GetOut Magazine

The Spotlight awards
By CHRIS PAGE
TRIBUNE

Theater is notorious for its rituals. Ask anybody who’s slipped the "M" word (shh, "Macbeth") backstage around a bunch of Shakespearean actors. Well, here’s my ritual: Every Monday, following a weekend of attending three to six shows, I stash my playbills in a desk drawer. At the end of the season, I pull open the drawer and sift through the memories, catalogued in the cast lists and scribblings I’ve made in the margins.

Those memories are the seeds of these, the annual Spotlight awards, the Tribune’s take on the best and brightest (and, just for kicks, the lamest) in Valley theater. Funny thing about what’s in the drawer this season: Nothing’s really standing out as the definitive best work. Not like last year, when a charming little "Cabaret" at Desert Stages Theatre practically shouted for kudos from the bottom of the playbill pile.

Keep in mind that school’s not really over — that is, several theaters are bucking the snowbird-scared trend of taking a summer vacation. But the desk drawer’s getting too stuffed to close. So now’s as good a time as any to dish out the accolades, gossip about the disasters and celebrate the Valley’s class of 2004-05, from its plucky freshmen to its glorified seniors.

BEST NATIONAL TOUR "The Lion King," Gammage Auditorium: The elephant in the room, so to speak, for Valley theater folks was this Broadway touring behemoth. We wondered if its seven-week stay would sap theatrical dollars from the market. Nope, and turns out the show was everything they said it was: A majestic musical journey through Julie Taymor’s inspired creation. With any luck, it’ll make a new generation of theater lovers in the Valley. (Honorable mention: "Contact," Theater League.)

WORST NATIONAL TOUR "The Graduate," Gammage: Morgan Fairchild was downright horrible as Mrs. Robinson in this leg of the Broadway tour. If only the producers had tried using an intentionally bad actress, like Anna Nicole Smith. I’d pay to see that.

BEST MUSICAL "The Pirates of Penzance," Arizona Theatre Company: Regional theater’s biggestbudget production, ATC’s "Penzance" (directed by David Ira Goldstein and a coproduction with the Kansas City Repertory Theatre) was a playful Gilbert & Sullivan gem that made you want to drag your nontheater friends to the theater to experience it. (Honorable mention: "A Year With Frog and Toad," Childsplay.)

BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Billy McGuigan, "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story," Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre: Maybe it’s not fair to give the award to McGuigan, 30, an Omaha native who’s recently made a career out of playing Holly, the bespectacled rock pioneer who died at 22, at theaters across the country. But, by golly, he’s Holly to a T, and watching him transform into the nerdy three-chord revolutionary in the Palm’s lighthearted musical bio-revue was just about magical.

BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Elizabeth Loos, "Gypsy," Broadway Palm: Loos was one mama of a Mama Rose in the Palm’s solid "Gypsy." There’s a reason Loos keeps getting booked at this Mesa supper-and-show house: She’s got powerful pipes and enough acting chops to know when to ease back and when to belt for the back tables. (Honorable mention: Morgan James, "The Pirates of Penzance," ATC.)

BEST DIRECTOR, MUSICAL David Ira Goldstein, "The Pirates of Penzance," ATC: Further proof Goldstein is a whiz at taming the unruly and crafting brilliance, even if it’s a silly operetta like "Penzance."

MOST ROMANTIC MUSICAL MOMENT "Guys and Dolls," Broadway Palm: There was something sublime about a scene shared between Aaron Lake, as Sky Masterson, and his real-life wife Tracy Ganen, who played Sarah Brown. What I wrote then: "Even the hardesthearted jerk can’t help but melt at the soft, sweet kiss they share one drunken night outside El Café Cubano in Havana, the smooch that turns their love around from a silly gamble to a sure bet."

WORST MUSICAL "Aida," Theater League: Not that the singing, or the acting, was bad. It’s just a horribly cheesy show to begin with. (Dishonorable mention: "The Sound of Music," Hale Centre Theatre. The show would’ve been entirely passable, but its Captain von Trapp, Jack Pauly, had a good two decades on his love interest, young Ange Mitchell as Maria. It cast a creepy "Lolita" tone on the whole affair.)

GRAND IRREVERENCE, MUSICAL "Debbie Does Dallas," Artists’ Theatre Project: A spirited, obscenely hilarious musical adaptation of the X-rated flick of the same name, staged by the Valley’s pluckiest young upstart theater company and a cast of relative unknowns, this "Debbie" was a refreshing bit of irreverence on the musical landscape. Not something you could take the parents to, mind you, but refreshing nonetheless.

BEST REVUE "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story," Broadway Palm: A bioplay that intersperses Holly’s music along a timeline, "Buddy’s" sharp and engaging — and it gets even lethargic dinner theater crowds up on their feet. Rock on. (Honorable mention: "Five Guys Named Moe," Black Theatre Troupe; "A Class Act," Copperstate Dinner Theater.)

