“Life is like a play in the theater: it does not matter how long it lasts, but how well it was played” said Seneca…and here in London we know how to play well on stage. As singer and actor Jack Savoretti said yesterday on the 40th Olivier Awards red carpet: London is the theater. How to give him wrong? When you arrive in London from a foreign country you have to see Piccadilly…and when you get there it is like as if you are breathing theater and music and were transported to a dream made of green wicked witches, rebel girls, Irish dancers, French barricades and ghosts hidden in the basement of a theater ….it’s just magic so it’s why is right to celebrate who makes this dream possible with an evening envied even overseas.

Alongside the nominees, besides the aforementioned Jack Savoretti, who during the evening brought on stage, alongside to Rory Kinnear, a tribute to Shakespeare, inspired by Alan Rickman’s When Love Speaks; on the red carpet also London well known stars as James Norton (Prince Andrei Bolkonsky on BBC drama War and Peace and now on stage in the oustanding thriller BUG at Found 111); Kit Harington ( opening night Saturday 9th April for his Doctor Faustus at Duke of York’s Theatre) with his Game of Thrones co-star Rose Leslie; Luke Evans (now in cinemas with High-Rise alongside the big justified absent Tom Hiddleston); David Gandy and, for all the Glee‘s fans, Amber Riley (better known as Glee‘s Mercedes Jones) who will be on stage in London at the Savoy Theatre from November 2016  in DreamGirls.

From New York; Broadway Hamilton‘s King George ( Tony Nominated Jonathan Groff, better known as Glee‘s Jesse St James) sent his best wishes to the London cast (here the video)  right before handing the crown to Rory O’Malley due to the filming of the Netflix’s upcoming series Mindhunter based on the 1996 non-fiction book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker, which followed Douglas’ numerous investigations as he chased notorious serial killers and rapists.

Star of the evening Dame Judi Dench who won her 8th Olivier Awards (seven statues and a special award) becoming the actor with more Olivier Awards Won in the awards history (check her wonderful short movie Friend Request Pending starring also Penny Ryder, Philip Jackson, John Macmillan and Tom Hiddleston).

I wonder what thought about this record the writer of the famous TV series Gilmore Girls (ready to get back on Netflix), who dedicated some quotes to the English actress in one of the main episodes (RORY: It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it. LOGAN: How’d I say it? RORY: Like Judi Dench. LOGAN: Ouch.)

Great success also for the contemporary live organized by iTV in Covent Garden which, again, showed the love of the city towards the theater and his musicals (here what you missed).

 

Below the full list of the winners:

Best Revivol: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at National Theatre

Best New Comedy: Nell Gwynn at Apollo Theatre

Best Costume Design: Gregg Barnes for Kinky Boots at Adelphi Theatre

Best Set Design: Anna Fleischle for Hangmen at the Royal Court & Wyndham’s Theatre

Best Sound Design: Tom Gibbons for People, Places and Things at the National Theatre, Dorfman

Best New Opera Production: Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci at Royal Opera House

Outstanding Achievement in Opera: English National Opera chorus and orchestra for The Force of Destiny, Lady Macbeth of Mtensk and The Queen of Spades at London Coliseum

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Mark Gatiss for Three Days in the Country at National Theatre, Lyttelton

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Judi Dench for The Winter’s Tale at Garrick Theatre

Outstanding Achievment in an Affiliate Theatre: Pat Kinevane and Fishamble for Silent at Soho Theatre

Best New Play: Hangmen at Jerwood Theatre, Downstairs at the Royal Court and Wyndham’s Theatre

Best Actor in a Play: Kenneth Cranham for The Father at Wyndham’s Theatre

Best Actress in a Play: Denise Gough for People, Places and Things at National Theatre, Dorfman

Best Entertainment & Family: Showstopper! The Improvised Musical at Apollo Theatre

Best New Dance: Woolf Works at Royal Opera House

Outstanding Achievement in Dance: Alessandra Ferri for Cheri and Woolf Works at Royal Opera House

Outstanding achievment in Music: In the Heights at King’s Cross Theatre

Best Theatre Choreographer: Drew McOnie for In the Heights at King’s Cross Theatre

Best Director: Robert Icke for Oresteia at Almeida Theatre

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical: David Bedella for In the Heights at King’s Cross Theatre

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical: Laura Pulver for Gypsy at Savoy Theatre

Best Musical Revival: Gypsy at Savoy Theatre

Best Actor in a Musical: Matt Henry for Kinky Boots at Adelphi Theatre

Best Actress in a Musical: Imelda Staunton for Gypsy at Savoy Theatre

Mastercard Best New Musical: Kinky Boots at Adelphi Theatre