Imelda Staunton News

Previous Olivier Award-winners Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton are to host the 2011 Olivier Awards with MasterCard at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 13 March.

The Society of London Theatre announced today that Stephen Sondheim, the legendary American composer and lyricist, will be the recipient of the Olivier Special Award 2011.

With the Olivier Awards just around the corner, the Daily Mail is reporting that composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim will receive a special award recognizing his unique and lasting mark on London theatre.

Previous Olivier Award-winners Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton are to host the 2011 Olivier Awards with MasterCard at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 13 March. The pair, who will preside over the most glamorous ceremony in years, are no strangers to the Olivier Awards. Ball won the coveted Best Actor in a Musical Award in 2009 while Staunton is a double winner, having picked up the famous bronze statuette in 1985 and 1991. Both hugely experienced stage performers, Staunton and Ball's presenting double-act comes ahead of their joint appearance on stage in Chichester Festival Theatre's revival of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd this September. Treasured as much for her screen work as her stage appearances, Staunton is a BAFTA-winning actress with a vast body of work behind her. Such is her versatility that musicals Into The Woods, Guys And Dolls and Mack And Mabel sit on her CV alongside plays Life X 3, There Came A Gypsy Riding, Uncle Vanya and, most recently, Entertaining Mr Sloane in the West End. On screen, Staunton has starred in numerous films including Shakespeare In Love, Much Ado About Nothing, Sense And Sensibility and Vera Drake - for which she won a BAFTA and received an Oscar nomination - as well as the hugely popular television serial Cranford. Before heading to Chichester, Staunton returns to the London stage in A Delicate Balance at the Almeida theatre this May. Ball will be adding Olivier Awards host to a resume that already includes actor, producer, radio and TV presenter and recording artist. Since making his West End debut in the original production of Les Miserables in 1985, Ball has appeared in a variety of high profile West End productions, including Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera, The Woman In White and Aspects Of Love, Stephen Sondheim's Passion and family musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He made his opera debut at the London Coliseum in 2007 in Kismet and has appeared several times on Broadway. In 2008 he famously donned drag to play the loveable role of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, a performance which earned him an Olivier Award. On top of that, Ball has released 12 solo albums, represented Great Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992, toured all over the world and, since 2008, presented Michael Ball's Sunday Brunch on BBC Radio 2. In 2010 he turned producer by co-producing the musical Love Story in the West End. Theatre fans who want to see Staunton and Ball in action can purchase tickets to the Olivier Awards, either by MasterCard through www.olivierawards.com or with cash, Theatre Tokens or MasterCard in person at the tkts booths in Leicester Square and Brent Cross.

Lucy Cohu (Julia), Diana Hardcastle (Edna), Ian McElhinney (Harry), Imelda Staunton (Claire) and Tim Pigott-Smith (Tobias) will join the previously announced Penelope Wilton (Agnes) in Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, directed by James Macdonald which will run at the Almeida Theatre from 5 May - 2 July, with press night on 12 May 2011. A Delicate Balance will be designed by Laura Hopkins with lighting by Guy Hoare and sound by Ian Dickinson.

At the heart of the sixth season from Artistic Director Jonathan Church and Executive Director Alan Finch will be 'a Festival within a Festival' celebrating the achievements of playwright Terence Rattigan in the centenary year of his birth.

From Broadway to the comedy clubs of Manhattan, from television to Las Vegas, RITA RUDNER is one of the funniest and hard-working comedians in the business today.

From a small Indian village to the bustling streets of Calcutta, this bold reimagining charts Pip's extraordinary journey in this story of love, ambition, honour and honesty.

The Almeida Theatre will produce Edward Albee's A DELICATE BALANCE. Imelda Staunton and Lucy Cohu will join the previously announced Penelope Wilton. The play is set to begin performances May 5.

One of the most beloved stories of all time comes to life in White River Junction when Northern Stage, the region's professional theater, stages L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz from December 8 - January 2.

One of the most beloved stories of all time comes to life in White River Junction when Northern Stage, the region's professional theater, stages L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz from December 8 - January 2.

One of the most beloved stories of all time comes to life in White River Junction when Northern Stage, the region's professional theater, stages L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz from December 8 - January 2.

Boeing-Boeing, the high-flying, Tony award-winning comedy that had Broadway and West End audiences airborne with laughter, is taking off on the Alley's Hubbard Stage, June 4 - June 27, 2010. Marc Camoletti's comedy, translated by Beverly Cross and Francis Evans is the final production of the Alley Theatre's 2009-2010 season.

Boeing-Boeing, the high-flying, Tony award-winning comedy that had Broadway and West End audiences airborne with laughter, is taking off on the Alley's Hubbard Stage, June 4 - June 27, 2010. Marc Camoletti's comedy, translated by Beverly Cross and Francis Evans is the final production of the Alley Theatre's 2009-2010 season.

Rita Rudner, one of the country's top comedians, brings her hilarious wit and clever one-liners to The Laguna Playhouse for an exclusive two-day engagement titled 'An Evening with Rita Rudner' on Saturday, May 29 and Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 8 pm at The Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

Rita Rudner, one of the country's top comedians, brings her hilarious wit and clever one-liners to The Laguna Playhouse for an exclusive two-day engagement titled 'An Evening with Rita Rudner' on Saturday, May 29 and Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 8 pm at The Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

Boeing-Boeing, the high-flying, Tony award-winning comedy that had Broadway and West End audiences airborne with laughter, is taking off on the Alley's Hubbard Stage, June 4 - June 27, 2010. Marc Camoletti's comedy, translated by Beverly Cross and Francis Evans is the final production of the Alley Theatre's 2009-2010 season.

Rita Rudner, one of the country's top comedians, brings her hilarious wit and clever one-liners to The Laguna Playhouse for an exclusive two-day engagement titled 'An Evening with Rita Rudner' on Saturday, May 29 and Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 8 pm at The Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

Video highlights of the 2010 Olivier Awards!

All the news from the Grosvenor as UK theatre's most prestigious gongs are given out...Mark Rylance and Rachel Weisz win actor/actress, Iwan Rheon, Samantha Spiro and Aneurin Barnard win the musical awards, with Wicked picking up the brand-new audience award and Spring Awakening getting the nod for best new musical