Olivier Award Winners

[edjames]

2 parts, 6 and 1/2 hrs....another theater marathon/endurance production!

 

‘The Inheritance’ Triumphs at Olivier Awards, and So Does a Gender-Swapping ‘Company’

 

LONDON — “The Inheritance,” a two-part, six-and-a-half-hour play about the legacy of AIDS in New York, dominated the Olivier Awards on Sunday night, winning four trophies at the British equivalent of the Tony Awards.

 

At the Royal Albert Hall in London, the play, by Matthew Lopez, won best new play, best director for Stephen Daldry, best actor for Kyle Soller, and best lighting design for Jon Clark.

 

It beat strong competition, including “The Lehman Trilogy,” the acclaimed family saga about the founders of the financial firm, which is playing at the Park Avenue Armory until April 20, and “Sweat,” Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play set in working-class Pennsylvania.

Mr. Lopez said in an interview that he hoped “The Inheritance” would transfer to Broadway, especially given the play’s setting. “We’ve seen a lot of Brits come over and take home Tonys, so I think it’s only fair really,” Mr. Lopez said, when asked about the play’s success.

 

“The Inheritance” received rave reviews in Britain after opening last year at London’s Young Vic. Dominic Cavendish, writing in The Daily Telegraph, called it “a theatrical marathon that instantly looks like a modern classic,” adding that it was “perhaps the most important American play of the century so far.”

The play “pierces your emotional defenses, raises any number of political issues and enfolds you in its narrative,” wrote Michael Billington in The Guardian.

It had been nominated for eight awards, the most for any play.

 

Mr. Soller, in his acceptance speech, referred to a new law in Brunei that makes gay sex between men punishable by death. “For those that continue the fight in a world where you can still be stoned to death for loving who you love, thank you,” said the London-based American actor.

Last week, numerous celebrities, citing the law, called for a boycottagainst hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei. Those include the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles and the Dorchester in London.

The success of “The Inheritance” was matched by only two musicals: a gender-swapping version of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company,” and “Come From Away,” the musical about residents of a small Canadian town who had to accommodate 6,700 travelers whose planes were diverted there after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

[foxy]

A friend of mine recently returned from London saw this play and she raved about how brilliant she thought it was. Here's hoping it will transfer to Broadway.

 

https://variety.com/2018/legit/reviews/the-inheritance-review-play-1202739184/

 

‘The Inheritance’ Review: Stephen Daldry Directs Matthew Lopez’s Play – Variety

“The Inheritance" is a vast, imperfect and unweildy masterpiece that unpicks queer politics and neoliberal economics anew.

variety.com

 

https://www.yesbroadway.com/content/theinheritance

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/58322a2d579fb38c571815d3/59e4c405b1ffb682d1027b08/5af9ac6a8a922d061762d01e/1528724129135/Samuel+H.+Levine+and+Andrew+Burnap+in+The+Inheritance+at+the+Young+Vic+%C2%A9Simon+Annand%283%29.jpg?format=1000w

 

London: The Inheritance — YesBroadway

Photos: Simon Annand. It clocks in at just over 6.5 hours, but the play (especially Part 1) rarely feels as long as that thanks to a fantastic mix of comedy and drama — you’re basically dared not to bawl at the end of the first part.

www.yesbroadway.com