Nominations for the 2023 Olivier Awards, the highest theatrical honors for London's West End, have been revealed, with the stage adaptation of My Neighbour Totoro leading the pack with nine nods, including Best Entertainment or Comedy Play. Nominations were announced on YouTube February 28, and honors will be handed out at the Royal Albert Hall April 2.
Broadway-originating productions showed well, with Daniel Fish's reimagined (and Tony-winning) revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and Lincoln Center Theater's My Fair Lady both receiving nods for Best Musical Revival and To Kill a Mockingbird among the nominees for Best New Play. Also nominated for Best New Play are Royal Court Theatre's For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, Almeida Theatre's Patriots, and Prima Facie, which is poised to begin a Broadway run in April with Jodie Comer reprising her now Olivier-nominated performance.
Broadway alum Marisha Wallace, who has spent the bulk of her career on the West End since making a splash as a last-minute standby for Effie White in a 2016 revival of Dreamgirls, received a nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical for her performance in Oklahoma! Two-time Tony nominee Andrew Rannells also received a nod for his performance as Jim Bakker in Tammy Faye.
The Best New Musical category includes nods for Donmar Warehouse's U.K. premiere of David Yazbek and Itamar Moses' The Band's Visit, The National's Standing at the Sky's Edge, Sylvia at The Old Vic, and Elton John, Jake Shears, and James Graham's Tammy Faye at the Almeida.
Take a look at the full list of nominees:
Best Entertainment or Comedy play
Jack and the Beanstalk
My Neighbour Totoro
My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?)
One Woman Show
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Best Family Show
Blippi the Musical
Hey Duggee the Live Theatre Show
Midsummer Mechanicals
The Smartest Giant in Town
Best Theatre Choreographer
Matt Cole, Newsies
Lynne Page, Standing at the Sky’s Edge
Kate Prince, Sylvia
Basil Twist for Puppetry Direction, My Neighbour Totoro
Best Costume Design
Frankie Bradshaw, Blues for an Alabama Sky
Hugh Durrant, Jack and the Beanstalk
Jean Paul Gaultier, Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Freak Show
Kimie Nakano, My Neighbour Totoro
Best Revival
Good
Jerusalem
A Streetcar Named Desire
Best Musical Revival
My Fair Lady
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Sister Act
South Pacific
Best Sound Design
Bobby Aitken, Standing at the Sky’s Edge
Tony Gayle, My Neighbour Totoro
Drew Levy, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Ben and Max Ringham, Prima Facie
Best Original Score or New Orchestrations
David Yazbek (music and lyrics), Jamshied Sharifi (orchestrations), and Andrea Grody (additional arrangements), The Band's Visit
Joe Hisaishi (music) and Will Stuart (orchestrations and arrangements), My Neighbour Totoro
Daniel Kluger (orchestrations) and Nathan Koci (additional vocal arrangements), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Richard Hawley (music and lyrics) and Tom Deering (orchestrations), Standing at the Sky’s Edge
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Mark Akintimehin, Emmanuel Akwafo, Nnabiko Ejimofor, Darragh Hand, Aruna Jalloh, and Kaine Lawrence; For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy
Will Keen, Patriots
Elliot Levey, Good
David Moorst, To Kill a Mockingbird
Sule Rimi, Blues for an Alabama Sky
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Rose Ayling-Ellis, As You Like It
Pamela Nomvete, To Kill a Mockingbird
Caroline Quentin, Jack Absolute Flies Again
Sharon Small, Good
Anjana Vasan, A Streetcar Named Desire
Best Set Design
Miriam Buether, To Kill a Mockingbird
Tom Pye, My Neighbour Totoro
Ben Stones, Standing at the Sky’s Edge
Mark Walters, Jack and the Beanstalk
Best Lighting Design
Natasha Chivers, Prima Facie
Lee Curran, A Streetcar Named Desire
Jessica Hung Han Yun, My Neighbour Totoro
Tim Lutkin, The Crucible
Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical
Beverley Knight, Sylvia
Maimuna Memon, Standing at the Sky’s Edge
Liza Sadovy, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Marisha Wallace, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical
Sharif Afifi, The Band’s Visit
Peter Polycarpou, The Band’s Visit
Clive Rowe, Sister Act
Zubin Varla, Tammy Faye
Best New Opera Production
Alcina, Royal Opera
Least Like the Other, Irish National Opera and Royal Opera
Peter Grimes, Royal Opera
Sibyl, Barbican Theatre
Outstanding Achievement in Opera
Sinéad Campbell-Wallace, for her performance in Tosca
William Kentridge, for his conception and direction of Sibyl
Antony McDonald, for his design of Alcina
Best Actor in a Musical
Alon Moni Aboutboul, The Band’s Visit
Arthur Darvill, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Julian Ovenden, South Pacific
Andrew Rannells, Tammy Faye
Best Actress in a Musical
Katie Brayben, Tammy Faye
Anoushka Lucas, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Miri Mesika, The Band’s Visit
Faith Omole, Standing at the Sky’s Edge
Best New Dance Production
Light of Passage, Crystal Pite
Pasionaria, La Veronal
Traplord, Ivan Michael Blackstock
Triptych (The Missing Door, The Lost Room, and The Hidden Floor), Peeping Tom
Outstanding Achievement in Dance
Manuel Liñán, for his choreography of ¡VIVA!
Dickson Mbi, for his choreography of Enowate
Raquel Meseguer Zafe, for her dramaturgy of Ruination by Lost Dog
Catrina Nisbett, for her performance in Family Honour by Spoken Movement
Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre
Age Is a Feeling
Blackout Songs
The P Word
Paradise Now!
Two Palestinians Go Dogging
Best Director
Rebecca Frecknall, A Streetcar Named Desire
Robert Hastie, Standing at the Sky’s Edge
Justin Martin, Prima Facie
Phelim McDermott, My Neighbour Totoro
Bartlett Sher, To Kill a Mockingbird
Best Actress
Jodie Comer, Prima Facie
Patsy Ferran, A Streetcar Named Desire
Mei Mac, My Neighbour Totoro
Janet McTeer, Phaedra
Nicola Walker, The Corn Is Green
Best Actor
Tom Hollander, Patriots
Paul Mescal, A Streetcar Named Desire
Rafe Spall, To Kill a Mockingbird
David Tennant, Good
Giles Terera, Blues for an Alabama Sky
Best New Play
For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy
Patriots
Prima Facie
To Kill a Mockingbird
Best New Musical
The Band’s Visit
Standing at the Sky’s Edge
Sylvia
Tammy Faye