It was a big year for musicals at Sunday night’s Olivier Awards, Britain’s equivalent of the Tonys, with “Paddington: The Musical,” “Evita” and “Into the Woods” taking 11 prizes among them.
Homegrown British musical successes on the scale of “Paddington” come along pretty infrequently these days, and few shows hit a nerve like this one, with its appeals to tolerance, inclusivity and kindness. (Like “Paddington,” “Matilda the Musical” won seven Oliviers, but that was back in 2012.)
On Monday, the theater critics Houman Barekat and Matt Wolf got together with Tess Felder, a London-based editor on The New York Times’s Culture desk, to give their take on how this year’s awards went.
FELDER: What were some high points for you in terms of Sunday night’s winners?
BAREKAT: Ivo van Hove’s “All My Sons,” which won best revival, was highly deserving. In terms of straight plays, it’s the outstanding production of the season by some distance. And it was lovely to see “Oh, Mary!” win the Noël Coward Award for best new entertainment or comedy play. It’s great fun — totally silly in the best way.
WOLF: Cole Escola, that play’s author, got the laugh line of the night when he thanked “my amazing husband — who doesn’t exist.” I was genuinely delighted by Rachel Zegler’s award for best actress in a musical for “Evita,” which generated buzz for her singing “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” from a balcony to onlookers in the streets below — but, more important, was about as well sung and acted a performance as you could wish for.
Her victory was sweetened by the fact that the musical’s original Eva Perón — the British musical theater stalwart Elaine Paige, now 78 — was given a special prize during the ceremony by the show’s composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, so both the earliest and most recent Evitas were gathered together on a single night.
FELDER: And what about surprises?
WOLF: I was really thrilled by Jack Holden’s best actor award for “Kenrex,” a one-actor show set in 1981 Missouri that was first seen in Sheffield, England, in 2024 before moving on to London and, from this week, to New York. Holden was the dark horse against the likes of Tom Hiddleston and Bryan Cranston , and he seemed as stunned by the call-out of his name as anyone else.
In the technical categories, the triumph of that play’s sound designer, Giles Thomas, was a further surprise against heavyweight competition from “Paddington” and “Into the Woods.” “Kenrex” has been the little show that could, and its imminent Off Broadway run makes its success that much sweeter.
BAREKAT: I was a little surprised by “Punch” winning best new play. I found it somewhat thin — more like a documentary than a drama. But it’s another heartwarming success story: starting out at a regional playhouse in Nottingham and ending up at the West End. That’s something the industry clearly wants to celebrate.
And the true story that inspired it — of a couple who connect with, and eventually forgive, the young man who killed their son — is genuinely extraordinary. It was very moving to see Joan Scourfield, the bereaved mother, take the stage alongside Jacob Dunne, the killer she forgave, when the playwright James Graham collected his prize on Sunday.
The play’s formula is actually similar to “Inter Alia,” for which Rosamund Pike won best actress: the intersection of criminal justice, social policy and personal morality. People seem to find this blend quite moreish. “Kenrex” also has a true-crime element …
FELDER: These plays also call to mind “Adolescence,” the hit TV show from last year that won eight Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for best limited series.
WOLF: Yes, justice seems to be the hot-button topic across multiple art forms. What’s fascinating is the extent to which “Kenrex” in a way is the inverse of “Punch,” finding none of the redemption that, I suspect, has helped “Punch” become such a success. And Graham, it’s worth pointing out, is an Oliviers darling, having won this same prize two years ago for his rousing soccer play, “Dear England.”
FELDER: While these shows did so well, were there any snubs that you found disappointing?
WOLF: I was greatly disappointed that Conor McPherson’s beautiful “The Weir,” in a revival directed by the playwright, got no nominations whatsoever. It seems doubly odd given the authoritative and compassionate performance by its star, Brendan Gleeson — in his West End debut at age 70, no less.
And as a huge admirer of Carrie Cracknell’s Old Vic revival of “Arcadia” — a production as fine, in my view, as the play’s original in the 1990s — I’d love to have seen nominations for the cast members Seamus Dillane and Angus Cooper.
BAREKAT: I agree about “The Weir.” I was also surprised that “Stereophonic” didn’t get a look-in for best new play. When you look at the best new play nominations, there seems to be a conspicuous preference for shows that are ongoing or about to transfer to Broadway — or, as in the case of “1536,” to the West End.
FELDER: Speaking of longevity, the ceremony celebrated 50 years of the Oliviers. Matt, you mentioned the special award given to Paige. What has her contribution to London theater been?
WOLF: Watching Paige’s highlight reel, I was struck by how much of her stage career took place before 2000 in shows like “Evita,” “Cats,” “Chess” and “Sunset Boulevard.” That raises the question: Who are her inheritors, or does the British musical perhaps not allow for successive “first ladies” to the extent that Broadway has done, whether you’re talking Angela Lansbury, Patti LuPone or Sutton Foster, to name just a few? The pickings in London seem notably smaller, for some reason.
FELDER: There are still some exciting productions coming up in London, of course. Looking ahead, which productions do you expect to be represented at next year’s Oliviers?
BAREKAT: The Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss collaboration at the National Theater, “Electra/Persona,” sounds super intriguing. And Kristin Scott Thomas will be starring in McPherson’s adaptation of “The Cherry Orchard” in October. Those could be ones to watch.
I’m fascinated that there’s a “Trainspotting” musical on the horizon. It doesn’t seem an obvious choice for the musical treatment — anyone who can pull that off would surely deserve a prize!
WOLF: You can never have too much Edward Albee in my book, so I can’t wait to see Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup battle it out in the fall in Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” This Marianne Elliott-directed revival will represent Crudup’s third appearance on a London stage in quick succession following “High Noon” and “Harry Clarke,” and Anderson has more or less become a London theater regular — though the tempestuous Martha is an acid test for any actress.
I’m excited, too, by the new musical “Pride,” starring the two-time Tony Award nominee Samuel Barnett, at the National Theater this summer. It’s based on the lovely 2014 film about gay activism during the 1984 British coal miners’ strike.
FELDER: Those do sound promising. Here’s hoping for some more great London theater.
Tess Felder is a London-based editor in the Culture department of The Times.
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