{"id":7260,"date":"2011-03-13T06:02:30","date_gmt":"2011-03-13T06:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=7260"},"modified":"2015-04-19T07:25:29","modified_gmt":"2015-04-19T07:25:29","slug":"olivier-awards-clybourne-park-legally-blonde-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=7260","title":{"rendered":"OLIVIER AWARDS: ‘Clybourne Park’, ‘Legally Blonde’ winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"oliviers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 \u201cClybourne Park\u201d, a comedy by Bruce Norris that deals with racism in Chicago over 50 years, was named best new play and \u201cLegally Blonde \u2013 The Musical,\u201d based on the movie, won as best new musical Sunday at the 35th annual Laurence Olivier Awards.<\/p>\n

Roger Alam won as best actor for his performance as Falstaff in \u201cHenry IV Parts 1 and 2\u201d at Shakespeare\u2019s Globe while Nancy Carroll (pictured above with Alam) was named best actress and Adrian Scarborough won as best actor in a supporting role for the National Theatre\u2019s production of Terence Rattigan\u2019s \u201cAfter the Dance\u201d, which was named best revival.<\/p>\n

Sheridan Smith (pictured below) won as best actress in a musical for \u201cLegally Blonde\u201d and that show\u2019s Jill Halfpenny won the award for best supporting performance in a musical.<\/p>\n

Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim received a Special Laurence Olivier Award for outstanding contribution to theatre to celebrate his 80th birthday. His work continued to garner awards as his 1986 show \u201cInto the Woods\u201d at the Regent\u2019s Park Open Air Theatre won as best musical revival and David Thaxton was named best actor in a musical for \u201cPassion\u201d (1994) at the Donmar Warehouse.<\/p>\n

Angela Lansbury, who starred on Broadway in Sondheim\u2019s \u201cA Little Night Music\u201d in 1980 and \u201cSweeney Todd\u201d last year, joined British theatre mogul Cameron Mackintosh (pictured with Sondheim and Lansbury) to present the award to Sondheim to a prolonged standing ovation.<\/p>\n

\"oliviers<\/a><\/p>\n

Clearly moved, the still spry American said, \u201cI want to talk about the contribution British theatre has made to me,\u201d and he listed a string of productions starting with \u201cA Funny Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum\u201d through \u201cInto the Woods\u201d, \u201cAssassins\u201d and \u201cSweeney Todd\u201d. \u201cI am so grateful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sondheim and Mackintosh sat on stage as Lansbury sang the nostalgic number \u201cLiaisons\u201d from \u201cA Little Night Music\u201d, and the evening ended with a massed choir of theatre students who sang \u201cOur Time\u201d from \u201cMerrily We Roll Along\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sondheim told reporters afterwards that he treasured what he called \u201cthe fresh eye\u201d of British directors: \u201cHaving your work re-imagined is what makes theatre immortal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"sheridan<\/a>Nancy Carroll accepted her award in an advanced stage of pregnancy with a due date in 12 days.\u00a0 She said, \u201cWe celebrated my daughter\u2019s third birthday this afternoon. If I don\u2019t go into labour in the next 24 hours, I\u2019ll be amazed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roger Alam\u2019s best actor prize came against stiff competition from Derek Jacobi in the title role of \u201cKing Lear\u201d at the Donmar, Rory Kinnear as \u201cHamlet\u201d at the National, Mark Rylance for \u201cLa B\u00eate\u201d at the Comedy Theatre and David Suchet for a revival at the Apollo Theatre of Arthur Miller\u2019s \u201cAll My Sons\u201d.<\/p>\n

Alam said that he had performed in a production of Shakespeare only once in the last 20 years: \u201cPatrick Stewart told me that Falstaff is the middle-aged actor\u2019s \u2018Hamlet\u2019, so if you\u2019re going to play the Globe, it\u2019s the perfect role.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Sheridan Smith accepted the prize for best actress in a musical, she said, \u201cI won\u2019t keep you very long because we all want to get to the after party and get hammered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rock star Brian May accepted the BBC Radio 2 audience award for the long running hit \u201cWe Will Rock You\u201d, which features the music of Queen, and he said, \u201cIt\u2019s great to be standing here with this award 10 years after getting the shittiest reviews ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Royal Court Theatre, which staged \u201cClybourne Park\u201d before its West End transfer, also saw wins for Michelle Terry as best supporting actress for \u201cTribes\u201d and Leon Baugh as best theatre choreographer for \u201cSucker Punch\u201d.<\/p>\n

