Ashford, Dennehy, Jacobi, Krakowski, McTeer Receive Olivier Award Nominations

Tony Award winners Rob Ashford, Brian Dennehy, Derek Jacobi, Jane Krakowski, and Janet McTeer are among the nominees for this year’s Laurence Olivier Awards, which honor excellence in British theater. The awards will be presented in London on February 26.

The musical Billy Elliot leads the pack with nine nominations, including Best New Musical; it’s followed by the Donmar Warehouse revival of Guys and Dolls, which picked up eight noms including Outstanding Musical Production. All four of that show’s leads — Krakowski, film star Ewan McGregor, Jenna Russell, and Douglas Hodge — are nominated, as is Ashford, the show’s choreographer. Billy Elliot will compete against Acorn Antiques –The Musical and The Big Life, while Guys and Dolls is up against H.M.S. Pinafore.

The Best Play nominees are Coram Boy, Harvest Boy, On the Shore of the Wide World, and Paul; the Best New Comedy nominees are Glorious, Heroes, and Shoot the Crow. Blue Man Group, Ducktastic, and Something Wicked This Way Comes are the contenders for Best Entertainment.

The revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman will face off against Don Carlos, Hedda Gabler, and Mary Stuart. Each of those productions also picked up acting nominations: Dennehy and Clare Higgins for Salesman, Jacobi for Don Carlos, Eve Best and Benedict Cumberbatch for Hedda, McTeer and Harriet Walter for Mary Stuart.

Among the other nominated actors are Helen McCrory (As You Like It), Richard Griffiths (Heroes), Con O’Neill (Telstar), David Threlfall (Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me), and Juile Walters (Acorn Antiques).