Almost more eagerly anticipated than the announcement of the winners themselves, the revealing of the 2012 Olivier nominees had Theatreland aquiver with nerves.
Who would make it onto London theatre’s shortlist of the finest performances, designs and theatrical work of 2012?
A cast of producers, press and guests decamped to the May Fair Hotel to discover exactly that as theatre fans huddled around PCs, laptops and tablets to watch the live stream or follow on Twitter.
The calmest heads in the hotel’s auditorium, though, were those of Jersey Boys’ Ryan Molloy, Wicked’s Julie Legrand, Les Misérables’ Caroline Sheen and Billy Elliot The Musical’s Harris Beattie, Kaine Ward, Ryan Collinson, Adam Vesperman, whose shows had already made it onto the shortlist of the BBC Radio 2 Olivier Audience Award.
Photos by Joel Devlin.