Among the performers nominated are Broadway's James Earl Jones for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Patina Miller for Sister Act, Jude Law for his performance as Hamlet, Keira Knightley for her performance in The Misanthrope and Rachel Weisz for her performance in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Lucy Prebble's Enron and John Logan's Red are both nominated for Best New Play, alongside Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem and Katori Hall's The Mountaintop. Enron and Jerusalem — both first seen at London's Royal Court Theatre — have six nominations each, including nods for actors Samuel West (in Enron) and Mark Rylance and Mackenzie Crook (in Jerusalem), helping propel the Royal Court to lead the nominations tally with 15 nominations in all, over ten categories and four productions. The Donmar Warehouse, home at its Covent Garden base to Red and A Streetcar Named Desire and in its West End season at Wyndham's Theatre home to Hamlet, has ten nominations in all, while the National Theatre has nine.

Vying for Best New Musical are Broadway's Spring Awakening, which has seven nominations in all (the largest number for a single production); Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; Sister Act; and Dreamboats and Petticoats.

The shortlist for the Audience Award for most popular long-running show, for which the winner will be voted on by the theatregoing public, includes Broadway import Wicked, alongside homegrown musicals Billy Elliot and The Phantom of the Opera, We Will Rock You and the National Theatre's production of War Horse.

The awards will be presented March 21 in a ceremony at London's Grosvenor House Hotel. For more information, visit www.OlivierAwards.co.uk The full nominations are as follows:

Best Actress
Gillian Anderson for A Doll's House at the Donmar Warehouse
Lorraine Burroughs for The Mountaintop at Trafalgar Studios 1
Imelda Staunton for Entertaining Mr Sloane at Trafalgar Studios 1
Juliet Stevenson for Duet for One at the Almeida and Vaudeville
Rachel Weisz for A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar

Best Actor
James Earl Jones for Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at the Novello
Jude Law for Hamlet, Donmar at Wyndham's
James Mcavoy for Three Days Of Rain at the Apollo
Mark Rylance for Jerusalem at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now At the Apollo
Ken Stott for A View From The Bridge at the Duke Of York's
Samuel West for Enron at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward

Best Actress In A Supporting Role
Hayley Atwell for A View From The Bridge at the Duke Of York's
Michelle Dockery for Burnt By The Sun at the Lyttelton
Alexandra Gilbreath for Twelfth Night at the Duke Of York's
Keira Knightley for The Misanthrope at the Comedy
Rachael Stirling for The Priory at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court
Ruth Wilson for A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar

Best Actor In A Supporting Role
Mackenzie Crook for Jerusalem at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
Rory Kinnear for Burnt By The Sun at the Lyttelton
Tim Pigott-Smith for Enron at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
Eddie Redmayne for Red at the Donmar

Best New Play
Enron by Lucy Prebble, at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth, at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now At the Apollo
The Mountaintop by Katori Hall, at Trafalgar Studios 1
Red by John Logan, at the Donmar Warehouse

Best New Comedy
Calendar Girls by Tim Firth, at the Noël Coward
England People Very Nice, by Richard Bean at the Olivier
Parlour Song, by Jez Butterworth, at the Almeida
The Priory By Michael Wynne, at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court

Best Musical Revival
Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin, book by Herbert And Dorothy Fields, at the Young Vic
Hello, Dolly! Book By Michael Stewart, music and lyrics By Jerry Herman, based on the play The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder, at the Open Air
A Little Night Music music and lyrics By Stephen Sondheim, book By Hugh Wheeler, suggested by a film by Ingmar Bergman, originally produced and directed on Broadway by Harold Prince, at the Garrick
Lionel Bart's Oliver! Based on the original production by Sam Mendes, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Best New Musical
Dreamboats And Petticoats Book By Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, at the Savoy
Priscilla Queen Of The Desert – The Musical Book By Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott, based On The Latent Image/Specific Films motion picture distributed By Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc, at the Palace
Spring Awakening Music by Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics by Steven Sater, based on the play By Frank Wedekind, at the Novello
Sister Act Music By Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, book by Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner, at the London Palladium

Best Entertainment
Arturo Brachetti: Change Written and directed by Sean Foley, original concept by Serge Denoncourt, based on the repertoire of Arturo Brachetti, at the Garrick
Derren Brown: Enigma Written By Derren Brown and Andy Nyman, at the Adelphi
Morecambe By Tim Whitnall, at the Duchess

Best Actress In A Musical Or Entertainment
Melanie C for Blood Brothers at the Phoenix
Patina Miller for Sister Act at the London Palladium
Samantha Spiro for Hello, Dolly! at the Open Air
Hannah Waddingham for A Little Night Music at the Garrick
Charlotte Wakefield for Spring Awakening at the Novello

