The Olivier Awards 2014

The Olivier Award nominations for 2014 have been announced, with tight competition revealed in the musical categories. Musicals such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Merrily We Roll Along have secured the most number of Olivier Award nominations this year for a singular production, a testament to their success and power as productions. The two shows have seven nominations each and are closely followed by musicals Once, The Book of Mormon and The Scottsboro Boys, which all received six each. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98FyBtmIK9k Charlie and the Chocolate Factory received nominations for best actor in a musical and for best new musical while Nigel Planer was also nominated for best supporting performance in a musical. Merrily We Roll Along picked up those including for best director and best actress in a musical, and the show was also nominated for best musical revival. For the new category of outstanding achievement in music, Merrily We Roll Along has been nominated for its orchestra, competing with The Book of Mormon, Once and The Scottsboro Boys. It was also notable that the number of female best director nominees outweighed the men for the first time ever for the Oliviers, with productions such as The Scottsboro Boys, Chimerica and Ghosts. 2014 has seen the return of the award for best new comedy, with nominations for The Duck House by Dan Patterson and Colin Swash, the Sheffield Theatres’ touring production of The Full Monty, Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, starring Stephen Mangan and Matthew Macfadyen, and The Same Deep Water As Me by Nick Payne. Such an array of talent in the productions mentioned looks set to produce an interesting awards ceremony. Winners of the Olivier Awards 2014 will be announced at the Royal Opera House on 13 April.