Hairspray dominates top British theatre awards
Showbiz Desk

LONDON—“Hairspray”, a musical about a fat teenager obsessed with dancing, picked up four gongs at Sunday’s Laurence Olivier Awards, the top accolades for British theatre. The stage adaptation of John Waters’s hit 1988 film won Best New Musical and its 22-year-old star Leanne Jones scooped Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Tracy Turnblad.
Michael Ball, playing Jones’s on-stage mother, was named Best Actor in a Musical and co-star Tracie Bennett won Best Performance in a Supporting Role. The award for Best Actress in a play went to Kristin Scott Thomas for her role in “The Seagull”, and Chiwetel Ejiofor took home the Best Actor prize for “Othello”. Rupert Goold was named Best Director for “Macbeth”.
The awards, which have been running for more than 30 years, also paid tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber. He was given a special award for “his remarkable achievements over the last few decades as well as his recent role in bringing theatre to new audiences the world over.”
“Hairspray” had been nominated in an unprecedented 10 categories, but its four “Lauries” fell short of the all-time record of six set by “Nicholas Nickleby” in 1980. The musical tells the story of Tracy Turnblad, a dumpy teenager from Baltimore, north of Washington DC, whose heart is as big as her precious backcombed hair.
She becomes a star after fulfilling her dream of appearing on a television dance show. But dancing and her infatuation with the show’s love interest has a more political element, casting a humorous light on 1960s America and the integration of black and fat people.
Jones’s award caps a remarkable year for the young actress, whose role in “Hairspray” was her first as a professional, and who was working in a bank’s call centre just a year ago. After winning the award, Jones said: “This is what I dreamed of my whole life and I can’t believe what has happened to me in the last 12 months.” The awards, run by the Society of London Theatres (SLT) since 1976, are named after the celebrated British actor and director Laurence Olivier and honour new shows that have had at least 30 performances in the year.