It was a night of sweet victory for Michael Bond’s marmalade-loving bear as Paddington: The Musical dominated the Olivier awards on Sunday. Amid the tuxes and gowns of a glittering ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the duffle coat-wearing bear got his sticky paws all over seven prizes including best new musical.

The award for best actor in a musical went to the duo who play Paddington: James Hameed provides the lovable hero’s voice and is the remote puppeteer, while Arti Shah performs in the furry costume. The show’s baddies, Tom Edden (as the busybody Mr Curry) and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (as Millicent Clyde, who wants Paddington to literally get stuffed), won best supporting actor and best supporting actress in a musical respectively. Luke Sheppard was named best director for the production, which also picked up awards for costume design (Gabriella Slade and Tahra Zafar) and set design (Tom Pye and Ash J Woodward).

Paddington: The Musical, which has music and lyrics by McFly’s Tom Fletcher and a book by Jessica Swale, shared the highest number of nominations (11) with Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods. That show, at the Bridge theatre, took home two awards: best musical revival and best lighting design (Aideen Malone and Roland Horvath).

The ceremony was hosted by actor, comedian and Celebrity Traitors finalist Nick Mohammed who joked that he had repeatedly been asked by people (including his own agent) how he had got such a gig. He even roped in nominee Tom Hiddleston to hold up his cue cards.

There were performances on stage from stars including Rachel Zegler who won best actress in a musical for Evita, one of last year’s most talked about shows as it featured a scene in which Zegler sang from the London Palladium’s balcony to huge crowds on the street below. Zegler praised director Jamie Lloyd for creating such an “accessible moment” of theatre for passersby and thanked Londoners for “making me feel so welcome here”.

Fabian Aloise won best theatre choreographer for Evita while Elaine Paige, who played Eva Perón in the first production of that musical in 1978, won the Special award for her stage career, presented to her by Evita composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Paige said it was a “pinch me moment” and praised her father for encouraging a spirit of perseverance that had helped her during her “remarkable adventure” in the industry.

Dramas exploring the theme of justice picked up several awards. Rosamund Pike beat nominees including Cate Blanchett and Marianne Jean-Baptiste to the prize for best actress for her performance in Inter Alia as a karaoke-loving crown court judge whose personal and professional life are rocked by a shock revelation. Pike, whose performance also won best actress at the Critics’ Circle theatre awards last month, originally performed the role at the National Theatre, has reprised it for a West End run and will take the play to Broadway in November. The play was written by Suzie Miller whose Prima Facie brought Jodie Comer the best actress prize at the Oliviers in 2023. Pike said it had been 14 years since she last performed on stage and that she had felt it was a huge risk to return. Praising her fellow nominees in the category, she said they had moved her to tears.

Inter Alia lost to James Graham’s Punch in the best new play category. Graham’s play is based on the true story of a one-punch death. Julie Hesmondhalgh won best actress in a supporting role for playing Joan Scourfield who sought restorative justice after her son James Hodgkinson died when he was hit by Jacob Dunne. Graham was joined on stage by Dunne and Scourfield and the playwright described their “extraordinary journey” towards healing. Hesmondhalgh said the play had a message of hope, compassion, forgiveness and love in a world of division, violence and conflict.

Ivo van Hove’s production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons won the award for best revival, presented by Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen who joked that he would have to improvise with a Shakespeare speech during their introduction as he could not read the Autocue. All My Sons also won the best supporting actor prize for Paapa Essiedu who spoke of the importance of youth theatres and called for funding for access programmes to ensure the next generation of actors and audiences come through.

In one of the night’s biggest upsets, the star of All My Sons, Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston, was beaten to the best actor award by Jack Holden for Kenrex. Holden played every role in the drama, which he also co-wrote, about the citizens of a small US town taking the law into their own hands. Praising his “esteemed” fellow nominees, he joked that most people wouldn’t know who he is and encouraged audiences to take a chance on new talent when choosing what to see at the theatre. Kenrex also won a second prize for Giles Thomas’s sound design. The Olivier awards honour London productions but Kenrex and Punch were regional theatre triumphs: the former was a Sheffield Theatres transfer and Punch originated at Nottingham Playhouse.

There were no awards (from six nominations) for the transfer of the Broadway hit Stereophonic, which in 2024 became the most nominated play in the history of the Tony awards. Another US import, the uproarious Oh, Mary!, won the prize for best new entertainment or comedy play. Best family show went to Guardian journalist Nick Ahad’s rambunctious yet poignant adaptation of Onjali Q Raúf’s novel The Boy at the Back of the Class, staged at the Rose theatre.

The prize for outstanding musical contribution went to Chris Fenwick (for musical supervision and arrangements) and Sean Hayes (for his live piano performance of Rhapsody in Blue) for Good Night, Oscar at the Barbican. The award for best new production in an affiliate theatre went to The Glass Menagerie, the closing production at the Yard in Hackney Wick before the theatre reopens in a new home. The best new dance production was Into the Hairy by Sharon Eyal for S-E-D at Sadler’s Wells and best new opera production was Dead Man Walking by English National Opera at London Coliseum. This year, Wayne McGregor won the award for outstanding contribution to dance and Danielle de Niese was recognised for her outstanding contribution to opera. Industry recognition awards went to children’s playwright David Wood; Betty Laine, founder of Laine Theatre Arts college; and Linda Tolhurst, stagedoor keeper at the National Theatre for almost half a century.

But it will go down in history as Paddington’s big night – the musical’s tally of seven awards is the same as past Oliviers successes Matilda the Musical, Hamilton, Cabaret and Sunset Boulevard.

This year’s ceremony included special performances to mark the 40th anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera in the West End and the 20th anniversary of Wicked.

The Olivier awards, which this year celebrated their 50th anniversary, are overseen by the Society of London Theatre. The winners were chosen by a team of industry figures, stage luminaries and theatre-loving members of the public.