIsabela Coracy for her performance in NINA: By Whatever Means, part of Ballet Black: Pioneers at the Barbican theatre
Outstanding achievement in affiliate theatreSleepova by Matilda Feyişayo at the Bush theatre
Sir Peter Hall award for best directorJamie Lloyd for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy theatre
Best actressSarah Snook for The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Theatre Royal Haymarket
Best actorMark Gatiss for The Motive and the Cue at the National theatre – Lyttelton and Noël Coward theatre
Best new playDear England by James Graham at the National theatre – Olivier and Prince Edward theatre
Best new musical Operation Mincemeat, music, lyrics and book by David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts at the Fortune theatre
• This article was amended on 15 April 2024 to correct the names of the nominated productions in the new musical category.