Oliviers 2020 Reactions

Credit: https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/olivier-awards-2020-nominations-in-numbers

Better late than never.... One of the many things Ms Rona put a halt on was the Olivier Awards, by only a matter of weeks. That was finally put to right last night when they announced the winners. 

Yesterday, the theatre gang gathered together, first for a quiz, second for a watch-along party. It was funny, it was emotional...

And to be honest, it was a bit of a mixed bag. 

There wasn't a clear winner, especially in the musicals department. 

The favourite on the nominations side of things was & Juliet, having 9 nominations. It walked away with  3 awards, all of which in the acting department: Best Actress in a Musical for Miriam Teak-Lee: Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical for Cassidy Janson: and finally Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for David Bedella, his 3rd Olivier win. 

Teak-Lee was by far the favourite, especially considering that she performed a song on the show; a trend I have picked up over the years is that the shows that get to perform a number do end up winning more gongs than those who haven't. Unlike Broadway where every musical nominated for Best Musical or Best Revival of a Musical gets a chance to perform unless it's a very limited run that ended by the time the Tonys roll around. 

Another one that this applies to is Dear Evan Hansen, who's star Sam Tutty got to sing Waving Through A Window last night. And also won the Best Actor in a Musical award. The show also won 2 more, putting it on a level playing field with & Juliet: Outstanding Achievement in Music for Pasek and Paul's score: and also Best New Musical. 

Like Teak-Lee, Tutty was by far the favourite in his category. But I must admit, the other two Larries surprised me. As much as I like listening to the DEH cast album, I thought Amelie got the snub for Outstanding Achievement in Music big time (it sadly didn't win any of its 3 nods, the other two being Best New Musical and for Audrey Brisson's performance in the title role). 

The Watermill's interpretation of bringing a cast of very talented actor-musicians was a big reason why the show has become a cult favourite in the UK: it changed the show from meh to WOW. A lot of my friends are Amelie fans too so we're all a bit sad on that one - but the fact that it got nominated in the first place for its Other Palace run was incredible! 

As for Best New Musical, it seemed like & Juliet was the favourite for sure... The final Best Musical nominee was Waitress, which only missed out on being nominated for last year's awards by a matter of days. 

From new shows to revived classics however, and the winners here were Fiddler on the Roof, who won Best Revival of a Musical, and Mary Poppins, which won for Choreography and Set Design. It now means that, apparently Sir Matthew Bourne has now overtaken Judi Dench for the most Olivier wins of all time!

Onto the Plays now, and it was a fairly even spread again, with gongs going to: The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Lighting): The Worst Witch (Entertainment and Family, the panel for which was a group of children and their guardians): Death of a Salesman (Director and Best Actress, with both Marianne Elliot and Sharon D Clarke winning their 2nd Olivier in a row): Present Laughter (Best Actor for Andrew Scott 😍 and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Indira Varma (aka, Ellaria Sand)): Leopoldstadt (for Best New Play and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Adrian Scarborough): and finally Cyrano de Bergenac, winning Best Revival with a rapped acceptance speech. 

Phew. But there's one left!

The biggest win in the play department was for the wonderful Emilia, which I got to see last year during its run at the Vaudeville Theatre. Chuffed doesn't even cover it when I can say it won all 3 of its nominations: Best Sound, Best Costume AND Best New Comedy. 

I'd like to take this opportunity to let you know that Emilia will be available to stream in November. Pay what you can AND it will be available for 2 weeks after it airs. Believe me when I say that it was on of the best things I saw last year and I have never had an experience like it. It is 100% worth it getting a ticket: https://www.emilialive.com/

Credit:
 https://giphy.com/gifs/george-ezra-george-ezra-listen-to-the-man-xkGcbFmFfpDWgT9bnt

Moving right along, I need to mention the Special Award, which was given to lyricist Don Black this year. 

And there was also a feature to the legendary Sir Ian McKellen, who did a whole tour of shows across the country to celebrate his 80th last year, earning a lot of money for local arts centres. What. A Legend!

So that's the Oliviers for another year. I'm guessing they won't hold one next year due to Ms Rona not leaving them with enough shows to be eligable, but we'll see what happens....

Now it's just the Tonys..... but that's a hot mess for another day...