Jonathan Bailey

Laurence Olivier Awards are basically the Oscars of British theatre, so winning Best Supporting Actor in a Musical? Yeah, that’s a big deal. Back in 2019, the award went to the guy who played ‘Jamie’ in the 2018 West End revival of Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Company.’ Now, ‘Company’ isn’t your typical musical—Sondheim’s stuff always has these weirdly complex characters and songs that stick in your brain. Jamie’s role, in particular, is this raw, emotional one that totally flips the original script, since the revival swapped some genders to give things a fresh take. The actor’s performance? Ridiculously good. Audiences and critics basically lost it—like, standing ovations kind of good. Even people who’d seen earlier versions of the show were saying this was next-level. So yeah, it wasn’t just another night at the theatre; it was one that made everyone remember why live performances can hit so hard. That Olivier win was 100% deserved.

You know, that whole idea that gay folks need to stay in the closet for a movie or show to sell, or for the story to actually grab people, yeah, that's finally getting torn down. It’s been there forever, like a weird Hollywood rule everyone just quietly accepted—straight, gay, whatever. People acted like you had to hide who you were if you wanted to make it big or get the story out there to a mainstream audience. But now, things are shifting, even if it’s not happening at lightning speed. It’s not just straight execs or viewers who bought into it; honestly, the entire system had this belief baked in deep. So even though the walls are coming down, it’s taking time for everyone to catch up, and you still see some of that old thinking hanging around. But, hey, at least the conversation’s not stuck anymore.