Three teens in Billy Elliot take Britain's top acting prize

Three teenagers who played the title role in Billy Elliot: The Musical danced off with the top British acting prize on Sunday, beating film star Ewan McGregor.

James Lomas, George Maguire, both 15, and Liam Mower, 13, won the Laurence Olivier Award for best actor in a musical at a London ceremony.

They take turns playing a boy from a mining village who dreams of being a ballet dancer. The musical, with music by Elton John and the book and lyrics by Lee Hall, is based on the hit movie.

Billy Elliot also won Oliviers, Britain's most prestigious theatre awards, for choreography, sound design and best new musical.

The trio of boys won against Star Wars actor McGregor, who was nominated for his turn as New York gambler Sky Masterson in a London revival of Guys and Dolls. His American co-star, Jane Krakowski, took the award for best actress in a musical for her performance as Miss Adelaide.

Billy Elliot: The Musical might be coming to Canada as part of an international run that could take in Germany, the U.S., Japan and Australia, its London producers announced last week.

One of the difficulties producers faced in mounting the show is finding boys of the right prepubescent age who can dance. The current London show has seven youths ready to fill the role of Billy and any international productions would have to recruit locally.

It's necessary to split the role among several boys because of the physical demands of playing seven shows a week. And some boys grow out of the role, necessitating a new supply of dancers.

The boys who jointly won the Olivier were the original three and were unknown before they were picked from 3,000 hopefuls at an open audition.

Other Olivier winners include:

• Brian Dennehy was named best actor in a play for his portrayal of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
• Ibsen's Hedda Gabler won a set design award for Rob Howell and Eve Best won best actress in a play in the role of Hedda.
• The best new play was On the Shore of the Wide World by Simon Stephens.
• The best new comedy prize went to Heroes by Gerald Sibleyras in a translation by Tom Stoppard.
• Ian McKellen, a stalwart of the London stage and of screen roles in X-Men and Lord of the Rings, was given a special Olivier Award for his contribution to theatre and his support of the industry.
• The English National Opera, which lost both its artistic director and chairman this year, had all four nominations in the opera production category and won for Madam Butterfly.