Paddington musical dominates Olivier Awards

Paddington musical dominates Olivier AwardsJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleSteven McIntoshEntertainment reporterGetty ImagesPaddington the Musical won seven Oliviers including best new musical and three acting prizesThe stage musical based on the Paddington books and films has dominated the Olivier Awards in the theatre event's 50th year, winning seven prizes in total. The show, which features songs composed by McFly's Tom Fletcher, won best new musical as well as three acting prizes, plus awards for its direction, costumes and set design.And US actress Rachel Zegler was among the night's other big award winners after a year in in which she took on one of theatre's most iconic roles in a new production of Evita and put her own modern spin on it.Paddington writer Jessica Swale said in her acceptance speech for the best new musical prize that it had been "such an honour to be trusted with a very special bear", while Fletcher said the company had become "a family"."We tried to make a show that is all about celebrating kindness," he added, "and to be part of this group of people that is putting that out into the world at this time feels so special, thank you so much."Paddington's wins included best actor in a musical, which was awarded jointly to James Hameed, who provides the voice for the bear from the wings, and Arti Shah, an actress born with a form of dwarfism who portrays the bear in costume on stage. Shah thanked the show's cast and crew and paid tribute to her family, telling her young son she was "going to keep making you proud, and keep showing you that being different is a good thing".Evita won two prizes including best actress in a musical for Zegler, four years after she won a Golden Globe for rebooting another famous musical character, Maria in Steven Spielberg's movie remake of West Side Story.Scroll down to see the winners list in full.PA MediaL-R: Paddington...