Often at an awards ceremony, the best moments come in impromptu, off-the-cuff remarks. Best Actor nominee Mark Rylance (
Boeing-Boeing) remarking to me on the way into the 2008 Olivier Awards, for instance, that the Welsh accent that defined his performance on theWest End in the 1960s farce would inevitably have to be adapted for the forthcoming Broadway production, where the Englishman is surrounded by an American cast. Or Andrew Lloyd Webber surveying the banquet hall prior to the show and letting it be known that Shirley Bassey is the only person in his experience who has ever successfully worked that room: there's another gauntlet thrown down to the night's emcee, Richard E. Grant.
Following the event, Broadway.com snagged a good share of the night’s winners to get their further, spontaneous reactions to life, art, and the pursuit of the London theater’s biggest prize.
Kristin Scott Thomas
|
Kristin Scott Thomas, Best Actress in a Play winner for
The Seagull:
“You know, I never win anything. I won Best Newcomer a couple of times and Best Supporting a couple of times but I’m really, really proud of this; it’s fantastic. This is the thing I must do in New York; if I’m going to do anything in New York, I must play Arkadina—but now you’re telling me Dianne [Wiest] is doing it, and Dianne must be absolutely amazing. It’s not a question of who’s more amazing; that doesn’t really matter. You can’t analyze each role like that. It’s the production that we have—the Ian Rickson production—that is so exquisite. I think it’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime productions. Like when you see something by Robert Lepage, you know you’re going to remember it all of your life, and I think this is one of those things. You also know that it’s something where if you don’t do it, you’ll regret it the rest of your life. It’s Chekhov. Chekhov is just—I would have been one of those women hammering at his door if I’d been born in 1860 saying, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’”
Michael Ball, Best Actor in a Musical winner for Hairspray:
“Oh, I am like a dog with two dicks. I am thrilled to bits. I’m thrilled it won best musical—I absolutely believe it deserved that—and I’m delighted for Leanne
Michael Ball
|
[Jones] Tracie [Bennett] but mostly for me [
laughs]. I can’t tell you how much this means to me. I honestly thought I wasn’t going to get it—honestly, truly. Everyone says, ‘Oh, yeah. He’s just saying it, but truthfully I didn’t think I was. Bertie Carvel’s performance [in
Parade] was amazing. So was Henry Goodman’s [in
Fiddler on the Roof], and Bob [Martin] did an incredible job with
Drowsy. It was an incredibly strong group to be part of. And you know Edna’s not a huge role, either. It’s not like I’m on stage all the time, but it is the best role ever. If you play it truthfully, then the audience will love her, and that’s what you want. I’ve never been nominated before, and truthfully, I never thought I would be, and this is why I never thought I was going to win, and so for the legitimate business to give you the nod means the world. It really does.”
Leanne Jones
|
Leanne Jones, Best Actress in a Musical winner for Hairspray:
“It could have been a Hairspray year or a Parade year—it could have been light or serious, you know. I didn’t really know what was going to happen. The other two [awards she has won] I’d been told before; I expected them, whereas tonight was the real awards ceremony where they open the envelope and you don’t know what they’re going to say and then you hear the L of Leanne and you’re like [she squeals]—it was mental, absolutely mental. I was shaking. The whole thing’s been a dream come true and very surreal.”
Rory Kinnear, Best Supporting Performance in a Play winner for The Man of Mode:
“As I was waiting, I thought Vicki [Mortimer] had won for costumes, so I thought, Well, at least I can go home happy because someone I like has won, and so I wasn’t worried. And then Olivia [Williams] said my name, and I thought, Oh Jesus, I’ll take a big swig of water, and I sort of downed a big glass of water and as I stood up, I thought, ‘Oh fuck—that was wine! It wasn’t so much hearing my name, because Olivia said, “for his understated performance,” and I thought if anyone was a show-off, it was going to be me. [laughs]. I tend to usually find I take life in my stride but actually walking up there, I was like, ‘This is awesome!’ So I was glad that I thought of a few things to say.”
Tracie Bennett
|
Tracie Bennett, Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for Hairspray:
“I’ll tell you why this is different [from her previous win in the same category in 1995 for She Loves Me]. When you look at Penny, the role, and the other roles, I feel like, as Velma, I’m supporting the support who do the roles, so I couldn’t quite get that I was in this category anyway. I thought they might feel sorry for my age—and I totally thought Ellie [co-star Elinor Collett] or Shaun Escoffery would get it. That is the honest-to-God’s truth because I thought I was the cameo, the underdog. Before, with She Loves Me, I thought I stood a one-in-four chance, because I knew the level of role it was, but I totally thought this was cameo, so I was like, ‘You know what? Give it up to the kids—have a nice time with your mum.’”
Tom Hiddleston, Best Newcomer winner for Cymbeline [he was nominated against himself, for Othello]:
“At first I was just bowled over when I heard about the nominations—not once but twice: I didn’t even know there was a Newcomer Award. You don’t even dare dream about that sort of thing, and then two come along at once and I thought, ‘Well done; you’re already a winner.’ Then Chiwetel came in when we were doing Othello and said, ‘Now look what you’ve gone and done, you’ve split the vote,’ [laughs] and I was like, I guess I have. I didn’t know how these things are decided, and I was convinced tonight. I mean, I was at drama school with [fellow nominee] David Dawson. We were in the same year [at RADA], so I know what he can do; I know how good he is. And I’d heard so many good things about Stephen [Wight], and he’d won the Evening Standard Newcomer, so I thought, ‘Well, it’s going to be David or Stephen,’ and then when they said it. It was just a thrill. I could just feel my heartbeat going. And I thought, if I have to say anything, I have to say thank you to those two groups of people [from both Othello and Cymbeline] because it’s been the most extraordinary year. It really has.”
Rupert Goold
|
Rupert Goold, Best Director winner for Macbeth:
“This is my first Oliviers; it was only three years ago I was at a regional theater, so it’s been a roller-coaster ride. I didn’t know anything in advance tonight, so I didn’t prepare a word. To be honest, I shouldn’t really say this, but as a director, I was more proud of The Tempest than I was of Macbeth, but Macbeth was the one that built momentum, the box office builds up, and boom, that’s it. And I guess it’s timing, as well. Patrick [Stewart]’s very savvy about this. He knows if you go to Broadway now, it’s good for Tonys; you do something in January and February, no one remembers it. Obviously, because my wife’s in the show, I was very kind of take it or leave it about whether we went to Broadway. I didn’t understand what Broadway meant—it’s huge out there, isn’t it? The Harvey at BAM is the most beautiful theater, and I was, like, listen, we’ve done New York, it’s gorgeous, but Broadway’s a whole different thing and Patrick was always focused on that.”