Skip to content

Olivier Awards: Eddie Redmayne's Cabaret leads nominations

Marc Brennan Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley both shone on opening nightMarc Brennan
Redmayne and Jessie Buckley are both nominated for Cabaret

Eddie Redmayne, Lily Allen, Emma Corrin, Jessie Buckley and Beverley Knight are among the stars nominated for the West End's top theatre awards.

A new production of the musical Cabaret starring Redmayne and Buckley leads the Olivier Award nominations with 11.

It's followed by a adaptation of best-selling novel Life of Pi and a revival of Anything Goes, with nine each.

Allen and Corrin are up for best actress in a play, with Knight in the running for best actress in a musical.

Getty Images Lily Allen and Hadley Fraser in 2:22 - A Ghost StoryGetty Images
Lily Allen and Hadley Fraser starred in 2:22 - A Ghost Story

Allen, who made her name as a singer, also recently won an acting award from the WhatsOnStage website for her theatre debut in the thriller 2:22 - A Ghost Story.

Corrin, best known for portraying Princess Diana in Netflix's The Crown, is nominated for Anna X, a play inspired by the story of "fake heiress" Anna Sorokin.

The pair will go up against Cush Jumbo, who is nominated for playing Hamlet, and Sheila Atim for the parallel universe romantic comedy Constellations.

Getty Images Hiran Abeysekera and Fred Davis at the curtain call during the press night of Life Of Pi at Wyndham's Theatre, London, on 2 December 2021Getty Images
Life of Pi star Hiran Abeysekera (left) and the show's Tiger operators are nominated

The other nominees include the seven performers who operate the puppet tiger in Life of Pi, who share a nomination for best supporting actor.

A musical based on the 1985 film Back To The Future has seven nominations, while Moulin Rouge! The Musical and the National Theatre's production of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart, set during the 1980s Aids crisis, have five each.

The awards will be handed out at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 10 April.

Read more about the nominees:

The main Olivier Award nominees

Best actress

  • Lily Allen - 2:22 A Ghost Story, Noel Coward Theatre
  • Sheila Atim - Constellations, Donmar Warehouse at Vaudeville Theatre
  • Emma Corrin - Anna X, Harold Pinter Theatre
  • Cush Jumbo - Hamlet, Young Vic

Best actor

  • Hiran Abeysekera - Life of Pi, Wyndham's Theatre
  • Ben Daniels - The Normal Heart, National Theatre
  • Omari Douglas - Constellations
  • Charles Edwards - Best of Enemies, Young Vic

Best actor in a musical

  • Olly Dobson - Back To The Future The Musical, Adelphi Theatre
  • Arinzé Kene - Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical, Lyric Theatre
  • Robert Lindsay - Anything Goes, Barbican Theatre
  • Eddie Redmayne - Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club, the Playhouse Theatre

Best actress in a musical

  • Jessie Buckley - Cabaret
  • Sutton Foster - Anything Goes
  • Beverley Knight - The Drifters Girl, Garrick Theatre
  • Stephanie McKeon - Frozen, Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Best actor in a supporting role

  • Seven actors who play the Tiger - Life of Pi
  • Dino Fetscher - The Normal Heart
  • Nathaniel Parker - The Mirror and the Light, Gielgud Theatre
  • Danny Lee Wynter - The Normal Heart

Best actress in a supporting role

  • Tori Burgess - Pride and Prejudice* (*Sort Of), Criterion Theatre
  • Liz Carr - The Normal Heart
  • Christina Gordon - Pride and Prejudice* (*Sort Of)
  • Akiya Henry - The Tragedy of Macbeth, Almeida Theatre

Best actress in a supporting role in a musical

  • Gabrielle Brooks - Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical
  • Victoria Hamilton-Barritt - Cinderella, Gillian Lynne Theatre
  • Carly Mercedes Dyer - Anything Goes
  • Liza Sadovy - Cabaret

Best actor in a supporting role in a musical

  • Clive Carter - Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Piccadilly Theatre
  • Hugh Coles - Back To The Future The Musical
  • Elliot Levey - Cabaret
  • Gary Wilmot - Anything Goes

Best new play

  • 2:22 A Ghost Story
  • Best of Enemies
  • Cruise, Duchess Theatre
  • Life of Pi

Best new musical

  • Back To The Future The Musical
  • The Drifters Girl
  • Frozen
  • Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical
  • Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best revival

  • A Number, The Old Vic
  • Constellations
  • The Normal Heart
  • The Tragedy of Macbeth

Best musical revival

  • Anything Goes
  • Cabaret
  • Spring Awakening, Almeida Theatre

Best entertainment or comedy play

  • The Choir of Man, Arts Theatre
  • Pantoland at the Palladium, The London Palladium
  • Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of)
  • The Shark Is Broken, Ambassadors Theatre

Best director

  • Rebecca Frecknall - Cabaret
  • Michael Longhurst - Constellations
  • Kathleen Marshall - Anything Goes
  • Max Webster - Life of Pi

Best new opera production

  • Bajazet, Royal Opera House
  • The Cunning Little Vixen, English National Opera at London Coliseum
  • Jenufa, Royal Opera House
  • Theodora, Royal Opera House

Outstanding achievement in opera

  • Christine Rice for her performance in 4/4, Royal Opera House
  • Takis for set and costume design of HMS Pinafore, English National Opera at London Coliseum
  • Peter Whelan and the Irish Baroque Orchestra for Bajazet

Best new dance production

  • Draw From Within, Rambert Dance Company at Sadler's Wells
  • Revisor, Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young/Kidd Pivot at Sadler's Wells
  • Transverse Orientation by Dimitris Papaioannou, Dance Umbrella and Sadler's Wells at Sadler's Wells

Outstanding achievement in dance

  • Acosta Danza for De Punta A Cabo in 100% Cuban at Sadler's Wells
  • Dancers for NDT2 Tour at Sadler's Wells
  • Arielle Smith for her choreography of Jolly Folly in Reunion by English National Ballet at Sadler's Wells
  • Edward Watson for his performance in The Dante Project at Royal Opera House

See the full list of nominees.