Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Contribution

The Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Contribution is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.

Laurence Olivier Award
for Best Outstanding Musical Contribution
Location England
Presented bySociety of London Theatre
First awarded2014
Currently held byAlan Williams for Sunset Boulevard (2024)
Websiteofficiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/ Edit this at Wikidata

This award was introduced in 2014 as Outstanding Achievement in Music, and was renamed to Best Original Score or New Orchestrations from 2020 to 2023.

Since 2024, the award was given its current name and reconfigured to honor librettists (book, lyrics and score) alongside Best New Musical, while other music elements (arrangements, music direction, music supervision and orchestrations) honored in this category.[1]

Winners and nominees

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2010s

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Year Production Recipient
2014
Once Martin Lowe, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
Merrily We Roll Along The Orchestra
The Book of Mormon Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone
The Scottsboro Boys John Kander and Fred Ebb
2015
Sunny Afternoon Ray Davies
Beautiful The Orchestra
Here Lies Love David Byrne and Fatboy Slim
Memphis David Bryan, Joe DiPietro, Tim Sutton and the Band
2016
In the Heights Lin-Manuel Miranda
Bend It Like Beckham Howard Goodall, Charles Hart and Kuljit Bhamra
Farinelli and the King Claire van Kampen, the Orchestra, Iestyn Davies and the Farinelli Singers
Kinky Boots Cyndi Lauper and Stephen Oremus
2017
School of Rock Three children's bands who play live every night
Dreamgirls Henry Krieger
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Imogen Heap
Jesus Christ Superstar The Band and Company
2018
Hamilton Alex Lacamoire and Lin-Manuel Miranda
Everybody's Talking About Jamie Dan Gillespie Sells
Follies The orchestra, under the musical supervision of Nicholas Skilbeck and music director Nigel Lilley
Girl from the North Country Bob Dylan and Simon Hale
2019
Come from Away David Hein, Irene Sankoff, Ian Eisendrath, August Eriksmoen, Alan Berry and the Band
A Monster Calls Benji Bower and Will Bower
Fun Home Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori
The Inheritance Paul Englishby
Six Joe Beighton, Tom Curran, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss

2020s

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Year Production Recipient
2020
Dear Evan Hansen Alex Lacamoire, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul
Waitress Sara Bareilles
Fiddler on the Roof Jason Carr
& Juliet Dominic Fallacaro and Bill Sherman
Amélie Barnaby Race
2021 Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic[A]
2022[A]
Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical Simon Hale (orchestrations)
Anything Goes David Chase, Bill Elliott and Rob Fisher (orchestrations)
Back to the Future: The Musical Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard (music and lyrics), Bryan Crook and Ethan Popp (orchestrations)
Life of Pi Andrew T. Mackay (music)
2023
Standing at the Sky's Edge Richard Hawley (music and lyrics), Tom Deering (orchestrations)
The Band's Visit David Yazbek (music and lyrics), Jamshied Sharifi (orchestrations), Andrea Grody (additional arrangements)
My Neighbour Totoro Joe Hisaishi (music), Will Stuart (orchestrations and arrangements)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! Daniel Kluger (orchestrations and arrangements), Nathan Koci (additional vocal arrangements)
2024
Sunset Boulevard Alan Williams (music direction and music supervision)
Guys and Dolls Tom Brady (arrangements and music supervision), Charlie Rosen (orchestrations)
Just for One Day Matt Brind (arrangements, music supervision, and orchestrations)
Operation Mincemeat Joe Bunker (music direction), Steve Sidwell (orchestrations)
  1. ^ a b Due to late March 2020[2] to late July 2021[3] closing of London theatre productions during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the 2022 awards recognise productions that launched anytime from February 2020 to February 2022[4]


References

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  1. ^ "Olivier Awards 2024 with Mastercard nominations announced". Official London Theatre. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  2. ^ Johnson, The Rt Hon Boris, MP (2020-03-23). Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 23 March 2020 [transcript] (Speech). Prime Minister's Televised Speech to the United Kingdom. www.gov.uk. London, UK. Archived from the original on 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2022-04-25. From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction — you must stay at home.{{cite speech}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ McPhee, Ryan (2021-06-14). "U.K. Postpones Reopening Roadmap; West End Theatres Will No Longer Reopen in Full in June". Playbill. Archived from the original on 2021-06-14. Retrieved 2022-04-25. Step 4 of the roadmap will allow productions to play without capacity restrictions. June 21 was the goal; now, the government is eyeing July 19.
  4. ^ Thomas, Sophie (2022-03-08). "Everything you need to know about the Olivier Awards". londontheatre.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2022-04-25. Any new production that opened between 19 Feb. 2020 to 22 Feb. 2022 are eligible for categories in the 2022 Olivier Awards. With two years worth of shows set for honours in one year's ceremony, the 2022 Olivier Awards will prove tougher competition than before.
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