2015 Olivier Awards: ‘Sunny Afternoon,’ ‘A View from the Bridge,’ Angela Lansbury and More Win Big

By Nora Dominick ‘17/ Emertainment Monthly Assistant Stage Editor

On Sunday April 12, 2015, The 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards were held at the Royal Opera House in London. The award show was hosted by Lenny Henry and celebrated this years best and brightest new stars, plays and musicals showcased on The West End.

Sunny Afternoon, a new musical with music and lyrics by Ray Davies and a book by Joe Penhall, cleaned up at the award show. The new musical follows the popular British band, The Kinks and their early years and initial stardom. Set against the background of political and social change of the 1960s, the musical helps shed some light on the popular band and their number 1 UK chart topping hits. Sunny Afternoon took home four awards including Best Musical, Best Actor in a Musical for John Dagleish, Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for George Maguire and Outstanding Musical Achievement went to Ray Davies.

A View from the Bridge was also a big winner at the Olivier Awards raking in three awards by the time the night ended.  Arthur Miller’s famous play tells the story of 1950s America and an Italian American neighborhood near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. This revival won Best Revival, Best Actor for Mark Strong and Best Director for Ivo van Hove.

Five time Tony Award winner and Broadway legend Angela Lansbury took home her first ever Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work as eccentric medium Madama Arcati in Blithe Spirit. This was Lansbury’s first role on The West End in over 40 years. Nathaniel Parker also won for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his work in Wolf Hall. Parker is currently reprising his now Olivier winning role on Broadway. The winner of Best New Play, King Charles III also announced that it will make the big transfer to Broadway following it’s Olivier win on Sunday. The play is set to play at The Music Box Theatre in NYC this fall.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical also won big at the award show. After transferring to The West End from Broadway earlier this year, the show is as big of a hit across the pond as it continues to be here. The musical took home Best Actress in a Musical for Katie Brayben and Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical for Lorna Want.

This year’s Special Award winners were Sylvie Guillem and Kevin Spacey.

Below is a complete list of 2015 Laurence Olivier Winners:

Best New Musical:

Sunny Afternoon

Best Musical Revival:

City Of Angels

Best New Play:

King Charles III

Best Revival of a Play:

A View From The Bridge

Best New Comedy:

The Play That Goes Wrong

Audience Award:

Wicked

Best Entertainment and Family:

La Soirée

Best Actor:

Mark Strong for A View From The Bridge

Best Actress:

Penelope Wilton for Taken At Midnight

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

Nathaniel Parker for Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

Angela Lansbury for Blithe Spirit

Best Actor in a Musical:

John Dagleish for Sunny Afternoon

Best Actress in a Musical:

Katie Brayben for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical:

George Maguire for Sunny Afternoon

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical:

Lorna Want for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

Best Director:

Ivo Van Hove for A View From The Bridge

Best Theatre Choreographer:

Sergio Trujillo for Memphis The Musical

Best Lighting Design:

Howard Harrison for City Of Angels

Best Set Design:

Es Devlin for The Nether

Best Costume Design:

Christopher Oram for Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies

Best Sound Design:

Gareth Owen for Memphis The Musical

Outstanding Achievement in Music:

Ray Davies for Sunny Afternoon

For a full list of winners visit: http://www.olivierawards.com