THEATER: ‘Tony’ awards recognize backstage folks
Once a year I enjoy stepping out of the role of critic and becoming a cheerleader. During the annual Las Vegas “Tony” awards — composed by this Tony committee of one — I’ve gotten to salute for 11 years some of those (certainly not all) who have given me particular pleasure in my local theatergoing.
In today’s Review-Journal, I dealt with what some might label the major categories (Outstanding Theatre Troupe, Production, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Director). Of course, without the contributions of the backstage folks listed below the “major” players would produce very minor results.
So, with nothing but fears of contradictions and grievous oversights, I ask once again for the envelope please:
Outstanding Set Design: Kris Van Riper’s storybook look for Rainbow Company’s June “The Great Cross-Country Race” (directed by Toni Molloy-Tudor in June at the Charleston Heights Center) was appealing, playful and curious. It was based on Betty Levin’s simple illustrations for “Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type.” It created an intersection between art and design that helped us feel we really were in the action of another world. First runner-up: Michael Morse and Patrick Drawyer for creating a Pee Wee Playhouse-ish world for Off-Strip’s production of “Betty’s Summer Vacation” (directed in April by Rob Kostil at the Onyx). Second runner-up: Ron Lindblom for his eerie below-deck submarine in LVLT’s “Purple Hearts” (directed in December by Paul Thornton).
Outstanding Light Design: Eugene Brim’s ethereal, subtle often half-mast lighting added a cathedral feel to French clown Barthelemy Glumineau’s one-act pantomime “Republic of Dreams” (directed in March for Off-Strip Productions at the Onyx by Glumineau). Brim paid homage to the troubled world of Polish literary figure (and Nazi victim) Bruno Schultz by enveloping his world in a brooding atmosphere that suggested danger as well as hope. First runner-up: Randall Brown for helping create a pulsating sense of doom with his intriguing shadows in LVLT’s “Purple Hearts.” Second runner-up: Jody Coley’s work for Rainbow Company’s October “My Neighbor, the Monster” (directed by author Brian Kral at the Reed Whipple Main Theatre) did justice to the memory of a 1960s Boulder City movie house, as well as the spooky encounters with the weird old man who lived down the street.
Outstanding Costumes: John Beane’s inspiredly insane outfits for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (directed in July by Beane for Insurgo Movement at the Onyx) helped make Shakespeare’s comedy a midsummer night’s nightmare. Would you believe Greek breastplates and helmets, mixed with cavemen and modern-American military chic, topped off by gas masks, G-strings and fetish-shop kink. It made you want to learn more about Beane’s childhood.
First runner-up: Steve Huntsman’s perversely mixed-period designs for Super Summer Theatre/Signature Productions’ “Aida” (now playing at the Spring Mountain Ranch, with Huntsman as director) gave us a Bollywood sense of giddy, show-biz kitsch. Second runner-up: Tara O’Donoghue and Victoria Shaffer’s ability to suggest the look and behavior of animals through costume in Rainbow Company’s “The Great Cross-Country Race” gave extra pleasure to the adults who got to enjoy the moments when the children in the audience suddenly “got it.”
Outstanding Choreography: Marko Westwood for Insurgo Movement’s March production of “Cannibal! The Musical” (directed by John Beane at the Onyx) helped make live people’s moving limbs as interesting as the severed ones. Dancing choruses mingled with torn body parts so effectively that you didn’t have time to get offended. Westwood incorporated the nonsense, plot and mood into one logical expression of silliness. First runner-up: Dawn Axam, who gave Trinity Entertainment’s December “Black Nativity” (directed by Robert Connor) an often frenetic feel that made it impossible not to be carried away by the spiritual uplift. Axam also knows how to slow down: Her quiet numbers were rich in line patterns, images and effective interpretative movement. Second runner-up: Colby Baker for her spirited playfulness in Super Summer Theatre/P.S. Productions’ “Beauty and the Beast” (directed in June at the Spring Mountain Ranch by Phil Shelburne).