The awards were handed out in a three-hour ceremony at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, a change from previous years when the event was in the form of a banquet. Sponsored by MasterCard, the show featured many performances from the nominated musicals and a medley by Barry Manilow, whose musical \u201cCopacabana\u201d had a two-year run in London in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Presenters included several screen actors who are now on the West End stage including Matthew Fox (\u201cLost\u201d), Elizabeth Moss (\u201cMad Men\u201d), Benedict Cumberbatch (TV\u2019s \u201cSherlock\u201d), Jonny Lee Miller (\u201cEli Stone\u201d), and Patrick Stewart (\u201cThe X-Men\u201d).<\/p>\n

A complete list of 2011 Laurence Olivier Awards winners follows:<\/p>\n

BEST ACTRESS<\/p>\n

Nancy Carroll for After the Dance at the Lyttelton<\/p>\n

BEST ACTOR<\/p>\n

Roger Allam for Henry IV Part 1 & Part 2 at Shakespeare\u2019s Globe Theatre<\/p>\n

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE<\/p>\n

Michelle Terry for Tribes at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court<\/p>\n

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE<\/p>\n

Adrian Scarborough for After the Dance at the Lyttelton<\/p>\n

MASTERCARD BEST NEW PLAY<\/p>\n

Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court<\/p>\n

BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL<\/p>\n

Into the Woods at the Regent\u2019s Park Open Air Theatre<\/p>\n

BEST NEW MUSICAL<\/p>\n

Legally Blonde: The Musical book by Heather Hach, music and lyrics by Laurence O\u2019Keefe and Nell Benjamin at the Savoy<\/p>\n

BEST ENTERTAINMENT<\/p>\n

The Railway Children by E Nesbit, adapted by Mike Kenny at the Waterloo Station Theatre<\/p>\n

BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL<\/p>\n

Sheridan Smith for Legally Blonde: The Musical at the Savoy<\/p>\n

BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL<\/p>\n

David Thaxton for Passion at the Donmar Warehouse<\/p>\n

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL<\/p>\n

Jill Halfpenny for Legally Blonde: The Musical at the Savoy<\/p>\n

BEST DIRECTOR<\/p>\n

Howard Davies for The White Guard at the Lyttelton<\/p>\n

BEST REVIVAL<\/p>\n

After the Dance directed by Thea Sharrock at the Lyttelton<\/p>\n

BEST THEATRE CHOREOGRAPHER<\/p>\n

Leon Baugh for Sucker Punch at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court<\/p>\n

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN<\/p>\n

The White Guard designed by Neil Austin at the Lyttelton<\/p>\n

XL VIDEO AWARD FOR BEST SET DESIGN<\/p>\n

The White Guard designed by Bunny Christie at the Lyttelton<\/p>\n

BEST COSTUME DESIGN<\/p>\n

After the Dance designed by Hildegard Bechtler at the Lyttelton<\/p>\n

BEST SOUND DESIGN<\/p>\n

King Lear designed by Adam Cork at the Donmar Warehouse<\/p>\n

BBC RADIO 2 OLIVIER AUDIENCE AWARD<\/p>\n

We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre<\/p>\n

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN AN AFFILIATE THEATRE<\/p>\n

Lyric Hammersmith for Blasted<\/p>\n

BEST NEW OPERA PRODUCTION<\/p>\n

OperaUpClose and Soho Theatre\u2019s La Boh\u00e8me at the Soho Theatre<\/p>\n

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN OPERA<\/p>\n

Christian Gerhaher for his performance in the Royal Opera\u2019s Tannh\u00e4user at the Royal Opera House<\/p>\n

BEST NEW DANCE PRODUCTION<\/p>\n

Babel (Words) by Eastman vzw and Theatre Royal de la Monnaie at Sadler\u2019s Wells, choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet<\/p>\n

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE<\/p>\n

Antony Gormley for his set design of Babel (Words) by Eastman vzw and Theatre Royal de la Monnaie at Sadler\u2019s Wells<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON \u2013 \u201cClybourne Park\u201d, a comedy by Bruce Norris that deals with racism in Chicago over 50 years, was named best new play and \u201cLegally Blonde \u2013 The Musical,\u201d based on the movie, won as best new … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,16],"tags":[3520,3540,3541,894,1664,3542,3523,1463],"class_list":["post-7260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-news","category-theatre","tag-after-the-dance","tag-cleburne-park","tag-legally-blonde-the-musical","tag-nancy-carroll","tag-olivier-awards","tag-roger-alam","tag-sheridan-smith","tag-stephen-sondheim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7260"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7272,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260\/revisions\/7272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}