The Sondheim and Lapine musical almost swept the board, winning five out of the six categories for which the acclaimed production was nominated, picking up awards for Outstanding Musical Production, Best Lighting Design, Best Set Design, Best Actress in a Musical for Jenna Russell and Best Actor in a Musical for Daniel Evans.

New York's Roundabout Theatre Company is rumored to be mounting this production — casting to be announced — at Studio 54 during the 2007-08 Broadway season.

The Tony Kushner/Jeanine Tesori musical Caroline, or Change was also recognized, winning the Best New Musical award.

The London revival of Cabaret picked up two awards with Sheila Hancock winning Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical and Javier De Frutos getting the nod for Best Theatre Choreographer.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was David Harrower’s Blackbird win for Best New Play, beating Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘N’ Roll and Peter Morgan’s Frost/Nixon. Harrower's play will receive its American premiere this spring at New York's Manhattan Theatere Club, in a production directed by Joe Mantello. Tamsin Grieg, who recently won a Crictics’ Circle award for her performance in Much Ado About Nothing, beat Kathleen Turner to the Best Actress award while Rufus Sewell won Best Actor for his performance in Rock ‘N’ Roll .

The accolades for Sunday in the Park represent a huge achievement for David Babani, the Chocolate Factory’s co-producer and artistic director. Soon after the 180 seat venue opened in 2004, the Chocolate Factory quickly became recognised as a powerhouse of new writing and innovative musical revivals, the latest of which is Little Shop of Horrors which transfers to London’s West End in March.

Commenting on the awards Rosemary Squire, President of the Society of London Theatre, said "This year's Laurence Olivier Awards demonstrate that London theatre offers a wealth of talent across new productions and revivals, unparalleled around the world. The enormous variety of shows in London means that there is something for theatre-goers of all ages and interests, proving yet again that the London theatre scene is second to none."

The 31st annual award ceremony, held at London's Grosvenor House Hotel and hosted by actors Richard Wilson and Sue Johnston, featured performances from the casts of Avenue Q; Sound Of Music; Evita; Caroline, or Change; Spamalot; Porgy And Bess and Sunday In The Park With George. The year's special award was given to opera singer Sir John Tomlinson.

Here are the nominees and winners of 2007 Olivier Awards. Winners are marked with asterisk and boldface type. The complete list of nominations follows.

Best Actress:
Eve Best for A Moon for the Misbegotten
Sinead Cusack for Rock 'N' Roll
*Tamsin Greig for Much Ado About Nothing
Kathleen Turner for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Best Actor:
Iain Glen for The Crucible
David Haig for Donkeys' Years
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
*Rufus Sewell for Rock 'N' Roll
Michael Sheen for Frost/Nixon

Best Performance in a Supporting Role:
Samantha Bond for Donkeys' Years
Deborah Findlay for The Cut
Mark Hadfield for Thérèse Raquin
Colm Meaney for A Moon for the Misbegotten
*Jim Norton for The Seafarer

Best New Play:
*Blackbird by David Harrower
Frost/Nixon by Peter Morgan
Rock 'N' Roll by Tom Stoppard
The Seafarer by Conor McPherson

Best New Comedy:
*John Buchan's The 39 Steps, adapted by Patrick Barlow from an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon
Don Juan in Soho by Patrick Marber after Moliere
Love Song by John Kolvenbach

Best Revival:
*The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Donkeys' Years by Michael Frayn
A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O’Neill
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

Best New Musical:
Avenue Q, music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx with book by Jeff Whitty
*Caroline, or Change, book and lyrics by Tony Kushner, music by Jeanine Tesori
Monty Python’s Spamalot "lovingly ripped off" from the Python's "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" with music by John Du Prez & Eric Idle.
The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess

Outstanding Musical Production:
Cabaret
Evita
The Sound of Music
*Sunday in the Park With George

Best Actress in a Musical:
Nicola Hughes for The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Tonya Pinkins for Caroline, or Change
Elena Roger for Evita
*Jenna Russell for Sunday in the Park With George
Hannah Waddingham Monty Python's Spamalot

Best Actor in a Musical:
Tim Curry for Monty Python's Spamalot
*Daniel Evans for Sunday in the Park With George
Clarke Peters for The Gershwins' Porgy And Bess
Philip Quast for Evita

Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical:
Anna Francolini for Caroline, or Change
Tom Goodman-Hill for Monty Python's Spamalot
*Sheila Hancock for Cabaret
Summer Strallen for The Boy Friend

Best Director:
Sam Buntrock for Sunday in the Park With George
*Dominic Cooke for The Crucible
Joe Mantello for Wicked

Best Theatre Choreographer:
Rob Ashford for Evita
*Javier De Frutos for Cabaret
Bill Deamer for The Boy Friend
Stephen Mear for Sinatra at the London Palladium

Best Lighting Design:
The Crucible designed by Jean Kalman
Monty Python's Spamalot designed by Hugh Vanstone
*Sunday in the Park With George designed by Natasha Chivers and Mike Robertson
Thérèse Raquin designed by Neil Austin
Wicked designed by Kenneth Posner

Best Set Design:
Monty Python's Spamalot designed by Tim Hatley
*Sunday in the Park With George designed by David Farley and Timothy Bird
Wicked designed by Eugene Lee

Best Costume Design:
Monty Python's Spamalot designed by Tim Hatley
*The Voysey Inheritance designed by Alison Chitty
Wicked designed by Susan Hilferty

Best Sound Design:
The 39 Steps designed by Mic Pool
Rock 'N' Roll designed by Ian Dickinson
*Waves designed by Gareth Fry

Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre:
*Pied Piper at Theatre Royal, Stratford East
Theatre Royal, Stratford East for a powerful season of provocative work, reaching new audiences
Love and Money at the Maria, Young Vic
Roy Dotrice for his performance in The Best of Friends at the Hampstead

Best New Opera Production:
*English National Opera's Jenufa
English National Opera's The Makropulos Case at the London Coliseum
English National Opera's Orfeo
Opera North's Peter Grimes

Outstanding Achievement in Opera:
John Mark Ainsley for his performance in English National Opera's Orfeo
Joyce DiDonato for her performance in Les Arts Florissant's Hercules
*Amanda Roocroft for her performance in English National Opera's Jenufa
John Tomlinson for his performance in The Royal Opera's Götterdämmerung

Best New Dance Production:
The Royal Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty
Kabuki Fuji Musume & Kasane
The Royal Ballet's DGV
*The Royal Ballet's Chroma

Outstanding Achievement in Dance:
Steven McRae for his performances in The Royal Ballet's Homage to the Queen and Chroma
*Carlos Acosta for his programme of work and his performances at Sadler's Wells
Marianela Nunez for her performances in The Royal Ballet's Chroma and The Sleeping Beauty
Wayne McGregor for his choreography of The Royal Ballet's Chroma

The Society’s SPECIAL AWARD: Sir John Tomlinson