Hollywood stars and hit play about Gareth Southgate lead Olivier nominations

Hollywood stars, a Pussycat Doll and a hit play about Gareth Southgate lead the nominations for this year’s Olivier Awards.

Sarah Jessica Parker, Sarah Snook and Nicole Scherzinger are among the 2024 nominees, along with James Norton, Andrew Scott and David Tennant.

Singer and Pussycat Dolls star Scherzinger has been nominated for her starring role in the revival of Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Sunset Boulevard, which leads the Olivier Awards charge with 11 nominations in total.

Dear England, which tells the story of Southgate and the men’s football team’s journey through the 2022 World Cup, follows with nine nods – including best new play and best actor for Joseph Fiennes’s portrayal of the manager.

The sports drama, which is a fictionalised account of the struggles and successes of the team, also received nods for Gina McKee’s portrayal of team psychologist Pippa Grange and Will Close’s turn as Harry Kane in the supporting actress and actor categories respectively.

Fiennes, star of TV series The Handmaid’s Tale, faces competition for the best actor prize from Sherlock star Mark Gatiss for The Motive And The Cue, Happy Valley’s Norton for his role in A Little Life, Doctor Who star David Tennant for Macbeth, and All Of Us Strangers actor Andrew Scott for Vanya.

Sex And The City star Parker is nominated for Plaza Suite, in which she performs alongside her husband Matthew Broderick, and leads a star-studded line-up in the best actress category. Succession actress Snook is also in the running for her performance in The Picture Of Dorian Gray – a one-woman adaptation in which she plays 26 roles.

Cilla star Sheridan Smith is also nominated for Shirley Valentine, The Fall actress Laura Donnelly for The Hills Of California, and Hotel Rwanda actress Sophie Okonedo for Medea.

US singer Scherzinger, who plays a famed Hollywood star fading and spiralling into mental illness in Sunset Boulevard, is up against Natasha Hodgson for Operation Mincemeat, Caissie Levy for Next To Normal, and Celebrity Big Brother star Marisha Wallace for Guys & Dolls, for the best actress in a musical gong.

Her Sunset Boulevard co-star Tom Francis is up for the male prize, which also features nominations for David Cumming for Operation Mincemeat, Daniel Mays for Guys & Dolls, and Charlie Stemp for Crazy For You.

The production is up against Tim Minchin’s Groundhog Day, Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown, and Frank Loesser’s Guys & Dolls in the best musical revival category.

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The late Haydn Gwynne receives a posthumous nomination for best actress in a supporting role for her performance in When Winston Went To War With The Wireless.

Across all the nominations, the National Theatre garnered the most nods through several of its productions, with Dear England, The Motive And The Cue, Till The Stars Come Down and The Effect all recognised across multiple categories.

Organisers said the competition for nominations had been “fierce during an outstanding year for theatre, with significantly more productions than last year”.

The annual awards ceremony takes place on Sunday 14 April at the Royal Albert Hall.

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