WORST REVUE "A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Songbook," Copperstate Dinner Theater: Even Peter Hill, the grand pooh-bah of revues in the Valley, can have a misstep. Trying to cram Neil Diamond’s anthems and hits into the strictures of the jukebox musical made for a show that seemed suited only to a cruiseship stage.

BEST MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT John Massaro and ensemble, "Five Guys Named Moe," Black Theatre Troupe.

BEST DRAMA "Macbeth," ATC: Director Stephen Wrentmore went high-concept for his "Macbeth," setting it in the fascist 1930s, tweaking it with lots of high-tech accoutrements and casting the Weird Sisters as media-savvy puppeteers overseeing the action. By all accounts, it should have fallen on its face, but it didn’t. Here was a bold, engaging evening of Shakespeare that haunted the mind long after the standing ovation. (Honorable mention: "The Price," Arizona Jewish Theatre Company, and "Topdog/Underdog," iTheatre Collaborative.)

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA Dion Johnson, "The Elephant Man," Theatrescape: It’s one of those actor-showcase roles, turning simple physical tics and stunted mannerisms into the tragic creature of John Merrick. Johnson — known more for his comic work, like Nearly Naked’s "Rocky Horror Show" — succeeds with heartbreaking elegance and depth. (Honorable mention: Ken Love, "King Hedley II," Black Theatre Troupe, and Christian Miller, "Hurlyburly," Nearly Naked Theatre.)

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA Maren Maclean Mascarelli, "Macbeth," ATC: Mascarelli’s first stint with ATC finds her breaking out of the supporting cast to play one of the Weird Sisters, witches who coordinate the rise and fall of Macbeth in Stephen Wrentmore’s moody refashioning. Her opening scene — using a bloody soldier as a puppet to praise Macbeth before dropping the macabre victim to the floor — was the most memorable moment of the show. (Honorable mention: Celeste Ciulla, "Macbeth," ATC)

BEST DIRECTOR, DRAMA Stephen Wrentmore, "Macbeth," ATC. (Honorable mention: Wanda McHatton, "The Price," Arizona Jewish Theatre Company.)

GRAND IRREVERENCE, DRAMA "Marat/Sade," The Shakespeare Theatre: Wes Martin’s staging of Peter Weiss’ wrenchingly dark play (actually titled "The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade") was an emotional roller coaster for the adventurous, plus it gave off enough creepy vibes to promise at least one night of shaky sleep.

BEST COMEDY "Sexual Perversity in Chicago," Prism Theatre at ASU: Student director Daniel Brodie’s production of David Mamet’s hilariously raunchy relationship comedy preceded Nearly Naked Theatre’s more professional staging by two months (even sharing an actress, Heather Harper) — and yet Brodie managed to turn in a vastly funnier, sharper version.

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY Andres Alcala, "Men on the Verge 2," Teatro Bravo: Alcala, a Portland, Ore.-based actor who frequents Phoenix stages, brought to vibrant life another of Guillermo Reyes’ poignant and comic monologue collections about modern living from a gay and Hispanic view. (Honorable mention: Joe Kremer, "[sic]," Stray Cat Theatre; Ken Milder, "The Foreigner," Scottsdale Community Players.)

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY Cathy Dresbach, "Nickel and Dimed," Actors Theatre: Dresbach was a whirlwind of minimum-wage energy as the protagonist of this play adaptation of Barbara Ehrenreich’s best-selling book about the struggling wage-slave class.

BEST DIRECTOR, COMEDY Daniel Brodie, "Sexual Perversity in Chicago," Prism: A slim few off-balance choices in the show (overactive stagehands) notwithstanding, Brodie’s snarky show is proof he’s one young guy to watch on the Valley scene.

WORST COMEDY "For Better or Worse," ATC: A compendium of one-acts by French farce master Georges Feydeau, translated by leading actor Geoff Hoyle, was so resoundingly unfunny the usual sound of easy audience laughter was replaced by a giant sucking sound — that of the energy being drawn out of the room with every flopping scene. Critics hung the show from its oh-soconvenient title.

BEST ACTOR Joe Kremer ("[sic]," Stray Cat Theatre; "Barefoot in the Park," Hale Centre Theatre; "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," Nearly Naked Theatre; "Henry V," Southwest Shakespeare Company): A new actor on the scene in recent years, Kremer has leading-man looks, great comic sensibility and a hunger for the widest possible variety of roles. Could he be aiming for the professional stages? (Honorable mention: Cale Epps, Richard Trujillo and Mike Traylor.)

