‘Curious Incident’ Dominates at Olivier Awards

Joel Ryan/Invision, via Associated Press Simon Stephens, left, with Mark Haddon, who wrote the 2003 novel “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”

The London stage adaptation of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” based on the best-selling novel from 2003, has won seven Olivier Awards - Britian’s equivalent of the Tony Awards - tying the record set last year by the musical “Matilda.”

At the annual awards ceremony on Sunday night, “Curious Incident” - which some producers are eyeing for Broadway - won for best play (adapted by Simon Stephens), best actor (Luke Treadaway), best director (Marianne Elliott), best supporting actress (Nicola Walker), and lighting, set, and sound design.

Another play that may be heading to Broadway soon, “The Audience,” drew Olivier honors for lead actress Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II (the same character that won her an Academy Award) and supporting actor Richard McCabe as Prime Minister Harold Wilson. “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” starring Laurie Metcalf and David Suchet, won for best play revival.

As for musicals, an adaptation of “Top Hat,” with a score by Irving Berlin, won the Olivier for best new musical. Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton won for best actor and actress as the leads in “Sweeney Todd,” which itself won for best musical revival. And Leigh Zimmerman won the Olivier for best supporting performance in a musical for “A Chorus Line” (this category is not divided by gender).

“The Audience” will be broadcast at movie theaters and other venues around the United States on June 13, with encore showings to follow, as part of the National Theater Live screening program.