Musicals Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Merrily We Roll Along lead Oliviers nominations

Musicals Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Merrily We Roll Along have secured the most number of Olivier Award nominations this year for a singular production.

The two shows have been recognised with seven nominations each and are closely followed by musicals Once, The Book of Mormon and The Scottsboro Boys, which all got six nominations each.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane received nods for best actor in a musical – for Douglas Hodge’s performance – and for best new musical. Nigel Planer was also nominated for best supporting performance in a musical.

Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter Theatre picked up nominations including for best director and best actress in a musical, owing to Maria Friedman’s direction and Jenna Russell’s performance, respectively. The show was also nominated for best musical revival.

In this year’s new category of outstanding achievement in music, Merrily We Roll Along has been nominated for its orchestra. It will compete with The Book of Mormon – for book music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone – and with The Scottsboro Boys for music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb. Also in the running for this prize is Once for Martin Lowe’s composition and arrangements and music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.

The Almeida Theatre has secured 10 nominations, owing to its revival of Ghosts, starring Lesley Manville who was recognised in the best actress category, a new stage adaptation of 1984, and new play Chimerica – both nominated for best new play.

In the best actor in a musical group, The Book of Mormon took half the nominations for Gavin Creel and Jared Gertner’s performances. They will compete with Hodge and Kyle Scatliffe for The Scottsboro Boys.

The Michael Grandage season at the Noel Coward Theatre picked up four nominations in the acting categories. Judi Dench is in the running for best actress for Peter and Alice, while Jude Law will compete for best actor for his role in Henry V. In the same production, Ron Cook has been nominated for best supporting actor, and Katherine Kingsley’s performance in A Midsummer Night’s Dream has earned her a best supporting actress nomination.

Meanwhile, women dominated the best director category, with Friedman up against Susan Stroman for The Scottsboro Boys at the Young Vic and Lyndsey Turner for Chimerica. Richard Eyre joins them for Ghosts.

This year has also seen the return of the award for best new comedy, with nominations for The Duck House by Dan Patterson and Colin Swash, the Sheffield Theatres’ production of The Full Monty, Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, starring Stephen Mangan and Matthew Macfadyen, and The Same Deep Water As Me by Nick Payne.

Winners of the Olivier Awards 2014 will be announced at a ceremony at the Royal Opera House on April 13. The nominations in full are listed here.

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