'Hairspray' snags four British honors

By The Associated Press

Published: March 14, 2008

LONDON — The big-hearted musical "Hairspray” was head and shoulders above the competition Sunday at London's Laurence Olivier theater awards, taking four major prizes including best musical.

Newcomer Leanne Jones was named best actress in a musical for her performance as Tracy Turnblad, a teenager who dreams of dancing away the racial divide in 1960s Baltimore.

Jones, 22, graduated from stage school last year and was working in a bank call center when she got the part, her first professional role.

"This is what I've dreamed of my whole life,” Jones said. "I can't believe what has happened to me in the last 12 months.

"This feels really, really magical.”

Stage star Michael Ball won the prize for best actor in a musical for his cross-dressing turn as Tracy's mother, Edna — a role played by Harvey Fierstein on Broadway and John Travolta in last year's film adaptation.

"I was actually hoping for best actress,” Ball said.

Tracie Bennett was named best supporting performer in a musical for playing scheming TV producer Velma Von Tussle in "Hairspray.”

"Hairspray” opened in London in October, five years after the musical adaptation of John Waters' 1988 cult film made its Broadway debut. It went on to win eight Tony Awards, and has been a critical and popular hit in London as well.

The Olivier awards, Britain's equivalent of the Tonys, honor achievements in London theater, musicals, dance and opera. Actor Richard E. Grant hosted the glitzy awards ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel.

Rising movie star Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Dirty Pretty Things,” "American Gangster”) was named best actor for "Othello,” beating Ian McKellen for "King Lear” and Patrick Stewart for "Macbeth.”

Ejiofor's performance in Shakespeare's tragedy at the 250-seat Donmar Warehouse — opposite Ewan McGregor as the villainous Iago — was one of the hottest tickets in town this winter. The show sold out its three-month run in a single day.

Kristin Scott Thomas was named best actress for her role in Anton Chekhov's play "The Seagull” at the Royal Court Theatre.

"I'm so proud of this you can't even imagine,” Scott Thomas said backstage, clutching her Olivier statuette.

"It will be cherished and polished.”

Versatile actor Rory Kinnear was named best supporting performer for "The Man of Mode.”

Rupert Goold took the directing prize for his production of "Macbeth,” which featured "Star Trek” and "X-Men” star Stewart in a Soviet-inspired production of Shakespeare's Scottish tragedy.

"A Disappearing Number,” theater company Complicite's playful take on the philosophy of mathematics, was named best new play. "Rafta, Rafta,” Ayub Khan-Din's warmhearted family saga set in an Indian community in northern England, took the prize for best new comedy.

Composer-impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber received a special award for his achievements over the past decades and for his recent role in bringing theater to new audiences worldwide.

The 59-year-old composer of "Phantom of the Opera” and "Evita” has scored a major success in recent years by using reality-TV shows to cast the lead roles in West End revivals of "The Sound of Music” and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

Last year, Lloyd Webber's fortune was valued at $1.5 billion by the Sunday Times' Rich List.

"This is what I've dreamed of my whole life. I can't believe what has happened to me in the last 12 months.”

Leanne Jones, star of "Hairspray”

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