2015 Laurence Olivier Awards Explained

2015 Laurence Olivier Awards
Date:	12 April 2015
Location:	Royal Opera House
Host:	Lenny Henry
Network:	ITV
Previous:	2014
Next:	2016

The 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards were held on Sunday 12 April 2015 at the Royal Opera House, London. The ceremony was hosted by Lenny Henry.^[1] A highlights show was shown on ITV shortly after the live event ended.^[2]

Eligibility

Any new production that opened between 26 February 2014 and 25 February 2015 in a theatre represented in membership of the Society of London Theatre was eligible for consideration, provided it had performed at least 30 performances.^[3]

Event calendar

17 February: Voting opens for the Audience Award for Most Popular Show's first round (by the general public)
26 February: Kevin Spacey is announced as a recipient of the Special Award^[4]
5 March: Voting closes for the Audience Award's first round
9 March: Nominations announced by Lesley Manville and James McAvoy (Audience Award round two voting opens to the general public)
18 March: Sylvie Guillem is announced as a recipient of the Special Award^[5]
10 April: Voting closes for the Audience Award's final round
12 April: Award ceremony held^[6]

Winners and nominees

The nominations were announced on 9 March 2015 in 28 categories.

Best New Play	Best New Musical
King Charles III by Mike Bartlett – Almeida / Wyndham's Taken at Midnight by Mark Hayhurst – Theatre Royal Haymarket The Nether by Jennifer Haley – Duke of York's Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, adapted by Mike Poulton – Aldwych	Sunny Afternoon – Hampstead / Harold Pinter Beautiful – Aldwych Here Lies Love – National Theatre Dorfman Memphis – Shaftesbury
Best Revival	Best Musical Revival
A View from the Bridge – Young Vic / Wyndham's A Streetcar Named Desire – Young Vic My Night with Reg – Donmar Warehouse / Apollo Skylight – Wyndham's The Crucible – Old Vic	City of Angels – Donmar Warehouse Cats – London Palladium Miss Saigon – Prince Edward Porgy and Bess – Regent's Park Open Air
Best New Comedy	Best Entertainment and Family
The Play That Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields – Duchess Handbagged by Moira Buffini – Vaudeville Shakespeare in Love by Marc Norman / Tom Stoppard, adapted by Lee Hall – Noël Coward	La Soirée – La Soirée Spiegeltent Dance 'til Dawn – Aldwych Hetty Feather – Vaudeville
Best Actor	Best Actress
*Mark Strong as Eddie Carbone in A View from the Bridge* – Young Vic / Wyndham's** Richard Armitage as John Proctor in The Crucible – Old Vic James McAvoy as Jack Gurney in The Ruling Class – Trafalgar Studio 1 Tim Pigott-Smith as King Charles III in King Charles III – Almeida / Wyndham's	*Penelope Wilton as Irmgard Litten in Taken at Midnight* – Theatre Royal Haymarket** Gillian Anderson as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire – Young Vic Kristin Scott Thomas as Electra in Electra – Old Vic Imelda Staunton as Margie Walsh in Good People – Hampstead / Noël Coward
Best Actor in a Musical	Best Actress in a Musical
*John Dagleish as Ray Davies in Sunny Afternoon* – Hampstead / Harold Pinter** Jon Jon Briones as The Engineer in Miss Saigon – Prince Edward Brandon Victor Dixon as Haywood Patterson in The Scottsboro Boys – Garrick Killian Donnelly as Huey Calhoun in Memphis – Shaftesbury	*Katie Brayben as Carole King in Beautiful* – Aldwych** Gemma Arterton as Rita O'Grady in Made in Dagenham – Aldelphi Tamsin Greig as Pepa Marcos in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown – Playhouse Beverley Knight as Felicia Farrell in Memphis – Shaftesbury
Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Best Actress in a Supporting Role
*Nathaniel Parker as Henry VIII of England in Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies* – Aldwych** David Calder as Doyle in The Nether – Duke of York's Richard Goulding as Prince Harry in King Charles III – Almeida / Wyndham's John Light as Dr Conrad in Taken at Midnight – Theatre Royal Haymarket	*Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit* – Gielgud** Jaime Adler, Zoe Brough, Perdita Hibbins and Isabella Pappas as Iris in The Nether – Duke of York's Phoebe Fox as Catherine Carbone in A View from the Bridge – Young Vic / Wyndham's Lydia Wilson as Princess Kate in King Charles III – Almeida / Wyndham's
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical	Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical
*George Maguire as Dave Davies in Sunny Afternoon* – Hampstead / Harold Pinter** Rolan Bell as Delray in Memphis – Shaftesbury Ian McIntosh as Barry Mann in Beautiful – Aldwych Jason Pennycooke as Bobby in Memphis – Shaftesbury	*Lorna Want as Cynthia Weil in Beautiful* – Aldwych** Samantha Bond as Muriel Eubanks in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – Savoy Haydn Gwynne as Lucia in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown – Playhouse Nicole Scherzinger as Grizabella in Cats – London Palladium
Best Director	Best Theatre Choreographer
