The Oliviers has proved that even at 76 Andrew Lloyd Webber is still the best in town

Best in class: Nicole Scherzinger was one of seven Oliver Award wins for Sunset Boulevard – Marc Brenner

The 2024 Olivier Awards delivered the shock of the old, and put a smile on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s face. A mighty seven awards for Sunset Boulevard confirmed that – at the age of 76 and more than 50 years after Jesus Christ Superstar stormed the Palace – the world’s most successful musicals composer still has what it takes to Lord it over the West End and show the kids how it’s done, even with a musical from 1993.

Of course, the initial credit for Sunset Boulevard sweeping the boards – its haul rivalling the record for a musical set by Matilda, and matched by Hamilton and Cabaret – must go to Jamie Lloyd. His visionary direction dared to strip back Lloyd Webber’s adaptation (with Don Black and Christopher Hampton) of Billy Wilder’s classic 1950 film noir. Relying mainly on busy choreography and video wizardry – as opposed to palatial Hollywood opulence – was the perfect revitalising touch, fusing theatrical imagination with an austere sense of cinematic surprise.

Lloyd was vindicated too in casting Nicole Scherzinger as the reclusive silent screen star Norma Desmond. The singer initially seemed too unblemished for the femme fatale, but as with Lloyd’s nose-free Cyrano, he’d had a revelatory idea: Norma’s freakishness was in the eyes of others, her obsolescence a product of the industry.

The primary vindication, though, lies with Lloyd Webber himself – who endured brickbats and upsets when Sunset was in the West End first time round, with rewrites required early on and no Olivier Awards. In fact, when you compare the haul this year to Lloyd Webber’s previous wins – even Phantom only picked up a couple – you realise that this production now not only has the wind in its sails as it heads to Broadway, but the show stands confirmed as one of ALW’s best.

A bonanza is good for headlines, and, sure, there’s a sense of the industry patting their man on the back for all his past good works. But people aren’t paying lip-service to his status; as witnessed in the past decade with Lloyd’s Evita and Timothy Sheader’s Jesus Christ Superstar, both radical takes at Regent’s Park, the next generation want to reimagine that gilded back-catalogue, embrace his legacy.

Still, there’s no shortage of British talent queuing up behind him. The award for Best New Musical rightly went to runaway sensation Operation Mincemeat, a springy account of wartime subterfuge by SpitLip, with Jak Malone getting a deserved supporting role gong for sounding the show’s most poignant notes as MI5 secretary Hester Leggatt (who now has a plaque at the Fortune Theatre).

Elsewhere, there were strong contenders for Best New Play. Jack Thorne’s The Motive and the Cue was an obvious contender but with Mark Gatiss scooping the Best Actor award for his pitch-perfect evocation of John Gielgud, that left the goal open for James Graham’s Dear England, which turned the gentlemanly reboot of Gareth Southgate’s tenure as England manager into a fleet, fun, state-of-the-nation epic. Nice for Harry Kane – in the guise of Will Close (Best Actor in a Supporting Role) – to finally win something, too.

If Close’s teasing impersonation raises a smile, it’s hard not to go misty-eyed over the counterpart supporting actress award, which went to the late Haydn Gwynne: Stanley Baldwin in Jack Thorne’s play about Churchill, Reith and the General Strike. Nominated four times before, how sad she didn’t get to see her belated win. That puts into perspective the fact that Sheridan Smith – battered after those early closing notices for Opening Night – didn’t walk away with the Best Actress award for Shirley Valentine. Shezza will live to fight another day and surely wow fans again in her own inimitable way.

The 2024 Olivier Award winners in full

Best Director

WINNER: Jamie Lloyd for Sunset Boulevard

Stephen Daldry & Justin Martin for Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Rupert Goold for Dear England

Sam Mendes for The Motive and The Cue

Best Actress

WINNER: Sarah Snook for The Picture of Dorian Gray

Laura Donnelly for The Hills of California

Sophie Okonedo for Medea

Sarah Jessica Parker for Plaza Suite

Sheridan Smith for Shirley Valentine

Best Actor

WINNER: Mark Gatiss for The Motive and the Cue

Joseph Fiennes for Dear England

James Norton for A Little Life

Andrew Scott for Vanya

David Tennant for Macbeth

Best New Play

WINNER: Dear England by James Graham

The Hills of California by Jez Butterworth

The Motive and the Cue by Jack Thorne

Till The Stars Come Down by Beth Steel

Best New Musical

WINNER: Operation Mincemeat, music, lyrics & book by David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha

Hodgson & Zoë Roberts

The Little Big Things, music by Nick Butcher, lyrics by Nick Butcher & Tom Ling, book by Joe

