The Laurence Olivier Awards 2009 — Page 8

Carrie: if you weren't aware (and why should you be?), I'm a little fixated on the Histories Ensemble. You wouldn't happen to have heard any gossip regarding any of them, would you? Congratulations for holding up! I'm saving your blog for a quiet period at work tomorrow, and am looking forward to the read. :3

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Alas, I don't have much in my memory banks of Black Watch at this time (late night last night, brain functions limited XD), but if you check out the puppets used in War Horse, that should begin to clear things up. Joey and Topthorn each had three puppeteers who were *constantly* moving to bring life to the horses; even when standing still, there was simulated breathing, ears flickering, tails whisking, and that's just the horse puppetry. It's an intensely physical show, with the cast needing to work ridiculously well with each other, with every little move carefully plotted. I should probably stop saying "massive disservice" so much, but before I do, I'd just like to say you'd be doing the cast of War Horse a massive disservice saying they only received the choreeography award because SOLT fancied being "edgy" or whatever. ;D

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I thought I'd chime in as a Canadian who saw Black Watch and the original August Osage in NY and agree with Weez that as great as AOC was, Black Watch is the best play and theatrical experience I've ever seen. Hands down. The brilliancy of its choreography was that you barely even noticed it sometimes because it was so fluid with the story and its telling. There were brief moments in just movements within or between scenes that were snippets of modern contemporary dance. (And I'm not even getting to the AMAZING "letter" scene).

Being a dance heavy show doesn't mean it's good choreography and I've been disappointed by a lot of the big musicals (though I'm one of those that also loves Bill T. Jones' choreography in Spring Awakening and LOVED that he won the Tony. If you doubt his work, you should check out his own dance shows).

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Hey Hubee :)

i have to agree with you when it comes to dance heavy shows not always having brilliant choreougraphy (Fame etc..) but i just feel (especially with War Horse and not so much with Black Watch) they may have turned their noses up at the idea of a danced through musical that involved popular hip hop songs (Into the Hoods).

We've had many a sung through musical and finally along comes a danced through musical. The dance displayed in Into the Hoods was a display of years of development in the dance world. Street dance was never taken seriously, it was always looked down upon, and gradually it's become more and more accepted, hell it's even got it's own IDTA syllabus!

At the end of the day it comes down to the fact there should've been no competition between War Horse and Into the Woods. War Horse should've been in a different category...

Hell, it goes back to the patriotic thing; would *you* give an American award to a British show when there's an American show that's also deserving?

LOL Evita/Dreamgirls? Phantom of the Opera/Into the Woods? And a great many Americans are rooting for Billy Elliot this year. While I had more fun at Zorro, I have to admit that technically, Jersey Boys is the stronger show in writing, construction and design. I know it is fun to crap on Americans, but I wonder if everyone would truly be happy if American productions never transferred at all? Was there this much animosity over Caroline, or Change? Will the Australians be treated this way with Priscilla or is it just the Americans?

Sorry, I just get so bummed when I see so much theatre I love all over the world originating from so many places, I tend to leave patriotism behind and prefer to celebrate the show instead (one of the best plays I ever saw was an Australian import at the National...Cloudstreet). I loved Zorro. I wanted it to win. But having seen Jersey Boys, I just knew what the outcome would be. Zorro is delightful, but it still needs work. Sometimes the fun imperfect shows don't win. And in the case of something like Mamma Mia (a British import that took Broadway by storm and hasn't let go) becomes universal and rises above the awards to speak to audiences worldwide.

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hairspray done vey well at the Oliviers (4 Olivers)last year and that is American, I am patriotic but was really pleased that Hairspray big haul of awards, as it is the best show to come over from America.

Sondheim has had terrifiic success at the Oliviers

"I know it is fun to crap on Americans"

I don't think that's what is going on here. There has been much debate on this board about the need for successful and original new musicals in the West End after a very bad year for them (Gone With the Wind, Marguerite, Imagine This) and a win for Zorro would have been seen as sending out a positive message to producers to be brave in producing original works rather than taking safe and easy options.

I think, they used to be held in December and then changed it to March - so March 1990 was instead of December 1989.

Cheers Scripps, I can rely on you for a definitive!