Hairspray sweeps the board at Laurence Olivier Awards

Its star, Leanne Jones, was named best actress in a musical for her role as teenager Tracy Turnblad.

The 22-year-old from Romford, Essex, had never appeared on the professional stage before landing the part and was working in a Halifax bank call centre this time last year.

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Michael Ball, who plays Tracy's mother, said it was the "best night of his life" after being named best actor in a musical while Tracie Bennett won best performance in a supporting role.

The show, adapted from the cult John Waters film about a plump teenager who dreams of landing a spot on a local TV dance show in Sixties Baltimore, was also named best new musical.

Richard E Grant hosted the 32nd annual awards at London's Grosvenor House Hotel.

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In the play categories, Kristin Scott Thomas won the best actress award for her performance in The Seagull at the Royal Court Theatre.

She said: "I love working in theatre so much. I love going on stage every night. I love the words I have to say. I'm so proud to get this. It will be cherished.

To do theatre in London - which is the best place in the world for theatre - and to do it at the Royal Court is a dream come true."

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The 47-year-old actress, accompanied by her eldest daughter Hannah, was beat out competition from Shameless star Anne-Marie Duff and Penelope Wilton.

She won for her performance as Arkadina, a prima donna actress worried about ageing.

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She said later: "There were a lot of things to really identify with - the anxiety of getting older, the silly little jealousies of the younger actresses coming up and what to do with her son. I just loved her.

"As a woman in her late forties with children and wrestling with her career, it was all so poignant."

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Chiwetel Ejiofor took the best actor prize for his starring role in Othello at the Donmar Warehouse while Rupert Goold won best director for Macbeth at the Gielgud Theatre.

The best newcomer prize went to RADA graduate Tom Hiddleston for Cymbeline, which is currently at the Barbican in East London.

This year's Special Award went to Lord Lloyd Webber "for his remarkable achievements over the last few decades as well as his recent role in bringing theatre to new audiences the world over".

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His recent successes include the BBC1 shows How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, which found stars for West End shows The Sound Of Music and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Lord Lloyd Webber also pulled off a publicity coup when he planted his new Maria, actress Summer Strallen, in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks.

He said: "I've had the luck to do the one thing I've always wanted to do most of all. Everything I've done is because I love musical theatre."

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