Best Actor In A Musical Or Entertainment
Rowan Atkinson for Oliver! at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Aneurin Barnard for Spring Awakening at the Novello
Bob Golding for Morecambe at the Duchess
Alexander Hanson for A Little Night Music at the Garrick
Tony Sheldon for Priscilla Queen Of The Desert – The Musical at the Palace

Best Supporting Performance In A Musical Or Entertainment
Sheila Hancock for Sister Act at the London Palladium
Maureen Lipman for A Little Night Music at the Garrick
Kelly Price for A Little Night Music at the Garrick
Iwan Rheon for Spring Awakening at the Novello

Best Director
Rupert Goold for Enron at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
Michael Grandage for Hamlet, Donmar at Wyndham's
Lindsay Posner for A View From The Bridge at the Duke Of York's
Ian Rickson for Jerusalem At the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
Bijan Sheibani for Our Class at the Cottesloe

Best Revival
Arcadia, directed by David Leveaux at the Duke Of York’s
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, directed by Debbie Allen at the Novello
The Misanthrope, directed By Thea Sharrock at the Comedy
A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Rob Ashford at the Donmar Warehouse
A View From The Bridge Directed by Lindsay Posner at the Duke Of York's
Three Days Of Rain Directed By Jamie Lloyd at the Apollo

Best Theatre Choreographer
Matthew Bourne for Oliver! at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Bill T Jones for Spring Awakening at the Novello
Anthony Van Laast for Sister Act at the London Palladium
Stephen Mear for Helly, Dolly! at the Open Air

Best Lighting Design
Burnt By The Sun Designed by Mark Henderson at the Lyttelton
Enron Designed by Mark Henderson at Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
Spring Awakening Designed by Kevin Adams at the Novello
Three Days Of Rain Designed by Jon Clark at the Apollo

Best Set Design
England People Very Nice Designed by Mark Thompson at the Olivier
Enron Designed By Anthony Ward at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
Jerusalem Designed By Ultz at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
Red Designed by Christopher Oram at the Donmar Warehouse

Best Costume Design
Hello, Dolly! Designed by Peter Mckintosh at the Open Air
Madame De Sade Designed by Christopher Oram at Donmar At Wyndham’s
The Misanthrope Designed by Amy Roberts at the Comedy
Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert- The Musical designed by Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner at the Palace

Best Sound Design
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour Designed by Christopher Shutt at the Olivier
Jerusalem Designed by Ian Dickinson for Autograph at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
Mother Courage And Her Children Designed by Andrew Bruce and Nick Lidster for Autograph at the Olivier
Spring Awakening Designed by Brian Ronan at the Novello

The Audience Award For Most Popular Show
Billy Elliot Music By Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, at the Victoria Palace
The Phantom Of The Opera Music And book by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, book And additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe, at His Majesty's
War Horse Based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford, at the New London
We Will Rock You Based On The Songs Of Queen, By Ben Elton in collaboration with Brian May And Roger Taylor, at the Dominion
Wicked Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Winnie Holzman, at the Apollo Victoria

Outstanding Achievement In An Affiliate Theatre
Soho Theatre/Tiata Fahodzi for Iya Ile (The First Wife)
The Tricycle Theatre for The Great Game
The Royal Court for Cock at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs

Best New Opera Production
The Royal Opera's Der Fliegende Holländer at the Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera's Lulu at the Royal Opera House
English National Opera's Peter Grimes at the London Coliseum
The Royal Opera's Tristan Und Isolde at the Royal Opera House

Outstanding Achievement In Opera
Anja Kampe for her performance In Royal Opera's Der Fliegende Holländer at the Royal Opera House
Stuart Skelton for his Performance In English National Opera’s Peter Grimes at the London Coliseum
Nina Steme for her Performance In The Royal Opera’s Tristan Und Isolde at the Royal Opera House
Michael Volle for his Performances In The Royal Opera's Lulu and Tristan And Isolde at the Royal Opera House

Best New Dance Production
Russell Maliphant's Afterlight at Sadler’s Wells
Birmingham Royal Ballet's E=Mc² at Sadler’s Wells
Goldberg: The Brandstrup Rojo Project, Roh2 at the Royal Opera House
Rambert Dance Company's A Linha Curva at Sadler’s Wells
Fabulous Beast Dance's The Rite Of Spring at the London Coliseum

Outstanding Achievement In Dance
Colin Dunne for his performance In Out Of Time at the Pit
Michael Hulls for his lighting designs For Russell Maliphant's Two:Four:Ten at the London Coliseum; and for Russell Maliphant's Afterlight and for Ex Machina & Sylvie Guillem's Eonnagata at Sadler's Wells
Rambert Dance Company for an outstanding year of new work