Sarah Snook’s Chicken and Nine More Olivier Moments

The musical about a movie star haunted by memories of his Hollywood glory days, starring Nicole Scherzinger, has swept the Olivier Awards set.

Sunset Boulevard scored seven wins, including one for the former Pussycat Dolls star for best actress in her musical.

Sarah Snook and Mark Gatiss were among the other actors awarded.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow and Operation Mincemeat won awards for best newcomer plays.

The BBC caught up with the stars at the ceremony and here are the ten best moments, from acceptance speeches to jokes to backstage quotes.

At the start of the evening, we said good luck to Succession star Sarah Snook and she said “chookas.”

Confused by what she was talking about, we met her in the winners’ room to find out the meaning.

“Chookas is the Australian way of saying good luck or break a leg and apparently it’s slang for chicken,” she explained.

“Back then, if your show was sold out, the production team would give you chickens to eat afterwards.”

Judging by the almost sold-out run of her solo production of The Picture Of Dorian Gray and the fact that she won Best Actress, it looks like Snook will be going home to plenty of chicken for dinner.

Scott told the BBC he was really proud that his solo version of Vanya was released in cinemas after its West End run.

“The geographic reach is big and it’s really important to make sure we don’t do things that are too London-centric,” he said.

The series won best revival, but Scott missed out on best actor, which went to Mark Gatiss.

On the green carpet, Happy Valley star James Norton told us how challenging his role in A Little Life was.

“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life and it was horrible at times,” he said.

The show is a stage adaptation of the hugely popular novel of the same name by Hanya Yanagihara and the unrelenting trauma presented in the play, which includes scenes of self-harm and sexual abuse, meant it was a difficult role to play.

“Doing 180 shows where I’m on stage for four hours and I’m diabetic meant it was the hardest thing but I’m grateful I did it,” he added.

Norton was nominated for Best Actor.

In the words of Hannah Waddingham’s nine-year-old daughter, tonight was all about “killing” and that’s what she did.

After hosting the awards in 2023, Waddingham was in great form again and treated the audience to a performance of Anything Goes.

She also admitted to feeling “giddy” at the thought of seeing Andrew Scott and was a fan of Nicole Scherzinger (just like us).

The actress also made three impressive outfit changes during the two-hour ceremony.

It’s all about dressing properly at awards shows and while many men opted for a classic black suit, David Tennant wasn’t one of them.

Sporting a dark green velvet suit with star-spangled sequins, he was sparking serious jacket envy – he even asked the BBC team if we were jealous of his outfit (which of course we were).

“David Tennant looks stunning in his sparkly outfit and I didn’t get the memo and now I really feel a bit boring,” Joseph Fiennes, nominated for best actor alongside Tennant, told the BBC on the carpet Green.

The American actress and singer who won the award for best actress in a musical told the BBC in the winners’ room that she felt like “an honorary Brit”.

“Every time I come to London I feel like I’m home away from home and I’m always welcomed with so much love,” she said.

One of the things the former Pussycat Dolls singer loves most in the UK is the roast dinner.

Hopefully she won’t miss the roast too much when she takes Sunset Boulevard to Broadway later this year.

In one of the toughest categories this year, Mark Gatiss faced off competition from Andrew Scott and James Norton to win Best Actor for his role in The Motive And The Cue.

Gatiss, who played John Gielgud, told the BBC that his favorite line from the play was when his character talked about the Tony Awards and said: “The whole thing about judging anything… vulgar.”

“The irony of the fact that I won this award for this role is not lost on me,” he said.

The team behind Stranger Things: The First Shadow told the BBC in the winners’ room that they were so excited to have won because “we always get nominated but never win anything.”

The play, which serves as a prequel to the Netflix series, won best new entertainment or comedy.

“I honestly can’t believe it, it’s an absolute thrill,” said writer Kate Trefry. So much so that when the prize was announced, she “dropped an entire glass of wine on myself.”

Former Strictly Come Dancing judge Dame Arlene Phillips has won her first Olivier Award at the age of 80.

Phillips received a standing ovation after winning the award for his choreography to the musical Guys & Dolls.

Phillips credited fellow choreographer James Cousins ​​for helping her by “crawling” on the floor to demonstrate the moves when she was having trouble with her knees.

She received a lifetime achievement award in 2023, but told the BBC it “means a lot more because it’s actually my work”.

The team from Operation Mincemeat, which won best new musical, have issued a warning to people coming to see Monday’s show. “Should we be reasonable and just have a few drinks or party big?” » asked the actors to the BBC. Before we had a chance to respond, they all unanimously agreed that only “a few drinks were ever on the agenda.” The cast of the series, which tells the true story of the secret mission that helped Britain win the Second World War, added: “Sorry if you’re coming to see the series on Monday, we may not be Not in the best way!”