Fiddler on the Roof up for 13 Olivier awards and Romola Garai nominated twice in same category
Romola Garai has been nominated twice in the same category at this year's Olivier awards, with her performances in The Years and Giant both making the shortlist for best supporting actress. Those two plays have each picked up five nominations, while a revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof at Regent's Park Open Air theatre leads the Oliviers race with a total of 13 nominations. That tally equals a record set by the musical Hamilton in 2018 for the most nominated show at the Oliviers.
Garai, who has never previously been nominated for an Olivier, received two nods at once when the nominations were announced on Tuesday. She played a Jewish American publishing executive in Mark Rosenblatt's Giant, which explores author Roald Dahl's antisemitism and is also up for best new play and best director (Nicholas Hytner). John Lithgow, who starred as Dahl, is nominated for best actor and Elliot Levey is in the running for best supporting actor. Giant ran last year at the Royal Court and will transfer to the West End next month, without Garai in the cast.
In The Years, based on Nobel prize-winner Annie Ernaux's memoir, Garai shares the central role with four other actors (including Gina McKee, also nominated for best supporting actress). The Years is also nominated for best director (Eline Arbo), best sound design (Thijs van Vuure) and best new play (for Arbo's adaptation, in an English version by Stephanie Bain). The Years was staged at the Almeida theatre and is now at the Harold Pinter theatre. It is Garai's last week in the production and she will be succeeded by Tuppence Middleton.
Fiddler on the Roof, which was garlanded with five-star reviews last summer, transfers to the Barbican in May. It is nominated for set and costume design (both by Tom Scutt), lighting design (Aideen Malone), theatre choreographer (Julia Cheng), sound design (Nick Lidster), outstanding musical contribution (Mark Aspinall), director (Jordan Fein) and best musical revival. It also has nominations in every acting category for musicals, with nods for Adam Dannheisser who plays Tevye, the Jewish milkman (best actor), Lara Pulver (best actress), Liv Andrusier and Beverley Klein (up against each other for best actress in a supporting role) and Raphael Papo (best actor in a supporting role).
The other nominees for best musical revival are Hello, Dolly!, Oliver! and Starlight Express, which won seven WhatsOnStage awards last month. The best new musical nominees are The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, MJ the Musical, Why Am I So Single? and Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.
In the acting categories for plays, Indira Varma and Lesley Manville are each nominated for best actress for the same role, Jocasta, in different stagings of Oedipus. Manville's co-star Mark Strong and director Robert Icke are also nominated for their version at Wyndham's theatre, which is nominated for best revival. Varma is currently starring in an Old Vic production of Oedipus that has picked up nominations for best theatre choreographer (Hofesh Shechter, who also co-directed and composed the show) and sound design (Christopher Shutt).
The other nominees for best actress are Heather Agyepong (Shifters), Rosie Sheehy (Machinal) and Meera Syal (A Tupperware of Ashes). Competing against Lithgow and Strong for best actor are Billy Crudup (Harry Clarke), Paapa Essiedu (Death of England: Delroy) and Adrien Brody, who made his West End debut in The Fear of 13. At the weekend, Brody was named best actor for a second time at the Academy Awards; he could now join that select group of actors who have won an Oscar and an Olivier.
Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 has six nominations (including for actors Jamie Muscato, Chumisa Dornford-May and Maimuna Memon), while there are four each for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (including for leads John Dagleish and Clare Foster) and Oliver! (including for actor Simon Lipkin and choreographer Matthew Bourne). Imelda Staunton receives her 14th Olivier nomination this year, with a nod for best actress in a musical for Hello, Dolly! at the Palladium. Her co-star Andy Nyman is nominated for best supporting actor in a musical, on a shortlist including Tom Xander for Mean Girls, adapted from the film. The Devil Wears Prada, also based on a hit movie, has one nomination with Amy Di Bartolomeo recognised for her portrayal of the ambitious Emily.
There are three nominations for MJ the Musical (which won four Tony awards in 2022), including for Myles Frost who plays Michael Jackson. Lauren Drew is nominated for her comical role as Celine Dion in the Titanic spoof Titanique, with co-star Layton Williams nominated for his supporting characters in the show (including an iceberg).
The nominations were introduced on Tuesday by Nicole Scherzinger and Tom Francis, who won best actress and best actor for Sunset Boulevard at last year's Oliviers. The pair, covered in stage gore from the final scene of that musical (now playing on Broadway), said they were 'bloody excited' by the recognised talents.
This year's ceremony will take place on 6 April at the Royal Albert Hall in London, hosted by actors Beverley Knight and Billy Porter. Established in 1976, the Olivier awards are overseen by the Society of London Theatre. The winners are chosen by a team of industry figures, stage luminaries and theatre-loving members of the public.
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