On a night when Dame Judi Dench made history with her seventh award, for best supporting actress, the best actor was named as Kenneth Cranham.
Advertisement
His show, Kinky Boots, won three awards, including Best New Musical.
It was particularly pleasing that the gorgeous Denise Gough won an Olivier after previously being denied the Evening Standard Theatre award in the same category that should definitely have been hers, and making a great speech about the importance of diversity and paying generous tribute to Noma Dumezweni, Sharon D Clarke and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, none of whom had been nominated.
Chichester Festival Theatre’s West End transfer of its much-lauded revival of “Gypsy” scored four awards, the most of any one production, including one for musical revival and one for lead actress Staunton.
Martin McDonagh’s killer comedy Hangmen won the prize for Best New Play, and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical In The Heights picked up three prizes for Best Choreography, Achievement in Music, and Supporting Actor in a Musical (David Bedella).
“Kinky Boots” lyricist Cyndi Lauper will perform at Sunday’s Royal Opera House ceremony. Staunton also opened the show, with a showstopping rendition of Everything’s Coming Up Roses.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland, the play’s director, Jim Culleton, said the Olivier judges had praised Silent for exuding “warmth and humanity and passion” in its depiction of mental health issues and homelessness.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical: Lara Pulver, Gypsy.
Ms Gough used her best actress win for People, Places And Things to register her concern that all actresses nominated in her category are white.
Kenneth Cranham beat competition from the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Kenneth Branagh and Mark Rylance to be named best actor for “The Father”, in which he portrays a man with dementia. The other contenders are Gemma Arterton for the Restoration romp “Nell Gwynn”, Denise Gough for the rehab drama “People, Places And Things”, Janet McTeer for the battle-of-the-sexes showdown “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” and Lia Williams for the Greek tragedy “Oresteia”.
Best entertainment and family award: Showstopper!
Advertisement
Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
