The stage musical based on the popular 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 and three acting prizes, plus awards for its direction, costumes and set design. US actress Rachel Zegler was among the night's other big winners, after putting a modern spin on one of theatre's most famous roles in a new production of Evita.
Accepting the award for best new musical, Paddington writer Jessica Swale said 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".
Scroll down to see the winners list in full. 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. In her acceptance speech, Zegler said: "Thank you so much to the city of London for making me feel so welcome here, I never could've imagined it." Zegler made headlines for leaving the stage every night to perform Don't Cry For Me Argentina from the London Palladium's outdoor balcony to passers-by.
The stunt, masterminded by director Jamie Lloyd, drew huge crowds to the concourse outside the theatre every night, and Zegler's performance was live streamed on a big screen to the audience inside the theatre. "It was the honour of a lifetime singing to the people on Argyll Street eight times a week, I can't believe I got so lucky to sing in front of thousands of you," Zegler said. "It's so beautiful that Jamie Lloyd made such an accessible moment of theatre for people to walk by and witness something really really cool." Elsewhere, Rosamund Pike won best actress in a play for legal drama Inter Alia, holding off competition from fellow film stars Cate Blanchett and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.
"I can't believe it," Pike said, accepting her award. "I haven't done any theatre for 14 years, it was a huge, exhilarating risk to come back and be invited by the National Theatre, home of so much wonderful work, to do this special play." A new production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons won two prizes, including best supporting actor for I May Destroy You star Paapa Essiedu. Accepting his award, Essiedu noted that he "never really went to the theatre" growing up, and only gained access to it thanks to a youth talent development programme run by theatre company Frantic Assembly.
"I remember being in that room, and even though I didn't have the vocabulary, hadn't been to the theatre, my creativity was still nurtured and valued," he said. He added funding for such programmes "is being cut year on year, and I urge everyone in this room, at home, and at governmental level, to continue funding these organisations to make sure the next generation of theatre-makers have the opportunities that I had". James Graham's play Punch, a true story about a young man who hit and accidentally killed a trainee paramedic in 2011, also won two prizes - best new play and best supporting actress for former Coronation Street star Julie Hesmondhalgh.
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