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Olivier Awards 2025 – a blow by by account

Sunday’s Olivier Awards managed to be an agreeable experience for all.

The occasion boost attendance, fuel UK tours, and supercharge the bottom line. Think of them as the sugar that lures the fly; the local economy benefits by more than three times the gross ticket sales.

So when we talk Oliviers, we’re really talking box office boosts; the Olivier Awards don’t just celebrate the West End —they drive it.

Rufus Norris was given a Special Award for his 10 years running the National Theatre. He didn’t show up, which seemed strange.

In fact, the occasion is far more starstruck than all of the tabloids it clearly hates as well, with a perverse, hierarchical sense of priorities that allowed it to hand Sir Cameron Mackintosh a made up award to celebrate Les Miserables turning 40, but put Idris Elba front and centre of everything. (The Mousetrap had to run 70 years to achieve a similar accolade).

In total, 26 trophies were doled out. Be grateful that the TV broadcast dwelt on only half, with the rest covered in highlights packages.

Three shows were tied with the most wins at the ceremony – with Fiddler on the Roof, Giant and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button each winning three prizes.

Jordan Fein’s Fiddler on the Roof, which is transferring to London’s Barbican in May, won the best musical revival prize among other awards.

Eline Arbo won the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director for her powerful staging of The Years, an adaptation of French writer Annie Ernaux’s autobiography.

John Lithgow took Best Actor for his portrayal of Roahl Dahl in Giant. His co-star Elliot Levey, who portrayed Tom Maschler, Dahl’s Jewish publisher, won Best Supporting Actor, while writer Mark Rosenblatt earned Best New Play for his debut script.

Other winners included Imelda Staunton, who extended her stellar Olivier awards career with a fifth award and a fourth in the best actress in a musical category for her leading role in Hello Dolly!

In her retirement year, Paule Constable became the most decorated individual in the awards’ history, with a record 17 nominations. She claimed her sixth win, taking Best Lighting Design for Oliver!

One decision that pissed me off was that Nathan Englander’s brilliant What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank didn’t take home the award for Best New Production in Affiliate Theatre.

Even so, airing on a two-hour delay seems ever more baffling in the social media age. The winners were all over the internet before this broadcast had even begun.

Ridiculously, theatre-lovers in the UK and Ireland had no way of watching live coverage, as the stream was restricted to viewers in the rest of the world and ITV, rather than airing the awards live, showed highlights later in the night.

Here’s the thing. The Tony Awards are broadcast live. Why can’t SOLT do likewise? The ITV highlights were shoddy, rushed and littered with errors. Sort it out.

Anyway. Billy Porter and Beverley Knight did a satisfactory job. Winners speeches are meant to last 40 seconds but there was nobody stopping winners babbling.

Still, it was a rare blip in a night that didn’t feel particularly long, nor disappointing when it came to winners.

The night belonged to musical The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the former production—with music and lyrics by Jethro Compton and Darren Clark— it swept several major categories: Best New Musical, Outstanding Musical Contribution (recognizing Clark and Mark Aspinall’s orchestrations and arrangements), and Best Actor in a Musical for John Dagleish, who plays the protagonist born old and growing younger by the day.

Anyhow. Additional winners included productions Oedipus, Titanique, The Years and Festen, all of which won two prizes each.

Well done everyone.

The winners in full

Best new musical – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Best revival – Oedipus (Wyndham’s Theatre production)

Best musical revival – Fiddler On The Roof

Best new play – Giant

Best new entertainment or comedy play – Titanique

Best new opera production – Festen

Best actor – John Lithgow for Giant

Best actress – Lesley Manville for Oedipus (Wyndham’s Theatre production)

Best supporting actor – Elliot Levey for Giant