Hairspray Triumphs At The Olivier Awards 2008

Only metres away from last night Empire Awards, were theatre's Olivier Awards, at Grosvenor House. As you can imagine there was a lot of intermingling, and you'll spot some of those familiar from the film awards posts amongst the theatre darlings. It feels like yesterday we announced the Hairspray-dominated nominees! James McAvoy's wife Anne Marie Duff looked gorgeous in peach, and newcomer Leanne Jones was beaming after her win for playing Traci Turnblad in the excellent Hairspray.

The revived musical had a great night, scooping four awards including Best New Musical, Best Actor in a Musical (Michael Ball) and Best Performance In A Supporting Role (Tracie Bennett). Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kristin Scott Thomas also won at the ceremony hosted by Richard E Grant. To see more photos as well as a full list of winners, just read more BEST NEW MUSICAL Hairspray book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman BEST NEW PLAY A Disappearing Number by Simon McBurney at the Barbican BEST NEW COMEDY Rafta Rafta by Ayub Khan-Din at the Lyttelton BEST DIRECTOR Rupert Goold for Macbeth at the Gielgud BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY Chiwetel Ejiofor for Othello at the Donmar Warehouse BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY Kristin Scott Thomas for The Seagull at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Leanne Jones for Hairspray at the Shaftesbury BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Michael Ball for Hairspray at the Shaftesbury BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL Tracie Bennett for Hairspray at the Shaftesbury BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Rory Kinnear for The Man of Mode at the Olivier BEST NEWCOMER IN A PLAY Tom Hiddleston for Cymbeline at the Barbican BEST THEATRE CHOREOGRAPHER Toby Sedgwick for War Horse at the Olivier BEST NEW OPERA PRODUCTION The Royal Opera's Pelleas et Melisande at the Royal Opera House OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN OPERA Natalie Dessay for her performance in La Fille du Regiment at the Royal Opera House BEST REVIVAL Saint Joan by Bernard Shaw at the Olivier BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL The Magic Flute - Impempe Yomlingo adapted from Mozart by Mark Dornford-May, words and music by Mandisi Dyantyis, Mbali Kgosidintsi, Pauline Malefane and Nolufefe Mtshabe at the Young Vic BEST COSTUME DESIGN The Man of Mode designed by Vicki Mortimer at the Olivier BEST SET DESIGN War Horse designed by Rae Smith and Handspring Puppet Company at the Olivier BEST LIGHTING DESIGN Macbeth designed by Howard Harrison at the Gielgud BEST SOUND DESIGN Saint Joan designed by Paul Arditti with music by Jocelyn Pook at the Olivier BEST NEW DANCE PRODUCTION The Royal Ballet's Jewels at the Royal Opera House OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE The Royal Ballet Company for their performances in Jewels OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT OR PERFORMANCE IN AN AFFILIATE THEATRE Gone Too Far at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court The Society's SPECIAL AWARD Andrew Lloyd Webber