Nominations announced for Olivier Awards 2025!

4th March 2025

Nominations announced for Olivier Awards 2025 with Mastercard 

Mastercard Best New Musical nominees are The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, MJ The Musical, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812 and Why Am I So Single?

·         The nominees for the Piper-Heidsieck Award for Best Musical Revival are Hello, Dolly!, Oliver! and Starlight Express, alongside Fiddler On The Roof which has garnered the most nods with 13 total nominations

·         Giant and The Years are tied for most nominated play with 5 nominations each

·         Nominees for Best Actress are Heather Agyepong, Lesley Manville, Rosie Sheehy, Meera Syal and Indira Varma, with Manville and Varma both nominated for playing the same role in different productions of Oedipus

·         Nominees for Best Actor include recent Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, alongside Billy Crudup, Paapa Essiedu, John Lithgow and Mark Strong, with first-time nominations for Brody, Crudup, Essiedu and Lithgow

he Mastercard Best New Musical nominees are the actor-musician led The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, currently playing at the Ambassadors Theatre, MJ The Musical at the Prince Edward Theatre, Donmar Warehouse’s Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812, and Marlow and Moss’ Why Am I So Single?. For the Piper-Heidsieck Award for Best Musical Revival, the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of Fiddler On The Roof, which returns later this year to the Barbican Theatre, is up against the dazzling London Palladium production of Hello, Dolly!. Cameron Mackintosh’s reconceived Oliver!, which transferred from Chichester Festival Theatre to the Gielgud Theatre late last year, and the new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express, currently playing at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre. 

Fiddler On The Roof is this year’s most nominated production, with 13 nominations including Best Musical Revival, the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director (Jordan Fein), Best Actor in a Musical (Adam Dannheisser), Best Actress in a Musical (Lara Pulver), Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical (Raphael Papo), and two nods for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical (Liv Andrusier and Beverley Klein). The show also received nominations for the White Light Award for Best Lighting Design (Aideen Malone), Gillian Lynne Award for Best Theatre Choreographer (Julia Cheng), d&b audiotechnik Award for Best Sound Design (Nick Lidster), and Outstanding Musical Contribution (Mark Aspinall), with Tom Scutt nominated for both the Blue-i Theatre Technology Award for Best Set Design, and Best Costume Design.  

Other musicals to receive multiple nominations include Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812 with 6 nominations, followed by The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and Oliver! with 4 nominations each. Oliver!’s creatives have had a stellar year, with Matthew Bourne receiving his 14^th Olivier Award nomination with a nod for Best Theatre Choreographer, and his second for a production of Oliver!, having been previously nominated in the same category for the 2010 revival; he has had a total of 9 previous wins, including a Special Award in 2019, making him the most celebrated winner in the history of the Awards. Lighting designer Paule Constable receives her 17^th nomination, this year nominated for her work on Oliver! alongside Ben Jacobs; she has had 4 previous wins. 

In the musical theatre performing categories, the Best Actor in a Musical nominees are completed by John Dagleish (for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, a decade after his win for Sunny Afternoon), Myles Frost (MJ The Musical, 2022 Tony Award-winner for the same role), Simon Lipkin (Oliver!) and Jamie Muscato (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812), alongside Fiddler On The Roof’s Adam Dannheisser. The Best Actress in a Musical nominees areChumisa Dornford-May (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812), Lauren Drew (Titanique), Clare Foster (The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button), Lara Pulver (Fiddler On The Roof) and Imelda Staunton (Hello, Dolly!), with Lara Pulver and Imelda Staunton nominated alongside one another following their respective wins for Gypsy in 2016. This is Imelda Staunton’s 14^th nomination and her 8^th in the Best Actress in a Musical category; she has had 4 wins. 

Andy Nyman (Hello, Dolly!), Layton Williams (Titanique) and Tom Xander(Mean Girls) join Raphael Papo (Fiddler On The Roof) in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical category, with Amy Di Bartolomeo (The Devil Wears Prada) and Maimuna Memon (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812) nominated alongside Liv Andrusier and Beverley Klein (Fiddler On The Roof) for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical. 

In a strong year for plays, there are 5 nominations for The Londoner Award for Best New Play, with nods for The Fear Of 13 at Donmar Warehouse, the Royal Court’s Giant, which returns to play at the Harold Pinter Theatre in April, the RSC’s Kyoto, playing at @sohoplace until May, Bush Theatre’s Shifters, which transferred to the Duke of York’s Theatre last summer, and The Years, created at the Almeida Theatre and currently playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre.  

Giant and The Years are tied for most nominated play with 5 each, including Best Director nods for Eline Arbo (The Years) and Nicholas Hytner (Giant) respectively. John Lithgow receives a first-time Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor for his turn as Roald Dahl in Giant, whilst Elliot Levey receives a third Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Gina McKeereceives a Best Actress in a Supporting Role nomination for The Years, withRomola Garai double-nominated in the same category for her roles in both Giant and The Years.  

Completing the nominations in the performing categories are: recent Oscar-winner Adrien Brody (The Fear Of 13), Billy Crudup (Harry Clarke), Paapa Essiedu (Death Of England: Delroy) and Mark Strong (Oedipus, Wyndham’s Theatre), joining John Lithgow (Giant) in the Best Actor category; Heather Agyepong (Shifters), Rosie Sheehy (Machinal) and Meera Syal (A Tupperware Of Ashes), alongside Lesley Manville (Oedipus, Wyndham’s Theatre) and Indira Varma (Oedipus, The Old Vic) for Best Actress; Jorge Bosch (Kyoto), Tom Edden (Waiting For Godot) and Ben Whishaw (Bluets), alongside Elliot Levey(Giant) for Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Sharon D. Clarke (The Importance Of Being Earnest), alongside Romola Garai (Giant and The Years) and Gina McKee (The Years) for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. 

The Cunard Best Revival category sees fresh interpretations of classics take the spotlight, with nominations for the National Theatre’s The Importance Of Being Earnest, The Old Vic’s Machinal, the Wyndham’s Theatre production ofOedipus, and Waiting For Godot at Theatre Royal Haymarket. In true Greek-tragedian style, the Wyndham’s Theatre production of Oedipus goes head-to-head with a second adaptation at The Old Vic in the Best Actress category, withLesley Manville (Wyndham’s Theatre) and Indira Varma (The Old Vic) both nominated for playing the same role. 

A diverse array of productions makeup the nominations for the Noël Coward Award for Best New Entertainment or Comedy Play, with the National Theatre’s Ballet Shoes, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s Inside No. 9 Stage/Fright, Spirited Away at the London Coliseum and Titanique, currently playing at the Criterion Theatre, all in contention for the accolade. 

The Olivier Awards nominations were announced from midday, Tuesday 4 March on Official London Theatre’s YouTube channel. Further details of the ceremony, taking place on Sunday 6 April at the Royal Albert Hall, will be announced soon.  

Public tickets for the Olivier Awards 2025 are on sale exclusively to Mastercard cardholders via priceless.com.