Love Never Dies, Legally Blonde, The Little Dog Laughed & More Among Nominees for 2011 Olivier Awards

Nominees have been announced for the 2011 Olivier Awards, which will get a high-profile makeover thanks to a new partnership with MasterCard. The formerly low-key ceremony will now be held at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane on March 13, broadcast live on the BBC (including red carpet coverage) star presenters accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Americans Bruce Norris and Douglas Carter Beane were among the five nominated playwrights for Clybourne Park and The Little Dog Laughed, respectively. Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies nabbed seven nominations, including Best New Musical. The complete list of nominees is as follows:

Best New Musical
Fela!
Legally Blonde
Love Never Dies
Love Story

Mastercard Best New Play
Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
End of the Rainbow by Peter Quilter
Sucker Punch by Roy Williams
The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane
Tribes by Nina Raine

Best Musical Revival
Into the Woods
Passion
Sweet Charity

Best Entertainment
Beauty and the Beast devised by Katie Mitchell, text by Lucy Kirkwood
Ghost Stories by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman
Potted Panto by Daniel Clarkson, Jefferson Turner and Richard Hurst
The Railway Children by E Nesbit, adapted by Mike Kenny

Best Actress in a Play
Tracie Bennett for End of the Rainbow
Nancy Carroll for After the Dance
Tamsin Greig for The Little Dog Laughed
Sophie Thompson for Clybourne Park

Best Actor in a Play
Roger Allam for Henry IV Parts 1 & 2
Derek Jacobi for King Lear
Rory Kinnear for Hamlet
Mark Rylance for La Bête
David Suchet for All My Sons

Best Actress in a Musical
Sierra Boggess for Love Never Dies
Elena Roger for Passion
Sheridan Smith for Legally Blonde
Emma Williams for Love Story

Best Actor in a Musical
Alex Gaumond for Legally Blonde
Ramin Karimloo for Love Never Dies
Sahr Ngaujah for Fela!
David Thaxton for Passion
Michael Xavier for Love Story

Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical
Josefina Gabrielle for Sweet Charity
Jill Halfpenny for Legally Blonde
Summer Strallen for Love Never Dies
Michael Xavier for Into the Woods

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Play
Sarah Goldberg for Clybourne Park
Anastasia Hille for The Master Builder
Gina McKee for King Lear
Rachael Stirling for An Ideal Husband
Michelle Terry for Tribes

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play
James Laurenson for Hamlet
Hilton McRae for End of the Rainbow
Lee Ross for Birdsong
Adrian Scarborough for After the Dance

Best Director
Dominic Cooke for Clybourne Park
Howard Davies for The White Guard
Michael Grandage for King Lear
Thea Sharrock for After the Dance

Best Theater Choreographer
Leon Baugh for Sucker Punch
Bill T. Jones for Fela!
Stephen Mear for Sweet Charity
Jerry Mitchell for Legally Blonde

Best Lighting Design
After the Dance designed by Mark Henderson
Deathtrap designed by Hugh Vanstone
Love Never Dies designed by Paule Constable
The White Guard designed by Neil Austin

XL Video Award for Best Set Design
Design for Living designed by Lez Brotherston
Earthquakes in London designed by Miriam Buether
Love Never Dies designed by Bob Crowley
The White Guard designed by Bunny Christie

Best Costume Design
After the Dance designed by Hildegard Bechtler
Design for Living designed by Lez Brotherston
London Assurance designed by Mark Thompson
Love Never Dies designed by Bob Crowley

Best Sound Design
End of the Rainbo designed by Gareth Owen
Ghost Stories designed by Nick Manning
King Lear designed by Adam Cork
The Railway Children designed by Craig Vear

Best New Opera Production
English National Opera and Young Vic’s Elegy for Young Lovers at the Young Vic
De Nederlandse Opera, English National Opera and Complicité’s A Dog’s Heart at the London Coliseum
Royal Opera, Vienna State Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Liceu, Barcelona and Opéra Bastille’s Adriana Lecouvreur at the Royal Opera House
OperaUpClose and Soho Theatre’s La Bohème at Soho Theatre

Outstanding Achievement in Opera
Jonas Kaufmann for his performance in the Royal Opera’s Adriana Lecouvreur
Andrew Shore for his performance in English National Opera’s The Elixir of Love
Christian Gerhaher for his performance in the Royal Opera’s Tannhäuser

Best New Dance Production
Mambo 3XX1 by Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, choreographed by George Cespedes at Sadler’s Wells
Babel (Words) by Eastman vzw and Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet at Sadler’s Wells
Cinderella by New Adventures choreographed by Matthew Bourne at Sadler’s Wells

Outstanding Achievement in Dance
John MacFarlane for his designs for Asphodel Meadows by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House
Antony Gormley for his set design of Babel (Words) by Eastman vzw and Theatre Royal de la Monnaie at Sadler’s Wells
Yoshi Sunahata for her drumming in Gnosis by Akram Khan at Sadler’s Wells

Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theater
The Royal Court and Drum Theatre Plymouth for The Empire
Soho Theatre and ATC for Ivan and the Dogs
Trafalgar Studios 2 and Donmar Warehouse for Les Parents Terribles
Lyric Hammersmith for Blasted