Star of the show Sheridan Smith won Best Actress in a Musical, and co-star Jill Halfpenny took the prize for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical. The show also won the Best New Musical award.

The National Theatre’s revival of Terence Rattigan’s After the Dance took four awards, including Best Revival, Best Actress for Nancy Carroll and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the ever-excellent Adrian Scarborough.

These two shows were the biggest winners at the prestigious Laurence Olivier Awards, held last night at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Other prizes went to Roger Allam for playing Falstaff in Henry IV at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (Best Actor), David Thaxton for Passion at the Donmar Warehouse (Best Actor in a Musical) and Howard Davies: best director for The White Guard at the National.

Clybourne Park, which is currently playing at Wyndham’s Theatre won Best New Play, and the Entertainment Award went to The Railway Children at Waterloo Station (which is, happily, coming back to London in a few months’ time).

The BBC Radio 2 Audience Award went to We Will Rock You.

Sadler’s Wells’ production Babel won two dance awards, including Best New Dance Production. One of the biggest shocks of the night was the Best New Opera Award, given to La Boheme by OperaUpClose, which started life in the 35-seat Cock Tavern pub theatre in North-West London, and beat much grander-scale shows at the Royal Opera House, London Coliseum and Young Vic.

Finally, Best Musical Revival went to Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods, staged by the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

At the ceremony’s climax, Sondheim received a special prize in recognition of his contribution to theatre.
Sir Cameron Mackintosh described the composer and lyricist as a “true legend”, paying tribute to his “unique theatrical muscle”.

“His sense of theatrical adventure knows no bounds, his subjects… have shown us all no subjects are taboo,” Sir Cameron said.

Read more about the Oliviers here. Do you agree with the judges’ decisions? Let us know in the comments below.

Into the Woods is perfectly at home in the beautiful surrounds of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. The musical is a hodgepodge of fairytales seen through the eyes and ears of a young boy who has run away from home.

The script is fun and never takes itself too seriously.

It’s very clear the actors enjoy performing the linguistic stunts of Steven Sondheim’s acrobatic script as they weave in and out of the multi-tiered platforms that make “the woods”. With its own series of twists and turns the musical sometimes feels as though the dialogue is growing exponentially almost of its own accord.

The runaway boy’s imagination in turn runs away with him and brings the audience along for the ride.

The imagined characters climb up hills, trees, Rapunzel’s golden hair and a giant beanstalk to fulfill their fairytale quests: Jack must sell his beloved cow, Little Red Riding Hood is off to deliver tasty delights to grandma and Cinderella yearns to go to the King’s festival. But, as we’re told by the horrid witch (wonderfully played by Hannah Waddingham), life isn’t that simple and multiple quests in a single wood result in a series of comic mix-ups. Little Red Riding Hood enjoys being eaten by the wolf and the Baker’s wife (played by Jenna Russell) has a spontaneous roll in the undergrowth with Prince Charming (who then proceeds to prance off with, “I was brought up to be charming, not sincere”).

One moment in particular moment proved to be a crowd-pleaser: a life-sized  giant peeping through the real-life trees of Regent’s Park was so beautifully conceived that the audience applauded as the monster appeared. The surprise was only compounded when the giant spoke using  Judi Dench’s distinctive voice.

As the fairytales take place within the mind of the runaway boy, an adult audience is relieved of any knee-jerk reaction to dismiss them as juvenile. Instead, we head straight into the woods with the characters and enjoy the adventure.

Into The Woods offers a charming evening of light entertainment in arguably the most beautiful outdoor theatre in England. It runs at 2hours 45mins so be sure to take advantage of the barbeque before dusk… or take along some magic beans.

Into The Woods runs until 11 September. Book tickets here

He’s won an Oscar, 8 Tony Awards, multiple Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize. And this year, he turns 80.

London’s theatreland has responded to the great man’s milestone birthday with a host of special shows in his honour. This summer, if you’re a Sondheim fan in London, you’re in luck!

Here’s just some of the Sondheim you can see in London now and in the coming months:

• Assassins at the Union Theatre from 30 Jun-24 Jul

Sondheim’s multi-Tony award-winning show Assassins uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of the historical figures who tried to assassinate Presidents of the United States.

• Classic Moments – Hidden Treasures at the Jermyn Street Theatre from 6-24 Jul

As well as rarely performed gems from his major musicals such as Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods, this show features treasures from Sondheim’s less familiar shows such as Anyone Can Whistle and Evening Primrose.

• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Village Underground, 3-6 Aug

Fifty of the country’s most talented youngsters take to a converted warehouse in London’s East End to perform Sondheim’s horror-opera, Sweeney Todd. The National Youth Music Theatre’s latest show is led by director Martin Constantine, whose previous credits include English National Opera, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

• Into The Woods at Regents Park Open Air Theatre 6 Aug-11 Sep

Into The Woods weaves together the stories of Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and Cinderella, with a tale about a baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family. Hannah Waddingham, Jenna Russell and Helen Dallimore star.

• Prom 19: Sondheim at 80 at the Royal Albert Hall on 31 Jul

On the bill are excerpts from horror-opera Sweeney Todd, the Ingmar Bergman-inspired A Little Night Music and the fairy-tale compendium of Into the Woods, as well as excerpts from Company and Sunday in the Park with George. The cast includes Bryn Terfel, Maria Friedman, Simon Russell Beale and Julian Ovenden.

• Passion at the Donmar Warehouse from 10 Sep-27 Nov

The Donmar’s birthday offering is Passion, set in 19th-century Italy, all about obsession, beauty, power, manipulation, illness, and love. And stars Elena Roger, Scarlett Strallen and David Thaxton.

• Sondheim at 80 at the Donmar Warehouse from 16 Sep-7 Nov

The Donmar hosts a range of Sondheim-inspired events, including an evening with the man himself, a conversation with Michael Grandage and Sam Mendes about staging Sondheim at the Donmar, and concert performances of Company and Merrily We Roll Along.

Have you spotted any more Sondheim celebrations planned for London in 2010? Let us know.