BEST ACTRESS Cathy Dresbach ("Menopause — The Musical," Scottsdale Center for the Arts; "Nickel and Dimed," Actors Theatre; "From Berlin to Brooks," Arizona Jewish Theatre Company): Her charming turn in "Nickel and Dimed" is one reason Actors Theatre is reviving the show again next season. (Honorable mention: Jennifer Banda.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Ben Tyler, "Sight Unseen," AT: A problematic show (a smaller one, too, replacing "Death of a Salesman" for the cashstrapped company), Actors Theatre’s staging of Donald Margulies’ art drama was buoyed by a surprisingly wonderful performance by the Valley playwright, playing behind a gut, a beard and a gruff British demeanor, making what could have been a flat character, the archaeologist Nick.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Kandyce Hughes, "Father of the Bride," Hale: She may be playing the less important role of the mother of the bride (at least as far as this production is concerned), but Hughes is an attention-grabber as a pitch-perfect Donna Reed type in this breezy retro comedy. Because mothers and wives know how to do thankless with style.

BEST ORIGINAL PLAYSCRIPT "The Constant Epiphanies of Billy the Blood Donor," Daniel Brodie: A work in progress, this surreal drama posits that a company is selling blood as an addictive beverage, and a hapless young man stumbles onto the truth. The play had a simple staged reading through Theater in My Basement last year and is now being made into an independent movie. (Honorable mention: "Koko! The Island Adventures of Miss Koko Neufchatel," David Maxey.)

BEST THEATER COMPANY (tie) Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, Artists’ Theatre Project and Nearly Naked Theatre: All three companies have pushed the envelope of their respective markets. Nearly Naked rode its buzz from "Rocky Horror" through a difficult "Hurlyburly" and into irreverently skewed classical pieces "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" and "Edward II." Artists’ Theatre Project continued to tinker with alternative venues, like back yards ("Koko"), bars ("Santaland Diaries") and traditional theaters ("Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical"). And the Palm made a risky — and ultimately successful — go of unusual dinner theater fare, the semi-bawdy, suicidetinged, interracial musical "Miss Saigon." Proof that theater should never remain comfortable.

BEST EXPERIMENTAL THEATER "Collateral Damage," Cheap Theatrix: Raymond Shurtz collected a handful of antiwar plays and strung them together against a painting by Washington, D.C., artist Matt Sesow. Somewhat thoughtprovoking, occasionally brilliant, entirely fresh. BEST COSTUME DESIGN David Kay Mickelson, "Macbeth," ATC: Silken fabrics play against the hard, dark set and more militaristic uniforms in Mickelson’s starkly gorgeous vision.

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY Robert Kolby Harper and Michael Barnard, "Cabaret," Phoenix Theatre.

BEST SCENIC DESIGN Chris Barreca, "Anna in the Tropics," ATC: A sparse but active stage, burning like the end of a cigar, highlighted by a mechanically rotating, everchanging long worktable — where passions flare and heritage struggles to stay alive. Nothing fancy. Nothing better this season.

BEST SOUND DESIGN Brian Jerome Peterson, "Macbeth," ATC.

BEST YOUTH PRODUCTION "The Fable Company," Scottsdale Desert Stages: The late Gerry Cullity’s part-improvisational, part-interactive collection of revisionary fables — as performed by a spunky cast of talented teens — is an ongoing weekend wonder for children. (Honorable mention: "Pau$e for the Clau$e," Fountain Hills Youth Theatre.)

BEST PRODUCTION FOR CHILDREN "A Year With Frog and Toad," Childsplay: A serious contender for best musical, "Frog and Toad" was a charming seasonopening treat for audiences of all ages, featuring awesome Valley actors Jon Gentry, D. Scott Withers, Katie McFadzen and Dwayne Hartford as an adorably slow snail working for — naturally — the U.S. Postal Service. The kind of show that fuels smiles for days, weeks, months after it’s over. I’m grinning thinking about it right now. Season’s greetings . . .

Desert Rose Theatre: Mesa’s got a new classics theater thanks to Valley actress Katherine Stewart, whose intimate 50-seat theater opened midseason to lukewarm reception (a "Romeo and Juliet" and noteworthy "The Lark" earned meager audiences) and a bevy of plaguing problems — from actors dropping out of shows to lighting systems dying to, well, the kinds of problems that come from running a new theater in a grungy strip-mall storefront.

Can Stewart’s moxie sustain a new playhouse while it prepares for a first full season? Here’s hoping. . . . and season’s fleetings The Valley’s theater scene grieved for the loss of two influential players this year — Trudy Hurley, a longtime active member of community theaters, and Gerry Cullity, artistic director and guiding visionary for Scottsdale Desert Stages Theatre.

Cullity’s nonprofit theater has championed on, working to finish out this season and gear up for the next one, which Cullity himself had largely scheduled before his untimely death from complications following a heart attack in March. Earlier this year, Christopher Mascarelli disbanded his baby Theatrescape group — which had staged well-received productions of "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "Eleemosynary" previously. It closed up shop after a lackluster production of "The Elephant Man."