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1978 Laurence Olivier Awards
The 1978 Society of West End Theatre Awards were held in 1978 in London celebrating excellence in West End theatre by the Society of West End Theatre. The awards would not become the Laurence Olivier Awards, as they are known today, until the 1984 ceremony. Winners and nominees Details of winners (in bold) and nominees, in each award category, per the Society of London Theatre. Productions with multiple nominations and awards The following 16 productions received multiple nominations: * 4: ''Evita'' * 3: ''Annie'', ''Filumena'' and ''The Double Dealer'' * 2: ''Brand (play), Brand'', ''Coriolanus'', ''Half-Life'', ''Henry VI (play), Henry VI'', ''Lark Rise to Candleford, Lark Rise'', ''Plenty (play), Plenty'', ''Shut Your Eyes and Think of England'', ''The Homecoming'', ''The Woman'', ''Twelfth Night'', ''Waters of the Moon'' and ''Whose Life Is It Anyway? (play), Whose Life Is It Anyway'' The following three productions received multiple awards: * 2: ''Evita'', ''Filumena ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurence Olivier Award
The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Awards, but they were renamed in honour of the British actor of the same name in 1984. The awards are given to individuals involved in West End productions and other leading non-commercial theatres based in London across a range of categories covering plays, musicals, dance, opera and affiliate theatre. A discretionary non-competitive Special Olivier Award is also given each year. The Olivier Awards are recognised internationally as the highest honour in British theatre, equivalent to the BAFTA Awards for film and television, and the BRIT Awards for music. The Olivier Awards are considered equivalent to Broadway's Tony Awards and France's Molière Award. Since inception, the awards have been held at va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plenty (play)
''Plenty'' is a play by David Hare, first performed in 1978, about British post-war disillusion. Productions The inspiration for ''Plenty'' came from the fact that 75 per cent of the women engaged in wartime SOE operations divorced in the immediate post-war years; the title is derived from the idea that the post-war era would be a time of "plenty", which proved untrue for most of England. Directed by the playwright, ''Plenty'' premiered in the Lyttelton Theatre on London's South Bank on 7 April 1978, featuring Kate Nelligan as Susan, the protagonist, and Stephen Moore as Raymond. It was nominated for the Olivier Award as ''Play of the Year'' and Nelligan as ''Best Actress in a New Play'', losing to '' Whose Life is it Anyway?'' and Joan Plowright in ''Filumena''. The play premiered Off-Broadway on 21 October 1982, at the Public Theater, where it ran for 45 performances. Directed by Hare, Nelligan reprised the role of Susan, supported by Kelsey Grammer and Dominic Chianese. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Chapman (screenwriter)
John Roy Chapman (27 May 1927 – 3 September 2001) was a British actor, playwright and screenwriter, known for his collaborations with Ray Cooney. Biography Early life Born in Acton, John Chapman was the nephew of the actor Edward Chapman; his own father was an engineer. His brother, Paul Chapman, became an actor. John Chapman trained at RADA, and made his acting debut in Enid Bagnold's ''National Velvet'' in 1946.Obituary: John Chapman telegraph.co.uk, 7 September 2001 Early career Initially a stage manager and understudy at the for the first two years of ''Reluctant Heroes'', the first |
Lyric Theatre, London
The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It was built for the producer Henry Leslie, who financed it from the profits of the light opera hit, '' Dorothy'', which he transferred from its original venue to open the new theatre on 17 December 1888. Under Leslie and his early successors the house specialised in musical theatre, and that tradition has continued intermittently throughout the theatre's existence. Musical productions in the theatre's first four decades included ''The Mountebanks'' (1892), ''His Excellency'' (1894), '' The Duchess of Dantzig'' (1903), ''The Chocolate Soldier'' (1910) and '' Lilac Time'' (1922). Later musical shows included ''Irma La Douce'' (1958), ''Robert and Elizabeth'' (1964), '' John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert'' (1974), '' Blood Brothers'' (1983), ''Five Guys Named Moe'' (1990) and '' Thriller – Live'' (2009). Many non-musical productions have been staged at the Lyric, from Shakespeare to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keith Waterhouse
Keith Spencer Waterhouse (6 February 1929 – 4 September 2009) was a British novelist and newspaper columnist and the writer of many television series. Biography Keith Waterhouse was born in Hunslet, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. He performed two years of national service in the Royal Air Force. His credits, many with lifelong friend and collaborator Willis Hall, include satires such as ''That Was The Week That Was'', '' BBC-3'' and ''The Frost Report'' during the 1960s; the book for the 1975 musical ''The Card''; '' Budgie''; ''Worzel Gummidge''; and ''Andy Capp'' (an adaptation of the comic strip). His 1959 book '' Billy Liar'' was subsequently filmed by John Schlesinger with Tom Courtenay as Billy. It was nominated in six categories of the 1964 BAFTA awards, including Best Screenplay, and was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1963; in the early 1970s the sitcom '' Billy Liar'' based on the character was quite popular and ran to 25 ep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willis Hall
Willis Edward Hall (6 April 1929 – 7 March 2005) was an English playwright and radio, television and film writer who drew on his working-class roots in Leeds for much of his writing. Willis formed an extremely prolific partnership with his life-long friend Keith Waterhouse producing over 250 works. He wrote plays such as ''Billy Liar'', The Long and the Short and the Tall (play), ''The Long and the Short and the Tall'', and ''Celebration''; the screenplays for Whistle Down the Wind (film), ''Whistle Down the Wind'', A Kind of Loving (film), ''A Kind of Loving'' and Alfred Hitchcock's ''Torn Curtain''; and television programmes including Budgie (TV series), ''Budgie'', Worzel Gummidge (TV series), ''Worzel Gummidge'' and Minder (TV series), ''Minder''. His passion for musical theatre led to a string of hits, including ''Wind in the Willows'', The Card (musical), ''The Card'', and George Stiles (composer), George Stiles' and Anthony Drewe's ''Peter Pan: A Musical Adventure'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eduardo De Filippo
Eduardo De Filippo (; 24 May 1900 – 31 October 1984), also known simply as ''Eduardo'', was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter and playwright, best known for his Neapolitan works ''Filumena Marturano'' and '' Napoli Milionaria''. Considered one of the most important Italian artists of the 20th century, De Filippo was the author of many theatrical dramas staged and directed by himself first and later awarded and played outside Italy. For his artistic merits and contributions to Italian culture, he was named '' senatore a vita'' by the President of the Italian Republic Sandro Pertini. Biography De Filippo was born in Naples from the affair between playwright and actor Eduardo Scarpetta and theatre seamstress and costumier Luisa De Filippo. He was the second of three children born from the couple, the other two being Annunziata "Titina" and Giuseppe "Peppino". His father was actually married since 1876 to Rosa De Filippo, Luisa's paternal aunt. His father Eduardo had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Filumena Marturano
''Filumena Marturano'' (, ), sometime performed in English as ''The Best House in Naples'', is a play written in 1946 by Italian playwright, actor and poet Eduardo De Filippo. It is the basis for the 1950 Spanish language Argentine musical film ''Filomena Marturano'', multiple Italian adaptations under its original title, and the 1964 film ''Marriage Italian Style''. Plot The curtain opens on Domenico Soriano, 50, a wealthy Neapolitan shop-keeper who is raging against Filumena, 48, a former prostitute. They lived together for 26 years (but with his frequently having trysts with other women) and she has tricked him, pretending to be near death, and persuading him to marry her ''in extremis''. Domenico, however, would rather marry Diana, a young girl, who is already in the house pretending to be a nurse. Filumena reveals the real reason for the marriage to Domenico: She wants to create a family for her three children (Umberto, Michele and Riccardo) who have no idea of who their moth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurence Olivier Award For Best New Comedy
The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play 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. The award was titled Comedy of the Year from its establishment in 1976 until 1990, was renamed to Best Comedy starting in 1991, Best New Comedy starting in 1999, then retitled to its current name for the 2020 Olivier Awards – when "Entertainment" was moved to join Best Comedy Play from the Best Entertainment and Family award, which was renamed Best Family Show at that same time. Winners and nominees 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s See also * Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play * Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play * Tony Award for Best Play References * External links * {{OlivierAward Entert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elvis (musical)
''Elvis'' is a jukebox musical based upon the life of American singer Elvis Presley, conceived by and Ray Cooney (Producer and Co-Devisor) and Jack Good (Director and Co-devisor). It tells the story of Elvis's life and career, from the beginning until his death. The original cast included Shakin' Stevens, who later became the top-selling UK singles artist of the 1980s and Tracey Ullman. Production history 1977 production The original West End production opened on November 28, 1977, at the Astoria Theatre in London, which had been converted from a cinema especially for the show by Laurie Marsh. Elvis was portrayed by three performers: Tim Whitnall as Young Elvis, Shakin' Stevens as Middle Elvis in his army and movie star years and PJ Proby as Mature Elvis in his Las Vegas years. Proby was later replaced by Bogdan Kominowski. Live musical accompaniment was provided by the rock and roll revival group, Fumble. The production won the 1977 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria Palace Theatre
The Victoria Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, opposite Victoria Station. The structure is categorised as a Grade II* listed building. History Origins The theatre began life as a small concert room above the stables of the Royal Standard Hotel, a small hotel and tavern built in 1832 at what was then 522 Stockbridge Terrace, on the site of the present theatre – not, as sometimes stated, on land where the train station now stands. The proprietor, John Moy, enlarged the building, and by 1850 it became known as Moy's Music Hall. Alfred Brown took it over in 1863, refurbished it, and renamed it the Royal Standard Music Hall. The hotel was demolished in 1886, by which time the main line terminus, Victoria Station and its new Grosvenor Hotel, had transformed the area into a major transport hub. The railways were at this time building grand hotel structures at their termini, and Victoria was one of the first. Added to this was t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annie (musical)
''Annie'' is a Broadway theatre, Broadway musical theatre, musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip ''Little Orphan Annie'' and loosely based on the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" written by James Whitcomb Riley. The musical includes music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and a musical theater, book by Thomas Meehan (writer), Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre). It spawned numerous productions in many countries, as well as national tours, and won seven Tony Awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical's songs "Tomorrow (song from Annie), Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life" are among its most popular musical numbers. Background Charnin first approached Meehan to write the book of a musical about ''Little Orphan Annie'' in 1972. Meehan researched by rereading prints of the comic strip, but was unable to fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
