Newcomers Dominate Olivier Awards - 'Book of Mormon' And 'Chimerica' Make A Splash

Two clear and not-so-surprising winners emerged at last night’s Olivier awards. The event - a key date on the British musical theater social calender - was hosted by Steven Mangan and Gemma Arterton. The West End production of The Book of Mormon netted four wins, while the bulk of the awards went – in one form or another – to North London’s 326-seat, not-for-profit Almeida Theater.

Steven Mangan, Gemma Arterton
Meet your hosts - Steven Mangan and Gemma Arterton.

The theater won five awards for its Headlong co-production of Lucy Kirkwood’s new play Chimerica, as well as three for Richard Eyre’s staging of Ibsen’s Ghosts, Variety reports..

Chimerica won for New Play, Sound, Set Design, Director and Lighting, the latter shared with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Charlie had a somewhat disappointing run at the prestigious award show, its only other win for Best Costumes, awarded to Mark Thompson.

Ghosts, on the other hand, had a good haul. Richard Eyre’s vision, now rumored for a Broadway move, was named Best Revival and also earned Leslie Manville and Jack Lowden the Lead Actress and Supporting Actor awards, respectively.

Mormon was by far the big winner of the night, navigating some stiff competition to come out with the Best Newcommer Award, Best Actor in a Musical went to Gavin Creel, Stephen Ashfield won Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his highly praised turn as Elder McKinley and Casey Nicolaw won for Best Choreography.

It wasn’t an entirely unpredictable lineup of winners – in fact Mormon has been pegged as a winner for this year’s Oliviers for several months now.

The Best Actor Award went to Rory Kinnear for the lead in the National's Othello.

Best Actor went to Rory Kinnear in the National’s production of Othello helmed by outgoing a.d. Nicholas Hytner who, together with exec director Nick Starr, won a special award for their ten-year tenure. The National’s production of The Amen Corner, helmed by incoming a.d. Rufus Norris, won Best Supporting Actress for Sharon D. Clarke.