The evening's host was actor and director Richard Wilson - whose latest directing turn, Primo (starring Anthony Sher), is bedding in at the Hampstead Theatre.
With musicals fans eagerly waiting to see whether honors would go to The Producers, Mary Poppins or (the dark horse) Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman In White, here's how the prizes panned out:
Special Award For Outstanding Contribution To Theatre: Alan Bennett (who nicknamed his prize the "zimmer frame award")
Best Actress: Clare Higgins, for Hecuba
Best Actor: Richard Griffiths, for The History Boys Best Performance in Supporting Role: Amanda Harris, for Othello
Best New Play: Alan Bennett's The History Boys
Best Revival: Hamlet, directed by Trevor Nunn at the Old Vic
Best New Musical: The Producers by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan
Outstanding Musical Production: Grand Hotel, directed by Michael Grandage at the Donmar Warehouse
Best Actress In A Musical: Laura Michelle Kelly, for Mary Poppins
Best Actor: Nathan Lane, for The Producers
Best Performance In A Supporting Role In A Musical: Conleth Hill, for The Producers
Best Director: Nicholas Hytner, for The History Boys
Best Choreographer: Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear, for Mary Poppins
Best Lighting Design: Paule Constable, for His Dark Materials
Best Set Design: Giles Cadle, for His Dark Materials
Best Costume Design: Deirdre Clancey, for All's Well That Ends Well at the Gielgud
Best Sound Design: Mick Potter for The Woman in White
Outstanding Achievement Or Performance In An Affiliate Theatre: Andrew Scott, for his performance in A Girl In A Car With A Man at the Royal Court
Best New Opera Production: Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk, directed by Richard Jones at the Royal Opera House
Outstanding Achievement In Opera: Thomas Ades and the Royal Opera House for The Tempest
Best New Dance production: SWAMP, by the Rambert Dance Company at Sadler's Wells
Outstanding Achievement In Dance: San Francisco Ballet for their season at Sadler's Wells