Olivier Awards 2022: Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club wins seven awards

The 2022 Olivier Awards return to the Royal Albert Hall for a star-studded night where musical revival Cabaret takes home top prizes.

Olivier Awards 2022: Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club wins seven awards

The production of Cabaret won seven out of eleven categories they were nominated for at the ceremony on Sunday, an event held at the Royal Albert Hall in London for the first time in three years. In-person stars took to the green carpet to celebrate all things theatre;  a moment for the theatre community to reunite after the pandemic’s disruption. This year’s Oliviers were hosted by comedian Jason Manford who made jokes about Will Smith’s Oscar slap. Manford said: “I will very much be keeping your wives’ names out of my chuffing mouth”. 

Cabaret took home all four musical acting awards: Eddie Redmayne (as the Emcee) won his second Olivier award and Jessie Buckley won her first (as Sally Bowles) in leading roles, and Elliot Levey and Liza Sadovy as supporting characters. The musical won best revival against Spring Awakening (at Almeida Theatre) and Anything Goes (at the Barbican). Rebecca Frecknall was named the best director, and Nick Lidster won best sound design. 

Following Cabaret is the stage production Life of Pi, which originated at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in 2019. Due to the pandemic, its West End transfer was delayed. Life of Pi won five awards including: best new play, best set design (for Tim Hatley’s design, and then Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell’s puppets), and best lighting design (for Tim Lutkin and Andrzej Goulding). The best supporting actor prize was shared by seven actors who play the show’s tiger, including: Fred Davis, Daisy Franks, Romina Hytten, Tom Larkin, Habib Nasib Nader, Tom Stacy and Scarlet Wilderink. The seven actors control a different part of the puppet, one provides the puppet’s voice and three pairs are responsible for the tiger’s head, heart and hind. 

Here’s the full winners’ list:

NEW PLAY

WINNER - Life of Pi


NEW MUSICAL

WINNER - Back To The Future - The Musical


NEW COMEDY

WINNER - Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of)


FAMILY SHOW

WINNER - Wolf Witch Giant Fairy


REVIVAL

WINNER - Cabaret


ACTRESS-PLAY

WINNER - Sheila Atim, Constellations


ACTOR-PLAY

WINNER - Hiran Abeysekera, Life of Pi


ACTRESS-MUSICAL

WINNER - Jessie Buckley, Cabaret


ACTOR-MUSICAL

WINNER - Eddie Redmayne, Cabaret


SUPPORTING ACTOR-PLAY

WINNER - Fred Davis, Daisy Franks, Romina Hytten, Tom Larkin, Habib Nasib Nader, Tom Stacy and Scarlet Wilderink, Life of Pi


SUPPORTING ACTRESS-PLAY

WINNER - Liz Carr, The Normal Heart


SUPPORTING ACTRESS-MUSICAL

WINNER - Liza Sadovy, Cabaret


SUPPORTING ACTOR-MUSICAL

WINNER - Elliot Levey, Cabaret


DIRECTOR

WINNER - Rebecca Frecknall, Cabaret


ORIGINAL SCORE OR NEW ORCHESTRATIONS

WINNER - Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical


THEATRE CHOREOGRAPHY

WINNER - Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes


NEW OPERA PRODUCTION

WINNER - Jenůfa, Royal Opera


OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN OPERA

WINNER - Peter Whelan and the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Bajazet


NEW DANCE PRODUCTION

WINNER - Revisor


OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE

WINNER - Choreographer Arielle Smith, Jolly Folly


SET DESIGN

WINNER - Life of Pi


LIGHTING DESIGN

WINNER - Life of Pi


SOUND DESIGN

WINNER - Cabaret


COSTUME DESIGN

WINNER - Moulin Rouge! The Musical


SET DESIGN

WINNER - Old Bridge, at the Bush Theatre

Header Image Credit: "Royal Albert Hall" by St Stev is marked with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Author

Flo Cornall

Flo Cornall Kickstart

Flo Cornall is an English Language & Linguistics graduate who is a self-acclaimed film enthusiast, critic, and writer. She attributes her film taste with her star sign (Gemini) which means she'll watch anything from Cheetah Girls 2 to Twelve Angry Men. From her background in performance poetry, she is a big believer that great artists aren't born but made and is passionate about making the arts sector more inclusive. Flo is a recipient of PA Media's Future of Journalism Fellowship award, a former BBC New Creative and is part of The Guardian's BAME All-Editorial scheme.

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