OLIVIERS 2015: Verity Wilde's Picks!

Is it just me who measures how interesting any awards ceremony is by how many of the nominees I've seen/watched/listened to/bought? On that basis, I have not done well with the Oliviers this year. On the bright side I've seen all on the Audience award nominees (although I saw Matilda at the RSC pre-West End).

As for the rest? Nine nominees. Mostly from the musical end of the spectrum. Which led me to wondering, what exactly I was doing last year to have missed out on all the things that have been recognised. Am I picking the wrong shows?

I saw 19 shows in the West End in 2014 - and looking back through my Little Black Book of Shows, I think I've seen a good mix of good, bad and indifferent. But I guess my refusal to pay full price/top price means that it takes me a bit longer to get to see the newest plays and musicals and I miss out on some of the limited runs - and which probably why my viewing doesn't match the nominees.

I suspect I'm not alone in this - there will be very few people who've seen all the nominees and many of the winners, certainly in the play categories will already be closed. So do the Oliviers mean anything to anyone beyond the industry? Who knows. But I'll be watching the show when it's on TV to see the performances and see if there's anything that impresses me that I can add to the list - that's why I made a point of seeing The Scottsboro Boys when it had its West End run.

And to be honest, that's usually my favourite part of any awards show - the performances. Unless Mark Rylance is confusing people with another acceptance speech poem again.

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