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Story by Jack Foley
THE Producers
has won three of the top prizes at this year's Oliver Awards,
including the prestigious title of best new musical.
Mel Brooks' hit show triumphed against the likes of Mary
Poppins, which won two awards, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's
lavish Woman in
White, which stars Michael Crawford.
Nathan Lane, who stepped in at the last minute to replace Richard
Dreyfuss, beat co-star, Lee Evans, to win best musical actor,
while Conleth Hill won best supporting role in a musical.
The Producers was a smash hit on Broadway before moving
to the West End, where it has been playing to sold-out audiences.
Its closest rival was Mary Poppins, which led the nominations,
and which picked up awards for best choreography and best musical
actress for its star, Laura Michelle Kelly.
Another of the night's big winners was Alan Bennett's The
History Boys, which picked up three awards in the straight
theatre categories.
The play, which is set in a grammar school in the early 1980s
and part-based on Bennett's experiences as a teacher, was named
best new play.
Its star, Richard Griffiths, was named best actor, while the
production also won National Theatre artistic director, Nicholas
Hytner, best director. Bennett got a special award for outstanding
contribution to British theatre.
However, one of the pre-award favourites, Dame Judi Dench, who
appeared in All's Well That Ends Well at the Gielgud,
lost out in the best supporting role category to Amanda Harris,
who played Emilia in Othello for the Royal Shakespeare
Company.
The Olivier Awards have been handed out by the Society of London
since 1976. They were presented at a glittering ceremony on Sunday,
February 20, 2005.
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Award winners in full
Best new play - The History Boys by Alan Bennett
at the Lyttelton
Best new musical - The Producers at Theatre
Royal, Drury Lane
Best musical actor - Nathan Lane for The Producers
at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Best musical actress - Laura Michelle Kelly
for Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward
Best actor - Richard Griffiths for The History
Boys at the Lyttelton
Best actress - Clare Higgins for Hecuba at the
Donmar Warehouse
Best supporting role in a musical - Conleth
Hill for The Producers at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Best performance in a supporting role - Amanda
Harris for Othello at Trafalgar Studios
Best director - Nicholas Hytner for The History
Boys at the Lyttelton
Best Revival - Hamlet by William Shakespeare
at The Old Vic
Best lighting design - His Dark Materials designed
by Paule Constable at the Olivier
Best sound design - The Woman in White designed
by Mick Potter at the Palace
Best new opera - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at
the Royal Opera House
Outstanding achievement in opera - Thomas Ades
and the Royal Opera House for the world premiere of The Tempest
Best costume design - All's Well That Ends
Well designed by Deirdre Clancy at the Gielgud
Best set design - His Dark Materials designed
by Giles Cadle at the Olivier
Outstanding musical production - Grand Hotel
at the Donmar Warehouse
Best theatre choreographer - Matthew Bourne
and Stephen Mear for Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward
Outstanding achievement or performance in an affiliate
theatre - Andrew Scott for A Girl in A Car With A Man
at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court
Best new dance production - Rambert Dance Company's
Swamp at Sadler's Wells
Outstanding achievement in dance - San Francisco
Ballet for their season at Sadler's Wells
Special award - Alan Bennett for his outstanding
contribution to British theatre
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