November 15, 2001
Lion and Lintel dominate wins at a glitch-filled Kodak Theatre
debut.
by Rob Kendt
What are awards shows for? To gather ceremonially to honor and
celebrate the best work in a given medium, and in the process to raise the
public profile and prestige--dare we say, the glamor--of the medium.
By that measure, this week's eighth annual peer-judged Ovation
Awards at the brand-spanking-new Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland scored
well on the honoring part, with Ovation voters--representatives from each of
Theatre LA's 190 member theatres--spreading the wealth around to theatres large
and small, to work both safe and daring. Twenty-six competitive awards were
shared among 16 shows, 10 of those in intimate theatres. The production numbers
and presenters also offered a fair reflection of the L.A. theatre scene's
dizzying diversity.
The celebratory and profile-raising component of the Ovations hit
a snag, however--several snags, in fact, starting with a ticketing snafu, no
doubt exacerbated by an evening rain and the unfamiliarity of attendees with
the Kodak's parking and seating, which delayed the 7 p.m. curtain for a full
hour and led to the wise if discomfiting decision to abandon assigned seating,
even for nominees.
Then came the audiovisual comedy of errors, centering on a framed
video projection monitor that towered over the stage and struggled mightily to
match images to the script (maybe PowerPoint would be a good investment, guys).
Sometimes we saw a list of nominees, wobbling disconcertingly in video pause
mode; sometimes we saw a frantic fast-forwarding to catch up with the script; a
few memorable times we saw a flickering logo for the Taper's Flower Drum
Song. Betty Garrett and John Gallogly gamely improvised a dance when a
video commemorating Theatre West's 40th anniversary failed to roll for a minute
or so. Most depressingly, an "In Memoriam" slide show for actors and
theatre artists lost in the past year was misprojected to the point of
illegibility. Ouch--that hurt.
Also projected on the screen, glitch-free, were moving video
tributes to special awardees Cathy Rigby, honored for her post-gymnastics
second career in musical theatre, and Tom Ormeny, honored for decades of
leadership in L.A.'s scrappy, under-appreciated theatre scene. Rigby's and
Ormeny's acceptance speeches--hers classy and unassuming, his impassioned and
stirring--were the evening's high points.
Providing some nice, unflashy diversions were musical numbers from
Deaf West Theatre Company's Big River, the Celebration's slyly queered Pinafore, and Flower
Drum Song, forcefully rendered by Lea Salonga. The awards show band led by
Brad Ellis sounded great, and singers by themselves could be heard just fine;
duets and groups were tougher on the Kodak's sound crew. An uncredited opening
number with Wilson Cruz and two other male singers, which seemed to be about
the anxiety of doing theatre, barely registered but for its puzzling closing
line, "I pray on opening night/Don Shirley's there." (Huh? Is The
L.A. Times' theatre reporter an Ovation voter at large?) The sound hit its
stride for a fine but pointless choral rendition of "America the
Beautiful," a show closer that hit its last notes a few minutes shy of 11
p.m.
It should be noted that the 3,500-seat Kodak Theatre looks
great--it's a retro Broadway-style palace with boxed seats to the ceiling--and
that the folks at Theatre LA are abjectly taking full responsibility for the
show's glitches. (For the record, the director was Jon Lawrence Rivera, the
producers Larry O'Connor and Tim Lounibos.) The new venue has promise. So do
the relatively young and ambitious Ovation Awards, L.A. theatre's biggest and
most important annual celebration--but this year they failed to harness the
energy and talents of a vibrant theatre scene to present a flattering
reflection of themselves to the larger world. This Kodak moment was hardly
picture-perfect.
It's been asked before, but it's a question that bears repeating:
Why can't theatre folks put on a better awards show?
And now, a sampling of memorable highlights and lowlights:
Sorry he asked: Eric Snodgress, a winner with Jef Bek
for sound design of Zoo District's PathŽ X, got up from the Kodak's sound
tech table right behind the orchestra seating, to accept his Ovation and asked,
"How's the sound?" Oops.
Reading the room: Quipped Disney exec Tom Schumacher,
accepting The Lion King's best musical, larger theatre Ovation after a
raft of Lion King wins: "Thank you for your moan."
Open mouth, insert foot: Taste-challenged co-host Bruce
Vilanch made a clueless, offensive joke that the Alex Theatre in Glendale is
otherwise known as "the National Theatre of Armenia," and presenter
Bill Pullman recalled William Mastrosimone's Afghanistan-themed Nanawatai, saying there
might need to be a sequel featuring his former co-stars Steven Bauer and Gina
Gershon in their "mujihadeen makeup."
Obligatory statuette puzzlement remark: Wilson Cruz,
presenter and previous Ovation winner, for Rent: "I'm
the proud owner of one these little greenÉ people. I don't even know what they
are. They're androgynous, like I was."
Obligatory big-city attitude: Ahmanson publicist Ken
Werther, accepting Meg Howrey's award for Contact: "The company of Contact is in
Cleveland right now. They probably wish they were still here."
