At the Olivier Awards ceremony at London's Royal Opera House yesterday, the National Theatre's production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time equalled the record set by the RSC's Matilda the Musical last year of seven wins, another big success for a major subsidised theatre.
Simon Stephens's adaptation of the best-selling book by Mark Haddon, which transferred from the Cottesloe to the Apollo, Shaftesbury Avenue, picked up awards for Best New Play, Best Actor (Luke Treadaway), Best Supporting Actress (Nicola Walker), Best Director (Marianne Elliott), Best Lighting Design (Paule Constable), Best Set Design (Bunny Christie and Finn Ross) and Best Sound Design (Ian Dickinson and Adrian Sutton).
Peter Morgan's The Audience at the Gielgud Theatre received awards for Best Actress for Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II and Best Supporting Actor for Richard McCabe as Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Best Revival went to A Long Day’s Journey Into Night at the Apollo Theatre and Best Entertainment and Family to Goodnight Mr Tom at the Phoenix Theatre.
Best New Musical went to Top Hat at the Aldwych, despite it being based on a 1935 film as it is a new adaptation, which also picked up awards for Best Theatre Choreographer for Bill Deamer and Best Costume Design for Jon Morrell. The Chichester production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd at the Adelphi took the award for Best Musical Revival and its stars Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton took the Best Actor and Actress in a Musical awards. Leigh Zimmerman took the Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical award for A Chorus Line at the Palladium.
Best New Dance Production went to the Royal Ballet for Aeternum at the Royal Opera House, with Outstanding Achievement in Dance going to Argentinian principal dancer Marienela Nunez for Aeternum, Diana and Actaeon and Viscera, also at the Royal Opera House.
Best New Opera Production was Einstein on the Beach by Robert Wilson and Philip Glass at the Barbican, and American tenor Bryan Hymel won Outstanding Achievement in Opera for his performances in Les Troyens, Robert Le Diable and Rusalka at the Royal Opera House.
Special Awards went to choreographer Gillian Lynne and playwright Michael Frayn.
Presented by Sheridan Smith and Hugh Bonneville, the ceremony took place on Sunday 28 April at London's Royal Opera House featuring excerpts from musicals including Billy Elliott, West Side Story, Cats and The Bodyguard. It was broadcast live on BBC Radio 2 and excerpts were broadcast later in the evening on ITV for the first time for some years, with the programme continuing to be available online on ITV Player.