White

Next To Normal, music by Tom Kitt, book & lyrics by Brian Yorkey

A Strange Loop, music, lyrics & book by Michael R. Jackson

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

WINNER: Will Close for Dear England

Paul Hilton for An Enemy of the People

Giles Terera for Clyde’s

Luke Thompson for A Little Life

Zubin Varla for A Little Life

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

WINNER: Haydn Gwynne for When Winston Went to War With the Wireless

Lorraine Ashbourne for Till The Stars Come Down

Priyanga Burford for An Enemy of the People

Gina McKee for Dear England

Tanya Reynolds for A Mirror

Best Actor in a Musical

WINNER: Tom Francis for Sunset Boulevard

David Cumming for Operation Mincemeat

Daniel Mays for Guys & Dolls

Charlie Stemp for Crazy For You

Best Actress in a Musical

WINNER: Nicole Scherzinger for Sunset Boulevard

Natasha Hodgson for Operation Mincemeat

Caissie Levy for Next To Normal

Marisha Wallace for Guys & Dolls

Best Actress in a Supporting Role In a Musical

WINNER: Amy Trigg for The Little Big Things

Grace Hodgett Young for Sunset Boulevard

Zoë Roberts for Operation Mincemeat

Eleanor Worthington-Cox for Next To Normal

Best Actor in a Supporting Role In a Musical

WINNER: Jak Malone for Operation Mincemeat

Cedric Neal for Guys & Dolls

David Thaxton for Sunset Boulevard

Jack Wolfe for Next To Normal

Best New Entertainment or Comedy Play

WINNER: Stranger Things: The First Shadow by Kate Trefry

Accidental Death Of An Anarchist by Dario Fo & Franca Rame, adapted by Tom Basden

Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Vardy V Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial, adapted by Liv Hennessy

Best Revival

WINNER: Vanya by Anton Chekhov, adapted by Simon Stephens

The Effect by Lucy Prebble

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Shirley Valentine by Willy Russell

Best Musical Revival

WINNER: Sunset Boulevard, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics & book by Don Black &

Christopher Hampton

Groundhog Day, music & lyrics by Tim Minchin, book by Danny Rubin

Guys & Dolls, music & lyrics by Frank Loesser, book by Jo Swerling & Abe Burrows

Hadestown, music, lyrics & book by Anaïs Mitchell

Best Family Show

WINNER: Dinosaur World Live by Derek Bond

Bluey’s Big Play by Joe Brumm

The House With Chicken Legs, book by Sophie Anderson, adapted by Oliver Lansley

The Smeds And The Smoos, book by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler, adapted by Tall

Stories

Best Theatre Choreographer

WINNER: Arlene Phillips with James Cousins for Guys & Dolls

Fabian Aloise for Sunset Boulevard

Ellen Kane & Hannes Langolf for Dear England

Mark Smith for The Little Big Things

Susan Stroman for Crazy For You

Best Costume Design

WINNER: Marg Horwell for The Picture Of Dorian Grayy

Bunny Christie & Deborah Andrews for Guys & Dolls

Ryan Dawson Laight for La Cage Aux Folles

Hugh Durrant for Peter Pan

Best Sound Design

WINNER: Adam Fisher for Sunset Boulevard

Paul Arditti for Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Dan Balfour & Tom Gibbons for Dear England

Gareth Fry for Macbeth

Outstanding Musical Contribution

WINNER: Alan Williams for Musical Supervision & Musical Direction for Sunset Boulevard

Tom Brady for Musical Supervision & Arrangements and Charlie Rosen for Orchestrations for

Guys & Dolls

Matt Brind for Musical Supervision, Arrangements & Orchestrations for Just For One Day

Steve Sidwell for Orchestrations & Joe Bunker for Musical Direction for Operation Mincemeat

Best Set Design

WINNER: Miriam Buether for Set Design & 59 Productions for Video Design for Stranger

Things: The First Shadow

Bunny Christie for Set Design for Guys & Dolls

Es Devlin for Set Design & Ash J Woodward for Video Design for Dear England

Soutra Gilmour for Set Design and Nathan Amzi & Joe Ransom for Video Design for Sunset

Boulevard

Best Lighting Design

WINNER: Jack Knowles for Sunset Boulevard

Jon Clark for Dear England

Jon Clark for Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Paule Constable for Guys & Dolls

Best New Opera Production

WINNER: Innocence by the Royal Opera

Blue by the English National Opera

Picture A Day Like This by the Royal Opera

The Rhinegold by the English National Opera

Outstanding Achievement in Opera

WINNER: Antonio Pappano for his role as Musical Director of the Royal Opera House

Belarus Free Theatre Company for King Stakh’s Wild Hunt at the Barbican Theatre

Marina Abramović for her concept and design of 7 Deaths Of Maria Callas at the London

Coliseum

Best New Dance Production

WINNER: La Ruta by Gabriela Carrizo, part of Nederlands Dans Theater

Broken Chord by Gregory Maqoma & Thuthuka Sibisi

The Rite Of Spring by Seeta Patel

Time Spell by Michelle Dorrance, Jillian Meyers & Tiler Peck, part of Turn It Out With Tiler Peck

& Friends

Outstanding Achievement in Dance

WINNER: Isabela Coracy for her performance in NINA: By Whatever Means, part of Ballet

Black: Pioneers at the Barbican Theatre

Jonzi D for his artistic direction of Breakin’ Convention 2023 International Festival Of Hip Hop

Dance Theatre at Sadler’s Wells

Rhiannon Faith for her community focussed conception of Lay Down Your Burdens at The Pit at

Barbican

Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre

WINNER: Sleepova by Matilda Feyişayo at the Bush Theatre

Blue Mist by Mohamed-Zain Dada at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre

A Playlist For The Revolution by AJ Yi at the Bush Theatre

The Swell by Isley Lynn at the Orange Tree Theatre

The Time Machine: A Comedy by Steven Canny and John Nicholson at the Park Theatre

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