The stage musical based on the Paddington books and films dominated the Olivier Awards, winning seven prizes in total, including the award for best new musical. It also secured best actor in a musical, awarded jointly to James Hameed and Arti Shah, with Hameed providing the voice and remote puppeteering for Paddington and Shah performing in the furry costume on stage. Tom Edden won best supporting actor in a musical for playing Mr Curry, and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt won best supporting actress in a musical for playing Millicent Clyde. Luke Sheppard won best director, and the production took awards for costume design by Gabriella Slade and Tahra Zafar and set design by Tom Pye and Ash J Woodward. Writer Jessica Swale said it was an honor to be trusted with a very special bear, while composer Tom Fletcher added they tried to make a show celebrating kindness. Arti Shah, who was born with a form of dwarfism, remarked she would keep showing that being different is a good thing.
Rachel Zegler won best actress in a musical for Evita, with her performance featuring a unique nightly stunt where she sang Don't Cry For Me Argentina from the London Palladium's outdoor balcony to passers-by. This was masterminded by director Jamie Lloyd, and her performance was live-streamed on a big screen to the audience inside the theatre. Fabian Aloise won best theatre choreographer for Evita. Zegler, who won a Golden Globe four years ago for playing Maria in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake, thanked London for making her feel welcome and noted it was an honor to sing to people on Argyll Street eight times a week, praising Lloyd for creating an accessible moment of theatre.
Thank you so much to the city of London for making me feel so welcome here, I never could've imagined it.
Rosamund Pike won best actress in a play for Inter Alia, beating nominees Cate Blanchett and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Pike originally performed the play at the National Theatre and will take it to Broadway in November, with the work written by Suzie Miller. Pike expressed disbelief at winning after not doing theatre for 14 years and called it a huge, exhilarating risk to return.
Other major winners included Elaine Paige, who won the Special award for her stage career, presented by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with Paige calling it a pinch-me moment. A new production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons won two prizes, though the specific categories have not been confirmed. Into the Woods won two awards: best musical revival and best lighting design by Aideen Malone and Roland Horvath, but the exact number of awards it won according to BBC News is unknown. Paddington: The Musical and Into the Woods shared the highest number of nominations with 11 each.
It was the honour of a lifetime singing to the people on Argyll Street eight times a week, I can't believe I got so lucky to sing in front of thousands of you.
Key creative details about Paddington: The Musical include music and lyrics by Tom Fletcher and a book by Jessica Swale. The full list of winners for all categories at the Olivier Awards has not been disclosed, and it is unclear which categories Paddington: The Musical was nominated in but did not win. Additionally, the current box office performance or audience reception for Paddington: The Musical and Evita remains unreported.
The Olivier Awards ceremony was hosted by Nick Mohammed and took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London, marking a night of celebration for the theatre industry.
It's so beautiful that Jamie Lloyd made such an accessible moment of theatre for people to walk by and witness something really really cool.