Opera celebrated at Olivier Awards 2014

14 April 2014, 11:14 | Updated: 14 April 2014, 11:50

English Touring Opera and the Royal Opera House were honoured last night at the 2014 Olivier Awards, held at London's Covent Garden.

The 38th Laurence Olivier Awards took place last night at London's Royal Opera House, recognising the achievements in the worlds of opera, theatre and dance.

Stefan Herheim's imaginative new staging of Verdi's Les Vêpres Siciliennes at the Royal Opera House picked up the award for Best New Opera, in a category against English National Opera's Wozzeck, and David Bruce's The Firework Maker's Daughter at the Linbury Studio Theatre.

English Touring Opera's touring productions at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House, were recognised in the Outstanding Achievement in Opera category, beating the likes of Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez in their performance of La Donna Del Lago, and Plácido Domingo in Nabucco, both at the Royal Opera House.

In the world of dance, the Best New Dance Production went to Eastman - Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui & Sadler’s Wells for Puz/zle at Sadler’s Wells, and the Outstanding Achievement in Dance Michael Hulls for his body of lighting work including Ballet Boyz – The Talent at Sadler’s Wells.

The night's other big winners included Rory Kinnear, who picked up the Best Actor Award for his Othello at the National Theatre, alongside Best Actress Lesley Manville for Ghosts at the Almeida Theatre. The Book of Mormon was the big winner of the evening, picking up four awards in total: as well as the musical as a whole winning the Best New Musical Award, the Best Actor in a Musical went to Gavin Creel, with co-star Stephen Ashfield picking up Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical. Best Theatre Choreographer went to Casey Nicholaw.