Over 160 British writers, creatives & actors call for new categories at 2025 Olivier Awards

Photo credit: Christie Goodwin

Over 160 British writers, actors and creatives, including multiple Olivier, Tony, Grammy, International Emmy and Drama Desk Award winners have signed an open letter calling on The Society of London Theatre, the organisers of The Laurence Olivier Awards, to introduce two new ‘Best Book of a Musical’ and ‘Best Score of a Musical’ categories for the 2025 Olivier Awards, so the achievement of librettists, composers and lyricists in London’s West End can be properly recognised. This comes in advance of the 2024 Olivier Awards Ceremony, held this Sunday (14 April) at the Royal Albert Hall.

The open letter, authored and organised by Off-West End Award-Winning actor & librettist Jack Reitman (Rent, Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story), seeks to draw attention to the missed opportunity The Laurence Olivier Awards has to shine a spotlight on the creators of musicals, and to inspire the next generation of British composers, lyricists and librettists. It also seeks to bring The Laurence Olivier Awards in-line with their US counterpart, The Tony Awards, which has recognised the achievements of writers on the Broadway stage since the 1940s with its ‘Best Book of a Musical’ and ‘Best Original Score’ categories.

Co-Signatories to the open letter include theatre writers Jake Brunger, George Stiles & Anthony Drewe, Gus Gowland, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Toby Marlow, Maimuna Memon, and Grant Olding.

Actors who have signed include Tracie Bennett, Jordan Luke Gage, Ruthie Henshall, Michael Jibson, Ruth Jones MBE, Beverly Knight MBE, Matt Lucas, Jason Pennycooke, and Clive Rowe.

Creatives who are co-signatories include Matt Cole, Nikolai Foster, Martin Lowe, and Jeremy James Taylor.

The open letter also has support from David James, the founder of BOOK, Music & Lyrics (the UK's only weekly workshop for the professional development of musical theatre practitioners) and Natalia Scorer, the Executive Director of Mercury Musical Developments (the UK’s foremost organisation dedicated to supporting & nurturing musical theatre writers) – many of the co-signatories are members of both BML and MMD.

The open letter is still accepting co-signatories for those who would like to add their name to support, and this can be done here.