Oliviers 2018 Reactions

It has come up to that time of year again  - the biggest night in London, the Olivier Awards, were held at the Royal Albert Hall last night, and as with every year, here is a quick round up of who won what etc etc.

As expected, Hamilton came out on top, winning 7 awards - however, as a lot of people predicted, it didn't COMPLETELY sweep the board, as it had 13 nominations, and could win 10 max (due to multiple nominations in certain categories. So, what did it win in the end? Well:

• Best Actor in a Musical for Giles Terera (who played Aaron Burr, interesting with this one as I saw his understudy instead)
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for Michael Jibson as King George III - I am SO happy about this one as he stole EVERY scene he was win. Although, I would have also been pleased if Jason Pennycooke won this one too. 
• Lighting Design
• Sound Design
• Choreography - kinda obvious if you've seen the show
• Outstanding Achievement in Music - kinda obvious if you've only heard the cast album, let alone seen the show...!
• and of course, Best New Musical

So yeah, the Ham-machine won a lot; but there have been other winners in the musical categories too. The Girl from the North Country is a show using the songs of Bob Dylan opening at the Old Vic last year, and it passed relatively quietly under the radar for me. But it won 2 awards: Best Actress and Actress in a Supporting Role in Musical for Shirley Henderson and Sheila Atim respectively; beating off the likes of Janie Dee (my pick to win the Best Actress in a Musical award), Imelda Staunton, Rachel John and more to pick up their gongs. Shortly after Atim picked up her award, she performed Tight Connection to my Heart along with the rest of the cast, and she has a gorgeous voice - perhaps this is one to keep an eye on (along with another one, although I will get to that later). 

The final musical to mention is the National Theatre's revival of Follies, which won 2 more awards: Best Musical Revival and Best Costume Design, both of which I'm not that surprised with - oddly enough, it is coming back to the National later this year. 

Onto the plays, and the big winner here was Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman (surprise surprise - this is the other one I mentioned I should keep my eye on, especially as its Broadway transfer has been confirmed). It won Best New Play, Best Director and Best Actress (for Laura Donnelly - though I am kinda gutted that Audra McDonald didn't win for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill). Other winners in the play department include Angels In America (winning Best Revival and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Denise Gough - showing a possible good Tony season as it is currently playing in New York), Bryan Cranston won Best Actor for his performance in Network, and Matilda's original Trunchbull Bertie Cravel won Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Ink.  

There were a couple of surprises, sure, for example, Imelda Staunton not picking one up after being nominated twice (once for Follies, the other for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf), and due to Hamilton being, well Hamilton, other shows such as Everybody's Talking About Jamie (which could have done really well otherwise) and Young Frankenstein left empty handed. Still, the highlights show was a fun watch, especially with the performances from the nominated musicals - not just from the ones I mentioned, by also from 42nd Street, and a special performance celebrating 50 years of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.