The hip-hop musical revelation Hamilton, the brainchild of Lin-Manuel Miranda has broken Olivier award history, clocking up an unprecedented thirteen nominations.
The West End show, which uses a mixture of rap and hip-hop to convey the story of the American founding father Alexander Hamilton (played by Jamael Westman in London) received two more nominations than Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which picked up eleven nominations last year and Hairspray, which picked up the same amount in 2008.
Westman has received a nomination for the Best Actor in a Musical category, alongside co-star Giles Terera who plays Aaron Burr, Hamilton’s nemesis.
Elsewhere, The Ferryman notched eight nominations, including Best New Play, whilst the National Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies gathered ten nominations, including Best Musical Revival, with Follies‘ Imelda Staunton and Janie Dee among those battling out for Best Actress in a Musical.
Staunton will be looking to add a fifth Olivier award to her collection, but also faces competition from Lesley Manville who follows up her Oscar nomination for Phantom Thread with a nomination for her performance in Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Andrew Scott’s performance in Hamlet at the Almeida sees him with a shot at the coveted Best Actor accolade, but he faces competition from Bryan Cranston (Network) and Andrew Garfield (Angels in America) to name but a pair.
Hamilton meanwhile competes with Girl from the North Country, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, An American in Paris and Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein for Best New Musical.
The Oliviers are billed as Britain’s most prestigious theatrical awards since their establishment in 1976 by the Society of London Theatre. Catherine Tate will host their year’s awards at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 8th April. You can view the complete list of all nominations here, or check out the full list of announcements below:
