Olivier Awards Thoughts

 Like most theatre fans, I was eagerly scrolling through my Instagram/Twitter/Facebook trying to see who was winning Olivier Awards on Sunday before catching up on the highlights show on ITV later that evening. It was great to see the awards back in person again, highlighting that (for the most part) theatre really is back!

Here's my thoughts on some of the performances/awards given on the evening!

Cabaret wins big!

Cabaret was one of the big winners of the night, with the cast winning 4/4 of the actor/actress in a musical awards as well as Best Musical Revival. Whilst I have not seen the production, all I've heard is rave reviews. Amy Lennox's performance of 'Cabaret' was outstanding so I can see why they won so many awards if the rest of the show is as great as that.

However, I would've liked for some recognition for other actors/actresses and shows as I felt like some were overlooked. For me, The Drifters Girl is one of the best shows I've seen recently, and whilst they were nominated in multiple categories, they unfortunately won no awards. Their performance, however, is the one I enjoyed the most from the evening and I know I'm not alone in that. Beverley Knight is always amazing and she did not disappoint in this performance either.

Additionally, Back to the Future, whilst winning Best New Musical (which is very well deserved), it would have been great to see some of their wonderful cast (particularly Hugh Coles) winning an Olivier for their performances. 

Understudies/alternates/swings?

Is it time that we start to recognise these amazing actors and actresses at the Olivier Awards now? Whilst some amazing talent sang the tribute to Sondheim at the end of the Oliviers, I think they deserved more recognition than this. Whilst testing regimes are still going on as part of companies, understudies are having to stand in at the last minute more than ever! Theatre would not have had a successful return as what it has been if we had not had these amazing people as part of these companies. I've seen some amazing understudies/alternates/swings recently, including Natalie Pilkington and Jennifer Caldwell in Six, Mark Oxtoby and Will Haswell in Back to the Future, and Marcus Harman in Dear Evan Hansen.

Tours?

I think it's time for the Oliviers to recognise touring casts too. For some people, they cannot get to London for a multitude of reasons so the only way they can access theatre is locally. Not only is it often (though not always) cheaper, it also means there is less money spent on accommodation, travel, food/drinks etc. And at the moment, there are some really brilliant tours, such as School of Rock (which is just outstanding), Waitress, and Addams Family (which has unfortunately had to cut their tour short due to lack of ticket sales). I wonder whether things like what's happened to Addams might not happen if they were recognised more within theatre awards?

Performances!

As I said before, it was great to see the performances back at the Oliviers, reminding us that live theatre is back and the amazing shows London has currently got on offer. The Drifters Girl performance was just so amazing. I'm not usually a fan of jukebox musicals (I like them, don't get me wrong, but I always prefer a musical with more original songs), but The Drifters Girl is just an amazing show, with so much talent, I'd recommend it to everyone.

Another favourite of the evening was Life of Pi. It was great to see a snippet of the play on stage. I loved all the puppetry, and I was so glad the actors who were the puppeteers won an Olivier Award as they're just so talented. It might be one that I'll see next time I'm in London as it just looks spectacular.

And, of course, Anything Goes was just brilliant. I love Kerry Ellis, but I've unfortunately never seen her live, so I'm hoping I can catch it somewhere along the tour or head to London to see it, but she's an outstanding Reno. Also, I'm just such a sucker for tap dancing so this performance was right up my street!

Overall, it was just lovely to see the Olivier Awards back in person and to see amazing theatre being highlighted through both awards and nominations.