International Theatre celebrates 40 years of Olivier Awards and London’s Victoria and Albert Museum greets this milestone by offering visitors an immersive experience in theatrical heritage.

The V&A this year celebrates the rich creative theatre talent in the West End of London and New York’s Broadway, two world class centres of theatrical excellence, with an exhibition dedicated to past productions.

Matilda The Musical. Photo: Manuel Harlan. The Royal Shakespeare Company

Curtain Up: Celebrating 40 Years of Theatre in London and New York explores the extraordinary range of craft and collaboration that goes into creating award-winning plays, musicals and productions. The show is a free and immersive theatrical experience taking visitors from the stage, to the design workshops and through the history of the awards to the red carpet.

Curated by the V&A and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Centre, in partnership with the Society of London Theatre (SOLT), the exhibition is part of a year-long programme of activity organised by SOLT to celebrate 40 years of the Olivier Awards (1976-2016), awarded annually to recognise excellence in professional theatre.

Highlights include original costume designs from The Phantom of the Opera

Curtain Up is designed by RFK Architects and Tom Piper, the acclaimed designer and theatre-maker renowned for his Tower of London poppies installation, Blood Swept Lands And Seas of Red, a collaboration with ceramic artist Paul Cummins. Curtain Up brings together costumes, designs, models, photographs, archival production material, film and awards, much on display for the first time.

John Owen Jones (The Phantom) as Red Death in Masquerade. Photo: Catherine Ashmore Cameron Mackintosh Ltd Really Useful Theatre Co.

On display are objects drawn from the collections of the V&A and The Library for the Performing Arts, supplemented with key loans from private collections. Highlights include original costume designs from The Phantom of the Opera by Maria Bjornson (1986), one of the longest running West End musicals, and the longest running Broadway production in history, shown alongside the costume worn by a recent West End Phantom, a selection of golden top hats from A Chorus Line, which won both the Tony Award (1976) and the inaugural Olivier Award (1976) for Best New Musical, a tunic worn by Rudolf Nureyev in Romeo and Juliet, which won the Olivier in 1977 and Dame Helen Mirren dress, designed by Bob Crowley and worn in The Audience, a role which she won both an Olivier (2013) and Tony Award (2015) for Best Actress.

Cast of A Chorus Line performing on stage at the Royal Opera House, 2013. Photo: Jonathan Hordle. Rex Features

“Having worked on both Broadway and the West End, I am delighted that Curtain Up, marking 40 years since the Olivier Awards were inaugurated, honours the shared artistic heritage binding London and New York and showcases the wealth of creative talent that brings great productions to the stage on both sides of the Atlantic,” the actress said.

Curtain Up considers the central role the West End and Broadway have in London and New York today as well as exploring the evolution of these two transatlantic theatre cities. A spotlight on the awards reveals how they have developed since their inception and how an entire company – from back-of-house to centre stage – contributes to an award-winning production.

The exhibition is part of a year-long programme of activity to celebrate 40 years of the Olivier Awards

Spotlight includes material such as correspondence and production material relating to the original production of Evita. Script-writing, production, direction, design (lighting, sound, set, and costume), music, choreography and the evolution of technology will all be considered when a production is in the running for an award.

Plays and musicals which have performed well both in London and New York are highlighted with costumes on display from Disney’s The Lion King, designed by Julie Taymor, costume designs by William Ivey Long for Chicago and The Producers and Christopher Oram’s costume designs for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.

War Horse at the New London Theatre. Photo: Brinkhoff Mögenburg

Visitors can see the set models for Matilda the Musical, an RSC musical which won seven Olivier awards and five Tony awards, designed by Rob Howell as well as models from the National Theatre’s award-winning production War Horse (2007).

On display for the first time in the UK are set models for the New York productions of Carousel (1994) and Sunday in the Park with George (1983). Visitors will also have the opportunity to step into a scene from The National Theatre’s production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, specially designed for Curtain Up.

Curtain Up: Celebrating 40 Years of Theatre in London and New York runs until August 31 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

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