Paddington Musical, Into the Woods Lead 2026 Olivier Nominations

Nominations for the 2026 Olivier Awards, London's top theatrical honor, were unveiled March 5, with Paddington The Musical and Bridge Theatre's revival of Into the Woods emerging as the season's most nominated productions. Both shows picked up 11 nods total, each capping off with a nomination in their respective top categories, Best New Musical for Paddington and Best Musical Revival for Into the Woods.

The news will no doubt sharpen eyes on a potential Broadway transfer for Paddington, which has set the internet ablaze since revealing the innovative stage craft behind bringing the beloved children's book character to the live musical stage, a feat which involves a very diminutive performer and cutting-edge animatronic puppetry.

Broadway was, in fact, all over the nominations for the London stage awards. James Graham's Punch picked up a Best New Play nomination just weeks after closing a Broadway transfer, while Best New Entertainment or Comedy Play nominees included Every Brilliant Thing, whose Broadway transfer is currently in previews at the Hudson Theatre starring Daniel Radcliffe; and Cole Escola's Oh, Mary!, continuing its Broadway run at the Lyceum. Best New Play nominee Kenrex is scheduled to cross the pond to Off-Broadway's Lucille Lortel Theatre later this year, with Jack Holden set to reprise his now Olivier-nominated performance in the true crime play. Broadway names getting acting nominations included Cate Blanchett, Bryan Cranston, Sean Hayes (for his already Tony-winning turn as Oscar Levant in Good Night, Oscar), Tom Hiddleston, Jamie Parker, Diego Andres Rodriguez, Katie Brayben, Jane Krakowski, Jenna Russell, Rachel Zegler, Corbin Bleu, and Tracie Bennett.

Non-musical plays seemed to split this year's nominations somewhat, with the most nominated plays going to the recent Cranston-led revival of All My Sons, Kenrex, and Stereophonic, each receiving six total nods. Notably, Stereophonic picked up its noms for its performances, physical design, and musical contributions while failing to get a nomination for Best New Play. The David Adjmi work was the 2024 Tony-winning Best Play.

Winners will be named at an April 12 ceremony to be hosted by Nick Mohammed. The event will be broadcast on BBC Two and stream via iPlayer.

See the full list of nominations below:

Best New Musical
Here We Are
Paddington The Musical
Shucked
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Best Musical Revival
American Psycho
Evita
Into the Woods
The Producers

Best New Play
1536
Inter Alia
Kenrex
Punch

Best Revival
All My Sons
Arcadia
Much Ado About Nothing
The Seagull

Best New Entertainment or Comedy Play
The Comedy About Spies
Every Brilliant Thing
Oh, Mary!
Paranormal Activity

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, The Seagull
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, All My Sons
Julia McDermott, Weather Girl
Rosamund Pike, Inter Alia
Rosie Sheehy, Guess How Much I Love You?

Best Actor
Bryan Cranston, All My Sons
Sean Hayes, Good Night, Oscar
Tom Hiddleston, Much Ado About Nothing
Jack Holden, Kenrex
David Shields, Punch

Best Actor in a Musical
Marc Antolin, The Producers
James Hameed & Arti Shah, Paddington The Musical
Andy Nyman, The Producers
Jamie Parker, Into the Woods
Diego Andres Rodriguez, Evita

Best Actress in a Musical
Katie Brayben, Into the Woods
Danielle Fiamanya & Georgina Onuorah, Brigadoon
Jane Krakowski, Here We Are
Jenna Russell, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Rachel Zegler, Evita

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Isis Hainsworth, Arcadia
Julie Hesmondhalgh, Punch
Lucy Karczewski, Stereophonic
Hayley Squires, All My Sons
Sophie Thompson, When We Are Married

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Hammed Animashaun, Dealer’s Choice
Paapa Essiedu, All My Sons
Zachary Hart, The Seagull
Zachary Hart, Stereophonic
Giles Terera, Oh, Mary!

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical
Trevor Ashley, The Producers
Corbin Bleu, The Great Gatsby – A New Musical
Tom Edden, Paddington The Musical
Jo Foster, Into the Woods
Oliver Savile, Into the Woods

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical
Tracie Bennett, Here We Are
Amy Booth-Steel, Paddington The Musical
Kate Fleetwood, Into the Woods
Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, Paddington The Musical
Georgina Onuorah, Shucked

Best Director
Jordan Fein, Into the Woods
Luke Sheppard, Paddington The Musical
Ed Stambollouian, Kenrex
Lyndsey Turner, 1536
Ivo van Hove, All My Sons

Best Theatre Choreographer
Fabian Aloise, Evita
Ellen Kane, Paddington The Musical
Drew McOnie, Brigadoon
Lynne Page, American Psycho

Best Costume Design
Enver Chakartash, Stereophonic
Linda Cho, The Great Gatsby – A New Musical
Tom Scutt, Into the Woods
Gabriella Slade (Costume Design), Tahra Zafar (Paddington Design), Paddington The Musical

Best Set Design
Paul Tate dePoo III (Scenic & Projection Design), The Great Gatsby – A New Musical
Tom Pye (Set Design) & Ash J Woodward (Video Design), Paddington The Musical
Tom Scutt, Into the Woods
David Zinn, Stereophonic

Best Lighting Design
Robbie Butler, Punch
Jon Clark, Evita
Aideen Malone (Lighting Design) & Roland Horvath (Video Design), Into the Woods
Joshua Pharo, Kenrex

Best Sound Design
Adam Fisher, Into the Woods
Gareth Owen, Paddington The Musical
Ryan Rumery, Stereophonic
Giles Thomas, Kenrex

Outstanding Musical Contribution
Matt Brind (Orchestrations and Arrangements), Paddington The Musical
Will Butler (Original Songs and Orchestrations) & Justin Craig (Orchestrations), Stereophonic
John Patrick Elliott (Composition), Kenrex
Chris Fenwick (Musical Supervision and Arrangements) & Sean Hayes (Live Piano Performance), Good Night, Oscar

Best Family Show
The Boy at the Back of the Class, adapted by Nick Ahad
The Boy With Wings, adapted by Arvind Ethan David
The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, adapted by Jude Christian
The Three Little Pigs; music by George Stiles, book & lyrics by Anthony Drewe

Best New Production in Affiliate Theatre
Ben and Imo, Mark Ravenhill
The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams
The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs, Iman Qureshi
Miss Myrtle’s Garden, Danny James King
The Shitheads, Jack Nicholls

Best New Dance Production
Into the Hairy, Sharon Eyal for S-E-D
Mimi’s Shebeen, Alesandra Seutin & KVS
Random Taranto, María del Mar Suárez (La Chachi) as part of Dance Umbrella: Change Tempo
She’s Auspicious, Mythili Prakash

Best New Opera Production
Dead Man Walking, English National Opera
The Makropulos Case, The Royal Opera
Tosca, The Royal Opera
Die Walküre, The Royal Opera

Shows With Multiple Nominations
Into the Woods - 11
Paddington The Musical - 11
All My Sons - 6
Kenrex - 6
Stereophonic - 6
Evita - 5
The Producers - 4
Punch - 4
Here We Are - 3
The Great Gatsby - 3
The Seagull - 3
1536 - 2
American Psycho - 2
Arcadia - 2
Brigadoon - 2
Good Night, Oscar - 2
Inter Alia - 2
Much Ado About Nothing - 2
Oh, Mary! - 2
Shucked - 2
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - 2