LONDON (AP) – Stars including Judi Dench, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and pop singer Nicole Scherzinger are due on the red carpet at London’s grand Royal Opera House Sunday for the Olivier theater awards.
“Memphis: The Musical” and Carole King show “Beautiful” lead the race for Britain’s equivalent of Broadway’s Tonys, with a clutch of nominations each, including best new musical.
“Memphis,” set in the segregated 1950s American South, has nine nominations, including best actress in a musical for soul-singer star Beverley Knight. “Beautiful” has eight, with Katie Brayben a contender for her performance as chart-topping songwriter King.
The other nominees for best new musical are “Sunny Afternoon,” the story of The Kinks, and Imelda Marcos-inspired “Here Lies Love,” created by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim.
Plays about royalty past and present dominate the non-musical categories. An adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Tudor saga “Wolf Hall” has five nominations. “King Charles III,” which imagines the troubled future reign of Prince Charles, has six.