arts
Paddington: The Musical wins seven Olivier awards including Best New Musical
At the 50th Olivier Awards in London Paddington: The Musical dominated the night with seven wins, including Best New Musical, while plays and revivals also scored major prizes.
Apr 12th 2026 · United Kingdom
Insights
- Paddington: The Musical led the 50th Olivier Awards with seven prizes, including Best New Musical, Best Director and wins for costume and set design.
- The dual credit for Paddington as Best Actor in a Musical went to James Hameed as voice and puppeteer and Arti Shah as the costume performer.
- Tom Edden and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt won Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress in a musical respectively for performances in Paddington.
- Paddington and Into the Woods shared the highest number of nominations at 11, with Into the Woods taking Best Musical Revival and Best Lighting Design.
- Rosamund Pike won Best Actress for Inter Alia, while Rachel Zegler won Best Actress in a Musical for Evita.
- James Graham's Punch won Best New Play and Jack Holden won Best Actor for Kenrex, defeating nominee Bryan Cranston.
- Elaine Paige received the Special Award for her stage career and the ceremony took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Sources
- Cate Blanchett, Bryan Cranston and Paddington Bear are up for prizes at London's Olivier Awards www.independent.co.uk
- Olivier Awards red carpet: Stars arrive for theatre's biggest night www.bbc.com
- Olivier Awards 2026: ‘Paddington’ Wins Big, Rachel Zegler and ‘Evita’ Also Triumph www.nytimes.com
- No need for hard stares as Paddington: The Musical triumphs at the Olivier awards www.theguardian.com
- Winners of the 2026 Olivier Awards celebrating work on the London stage www.independent.co.uk
- Olivier Awards 2026: Who were the big winners? www.independent.co.uk