The Mapa files: Presenter Alec Mapa (who at one point
aptly labeled the show "absolute chaos"), contending with the video
screen's inexplicable flashing logo for a hit musical: "I had nothing to
do with the subliminal ad for Flower Drum Song. I'm only
here tonight to prove that Lea Salonga and I are not the same person."
We're glad she said it: Cathy Rigby, accepting her lifetime
achievement award: "I've toured the country for six of the last 10 years,
and there is nowhere finer for great theatre than Southern California."
Quip-tastic: Leslie Jordan, accepting his featured
actor Ovation for Southern Baptist Sissies: "I can't say it was a
stretch playing a Southern Baptist sissy. I more or less fell out of the womb
into my mother's high heels."
Booster crowing: Theatre LA president/CEO Lee Wochner
testified that L.A. has "the most vibrant, exciting, unruly theatre
scene" in the world, and that if London had the 1890s, Paris the 1920s,
and New York the '40s, "L.A.'s time is now. This is a great theatre
city."
Saying what we were thinking: Presenter David Hyde Pierce,
referring to a chorus of speechless young folks who periodically flooded the
stage in orderly formations as a sort of transition between segments: "I'm
frightened by the walking people."
Good quote out of context: Gogi Grant, accepting a
featured actress Ovation for Glad To Be Unhappy: "I
guess if you live long enough, you live to see everything."
Easily overlooked point: Tom Ormeny, speaking sincerely and
making a point that needed to be made in the midst of the awards show debacle:
"Theatre LA is one of the most successful arts organizations in the
country."
Appropriate current-event comment: Tom Ormeny,
closing his speech with a rousing quote from Camus about culture vs. repression
and adding: "It's our job to provoke thought and to heal wounds. Despite
the real and imagined terror, it's time to reaffirm our faith and do our
job."
Novel definition: Ormeny again, redefining theatre as
"the only legal form of public love-making."
Professional irony: Brian T. Finney, accepting an acting
award for Underneath the Lintel: "I was hired to do this same
play in New York, and I got fired from it."
You go: Composer Damon Intrabartolo, accepting an award
for bare, disputed presenter Joan Van Ark's reference to "large
musicals" vs. "tiny, tiny musicals": "Intimate theatre is
not tiny, tiny--it's powerful."
The industry sleeps: Jane Anderson, accepting a writing
award for Looking for Normal, gave tribute to her agent, Martin
Gage: "Martin, are you still awake? He falls asleep at a lot of theatre,
but he loves theatre." Her tribute: "It's very tempting to leave the
theatre for Oscarville or whatever, but Martin always insists that I write a
play."
A complete list of winners follows:
World premiere play or musical: Jane
Anderson, Looking for Normal, Geffen Playhouse. New translation
or adaptation: (tie) Clara Bellar, Herb Mendelsohn, and cast, A Flea in Her
Ear, Stages Theatre, and Rick Sparks and Gary Carter, They Shoot
Horses, Don't They?, Greenway Arts Alliance. Musical, large theatre: The Lion
King, Disney Theatricals at the Pantages Theatre. Musical, intimate
theatre: bare, Hudson Mainstage Theatre. Play, large theatre: A Huey P.
Newton Story, LATC/Cultural Affairs Dept. at Los Angeles Theatre Center. Play,
intimate theatre: Underneath the Lintel, Actors' Gang. Actress, musical: Gogi Grant, Glad
To Be Unhappy: The Lyrical Life of Lorenz Hart. Actor,
musical: Avi Hoffman, Avi Hoffman's Too Jewish?, Sheryl
Levine Gutterman at UCLA Freud Playhouse. Actress, play: Laurie
Metcalf, Looking for Normal. Actor, play: Brian T.
Finney, Underneath the Lintel. Featured actress, musical: Meg Howrey, Contact, Ahmanson
Theatre. Featured actor, musical: Danny Rutigliano, The Lion King. Featured
actress, play: Elizabeth Franz, Death of a Salesman, Ahmanson
Theatre. Featured actor, play: Leslie Jordan, Southern Baptist
Sissies, Zephyr Theatre. Ensemble performance: The cast of Night
and Her Stars, Alliance Repertory Company. Director, musical: Julie Taymor,
The Lion King. Director, play: Brent Hinkley, Underneath the
Lintel. Choreographer: Garth Fagan, The Lion King. Lighting
design, larger theatre: Donald Holder, The Lion King. Lighting
design, intimate: Fredrick Wenzlaff, Infinity, the Court Theatre. Set
design, larger: Richard Hudson, The Lion King. Set
design, intimate: Desma Murphy, A Mislaid Heaven, Road Theatre
Company. Costume design, larger: Julie Taymor, The Lion King. Costume
design, intimate: Kara Feely, Paule Lemassow, and Norma Ramos, PathŽ X. Sound
design, larger: Marc Anthony Thompson, A Huey P. Newton Story. Sound
design, intimate: Jef Bek and Eric Snodgress, PathŽ X. Career
Achievement Award: Cathy Rigby. James A. Doolittle Award for Outstanding
Leadership in the Theatre: Tom Ormeny.