*Ivo van Hove for A View from the Bridge* – Young Vic / Wyndham's** Rupert Goold for King Charles III – Almeida / Wyndham's Jeremy Herrin for Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies – Aldwych Josie Rourke for City of Angels – Donmar Warehouse	*Sergio Trujillo for Memphis* – Shaftesbury** Jerry Mitchell for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – Savoy Annie-B Parson for Here Lies Love – National Theatre Dorfman Josh Prince for Beautiful – Aldwych
Best Set Design	Best Costume Design
*Es Devlin for The Nether* – Duke of York's** Bunny Christie for Made in Dagenham – Aldelphi Robert Jones for City of Angels – Donmar Warehouse Jan Versweyveld for A View from the Bridge – Young Vic / Wyndham's	*Christopher Oram for Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies* – Aldwych** Robert Jones for City of Angels – Donmar Warehouse Paul Tazewell for Memphis – Shaftesbury Alejo Vietti for Beautiful – Aldwych
Best Lighting Design	Best Sound Design
*Howard Harrison for City of Angels* – Donmar Warehouse** Jon Clark for King Charles III – Almeida / Wyndham's Paule Constable / David Plater for Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies – Aldwych Jan Versweyveld for A View from the Bridge – Young Vic / Wyndham's	*Gareth Owen for Memphis* – Shaftesbury** Tom Gibbons for A View from the Bridge – Young Vic / Wyndham's Matt McKenzie for Sunny Afternoon – Hampstead / Harold Pinter Brian Ronan for Beautiful – Aldwych
Outstanding Achievement in Music
*Ray Davies for lyricising and scoring Sunny Afternoon* – Hampstead / Harold Pinter** David Bryan for lyricising and scoring, Joe DiPietro for lyricising and writing, Tim Sutton for music directing and the band for Memphis – Shaftesbury David Byrne for conceiving, lyricising and scoring and Fatboy Slim for scoring Here Lies Love – National Theatre Dorfman The orchestra for Beautiful – Aldwych
Outstanding Achievement in Dance	Best New Dance Production
*Crystal Pite for choreographing A Picture of You Falling, The Tempest Replica* and Polaris, The Associates – Sadler's Wells** Rocío Molina in Bosque Ardora, Dance Umbrella – Barbican The Elders Project, Elixir Festival – Sadler's Wells	32 rue Vandenbranden, Peeping Tom – Barbican Juliet and Romeo, Royal Swedish Ballet – Sadler's Wells Tabac Rouge, La Compagnie du Hanneton – Sadler's Wells
Outstanding Achievement in Opera	Best New Opera Production
*Richard Jones for directing Rodelinda* / The Girl of the Golden West / The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, English National Opera – London Coliseum** The ensemble in Moses und Aron, Welsh National Opera – Royal Opera House Jonas Kaufmann in Andrea Chénier / Manon Lescaut, The Royal Opera – Royal Opera House L'Orfeo / L'Ormindo, Roundhouse / Sam Wanamaker Playhouse offsite programming – Early Opera Company / Royal Opera House	The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, English National Opera – London Coliseum Benvenuto Cellini, English National Opera – London Coliseum Dialogues des Carmélites, The Royal Opera – Royal Opera House Die Frau ohne Schatten, The Royal Opera – Royal Opera House
Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre
Bull – Young Vic, Maria Four Minutes Twelve Seconds – Hampstead Downstairs Tanya Moodie in Intimate Apparel – Park / The Home That Will Not Stand – Tricycle Juma Sharkah in Liberian Girl – Jerwood Upstairs, Royal Court
Audience Award
Wicked – Apollo Victoria Billy Elliot – Victoria Palace Jersey Boys – Piccadilly Matilda – Cambridge
Society Special Award
Sylvie Guillem Kevin Spacey

Productions with multiple nominations and awards

The following 18 productions, including one opera, received multiple nominations:

9: Memphis
8: Beautiful
7: A View from the Bridge
6: King Charles III
5: City of Angels, Sunny Afternoon, Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies
4: The Nether
3: Here Lies Love, Taken at Midnight
2: A Streetcar Named Desire, Cats, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Made in Dagenham, Miss Saigon, The Crucible, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

The following seven productions, including one opera, received multiple awards:

4: Sunny Afternoon
3: A View from the Bridge
2: Beautiful, City of Angels, Memphis, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies

External links

Olivier Awards official website

Notes and References

Web site: Lenny Henry to host Olivier Awards. officiallondontheatre.co.uk.
Web site: Biggest Theatre Awards. olivierawards.com. 2015-02-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20141218191415/http://www.olivierawards.com/awards/. 2014-12-18. dead.
Web site: Frequently Asked Questions. olivierawards.com.
Web site: Kevin Spacey honoured by Oliviers. officiallondontheatre.co.uk.
Web site: Sylvie Guillem to be given honorary Olivier award. BBC News.
Web site: Calendar of Events. olivierawards.com. 26 February 2015. 27 March 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130327040939/http://www.olivierawards.com/awards/calendar. dead.