The nominations for the 2015 Olivier Awards have recently been announced, following a year of the Olivier panel viewing huge numbers of performances across the board.
The nominees for outstanding achievement in dance are Sadler’s Wells’ Associate Artist Crystal Pite for her choreography in The Associates, The Tempest Replica and Polaris – also at Sadler’s Wells – Christopher Wheeldon for The Winter’s Tale at the Royal Opera House, Rocío Molina for Bosque Ardora at the Barbican and The Elders Project, part of the Elixir Festival, also performed at Sadler’s Wells. The Elders Project, one of its kind, is a deserved nominee, having brought ex-professional dancers back to the stage in a special performance.
The nominees for best new dance production are Peeping Tom’s 32 rue Vandenbranden at the Barbican, Mats Ek’s Juliet and Romeo at Sadler’s Wells and James Thierrée’s Tabac Rouge at Sadler’s Wells. Here there are a mixture of nominees, with Mats Ek the only name with a huge grounding of history in contemporary dance. In the best theatre choreographer category, the nominees are Jerry Mitchell for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels The Musical, Annie-B Parsons for Here Lies Love, Josh Prince for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical and Sergio Trujillo for Memphis the Musical. These new musicals are demonstrative of the West End trend to keep theatres fresh, with a swift turnover of productions generally.
Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace’s Dance ‘Til Dawn and the vaudeville cabaret show La Soirée are also among the Olivier nominations, for Best Entertainment and Family category. Whilst the productions may not fully fit in this category, it is encouraging to see recognition of the promise of new work. The nominees for the This Morning audience award are Billy Elliot the Musical, Jersey Boys, Matilda The Musical and Wicked.
For a full list of nominees, visit olivierawards.com.