Jump start ... James Lomas, George Maguire and Liam Mower pose with their Olivier awards at last night's ceremony. Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty
Subeditors pirouetted with glee last night as the three Billy Elliots tripped off with the Olivier award for best actor in a musical.
The Telegraph and the Mail found themselves sashaying to the same beat, both opening with the observation that the show had "danced off" (Telegraph) or "danced away" (Mail) with the prize.
The youngest of the three, Liam Mower, was getting a little ahead of himself when he told the Mail that he was "still not used" to the awards, showing more evidence of his confusion by revealing that "getting to dress up like this in suits and stuff is really cool, although I'm actually really hot and sweaty at the moment, which isn't so cool."
The Telegraph followed up its sprightly opening with the suggestion that the boys were "clearly shocked when their names were announced", though made no mention of the kerfuffle that seems to have followed. According to the Independent, the young stars "celebrated by dancing their way to the stage, punching the air with joy". Charlotte Higgins in the Guardian confirmed that they "leapt exuberantly on to the stage" - so perhaps the boys can count themselves lucky that the Mail's correspondent wasn't able to find enough room in the allotted 10 paragraphs to call for an Asbo.
Amid all the Billy Elliot coverage, here was just about room enough to squeeze in mention of Ian McKellen's special award, which the Mail attributed to his performance as Widow Twankey. The Independent preferred to focus on his wider achievements, offering Michael Grandage's assessment of McKellen as "one of this country's greatest actors over nearly the last half-century".
With the Telegraph focusing on "man-mountain" Brian Denehy's "tour de force" in Death of a Salesman, it was only the Times which devoted much space to something that's recently become a rarity - a good night for ENO. Dalya Alberge laid out the nominations for best new opera production in full - each one at ENO - before turning to the winning director, Anthony Minghella, who called it "a huge boost for ENO ... a great orchestra, a great chorus and a great company".
