New York City
The annual honors for the best of London theater will be handed out tonight.
The 2016 Olivier Awards, hosted by stage favorite Michael Ball, will be presented today, April 3, at London's Royal Opera House.
The ceremony will open with a performance from Best Actress in a Musical nominee Imelda Staunton, representing the Olivier Award-nominated revival of Gypsy. Grammy Award and Tony Award winner Cyndi Lauper, whose musical Kinky Boots is nominated for seven awards, will perform both on her own and in a unique collaboration. In addition, performer Jack Savoretti will perform Sonnet 18 at the ceremony to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.
This year's list of Olivier Award nominees includes Gemma Arterton, Kenneth Branagh, Kenneth Cranham, Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Mark Gatiss, Denise Gough, Preeya Kalidas, Nicole Kidman, Adrian Lester, Lara Pulver, Mark Rylance, Imelda Staunton, Tom Sturridge, and David Suchet, among many others.
Ceremony guests who will be presenting this year's awards include Uzo Aduba, Zawe Ashton, Shirley Bassey, Matthew Bourne, Rob Brydon, Stephen Campbell Moore, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Adam Cooper, Paul Copley, Noma Dumezweni, Alfred Enoch, Luke Evans, David Gandy, Kit Harington, Emma Hatton, Lenny Henry, Eddie Izzard, Rory Kinnear, Beverley Knight, Lesley Manville, Julia McKenzie, James Norton, Vanessa Redgrave, Amber Riley, Juliet Stevenson, Savannah Stevenson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Luke Treadaway, Zoë Wanamaker, and Barbara Windsor.
The evening will feature performances from all four nominated productions in the Best Musical Revival category as well as all four nominees for MasterCard Best New Musical. In a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the awards, performers Joe Stilgoe and Michael Feinstein will be joined by Michael Ball as well as actors Sharon D. Clarke, Daniel Evans, and Leigh Zimmerman to perform a 40th-anniversary tribute.
The full Olivier Awards ceremony will stream online below at 5:00pm EST.