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John Lloyd Young and Paul Kropfl
in The Chosen
photo: Gerry Goodstein, courtesy of
The Paper Mill Playhouse
"Bridge and Tunnel Productions Worthy of
Awards"
from
Sunday, June 6, 2004
by Peter Filichia
Take it from someone who's seen virtually every professional and semi-professional production at New Jersey theaters for the past 11 seasons: 2003-04 was the strongest in more than a decade.
So creating this list -- which poses the question, "If New Jersey gave out its own Tony Awards, who would win?" -- was painfully hard. Over the past 12 months, there have been so many more extraordinary performances than usual.
How else to explain the omission of both men (David Adkins and Mark Hammer) in "A Walk in the Woods" and all three women (Suzzanne Douglas, Laurie Kennedy and Maria Dizzia) in "Agnes of God"? Both were terrific productions at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick. Tony winner Priscilla Lopez and Tony nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega (both in "Anna in the Tropics" at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton) couldn't crack the list, either.
Here are nominees and winners of this mythical contest:
Best Musical New to New Jersey: "The Big Bang" by Jed Feuer and Boyd Graham (Tri-State Actors Theatre, Sussex); "Dragons" by Sheldon Harnick (Luna Stage Company, Montclair); "The Full Monty" by Terrence McNally and David Yazbek (New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark); "Passing the Blues Along" by Mississippi Charles Bevel and Chic Street Man (Crossroads Theatre Company, New Brunswick); "tick, tick ... BOOM!" by David Auburn and Jonathan Larson (George Street Playhouse) Winner: "tick, tick ... BOOM!" How can a struggling songwriter please his girlfriend, who doesn't quite believe he'll succeed? How can he not succumb to his best friend's advice to join him in the corporate world? Here is the story of Jonathan Larson -- who resisted both and wound up writing the mega-hit "Rent."
Best Play New to New Jersey: "The Adjustment" by Mike Folie (New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch); "The Afghan Women" by William Mastrosimone (Passage Theatre Company, Trenton); "Anna in the Tropics" by Nilo Cruz (McCarter's Berlind Theatre); "The Chosen" by Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok (Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn); "A Wilderness of Mirrors" by Charles Evered (George Street Playhouse) Winner: "The Afghan Women," Mastrosimone's timely tale about an Afghani-American who returns home to help an orphanage -- but runs into a warlord. Those who missed it at Passage can catch it starting this week at the Garage Theatre Group in Teaneck.
Best Musical Revival: "Baby" (Paper Mill Playhouse); "A Child's Christmas in Wales" (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Madison); "I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road" (Women's Theater Company, Wayne); "My Fair Lady" (McCarter/Berlind); "The Tragedy of Carmen" by Brook and Bizet (Two River Theatre Company, Manasquan) Winner: "Baby." Three women from three generations meet in the obstetrician's office and become good friends. Anyone who's ever been a parent -- or a godparent, uncle or an aunt -- could relate to this tender tale.
Best Play Revival: "Agnes of God" and "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" (George Street Playhouse); "King John," "Pygmalion" and "That Scoundrel Scapin" (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey) Winner: "Lips." A Fourth of July weekend with friends and relatives? Everyone knows how fun-filled and painful such an outing can be -- but in director Michael Morris' hands and playwright Terrence McNally's words, it was memorable, too.
Unique Theatrical Experience: Ames Adamson in "Circumference of a Squirrel" (New Jersey Repertory Company); Cynthia Adler in "Downloaded -- and in Denial" (Passage Theatre Company); Kathy Cogan in "Late Nite Catechism" (Resorts, Atlantic City); Francesca Faridany in "Fraulein Else" (McCarter/Berlind); Richard Furlong and Steven Cole Hughes in "Stones in His Pocket" (What Exit? Theatre Company, Maplewood) Winner: "Fraulein Else." Faridany blithely played a young Viennese woman without a care in the world -- until her parents asked her to prostitute herself so they can pay their sky-high bills. Faridany showed a girl who is flirty and brave at meeting her Mr. Wrong, before descending into a harrowing spiral.
Best Musical Actor: Ian August and Eben Gordon ("The Big Bang"); Michael Cumpsty ("My Fair Lady"); Colin Hanlon ("tick, tick ... BOOM!"); Aaron Serotsky ("The Tragedy of Carmen") Winner: Cumpsty. Many men have acted Professor Henry Higgins to perfection, but they speak, rather than sing, the songs. Cumpsty let us hear the notes composer Frederick Loewe had in mind.
Best Musical Actress: Nancy Barry ("I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road"); Margaret Bell ("If These Hips Could Talk," Symphony Hall, Newark); Kate Fry ("My Fair Lady"); Cassandra McConnell ("The Tragedy of Carmen"); Sandra ReAves-Phillips ("The Late Great Ladies of Blues and Jazz," Crossroads Theatre Company) Winner: ReAves-Phillips. No entertainer on Jersey stages this year worked as hard to seduce and entertain an audience as this ample-bodied, moon-faced dynamic diva, who saluted Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Mahalia Jackson.
Best Featured Musical Actor: Andrew Blau ("Oliver!," NJPAC); Alan Gillespie ("Miss Saigon," NJPAC); Michael McCarty ("My Fair Lady"); Michael Rupert ("Baby"); Paul Whelihan ("Dragons") Winner: Whelihan. As a timid man who is threatened by a dragon, he was a hilarious nervous wreck, blinking and babbling while bobbing about. After the dragon is slain, and he comes to power, he exudes smarmy confidence, noting that power may corrupt -- "but if you're rotten to begin with, what harm can it do?"
Best Featured Musical Actress: Meg Bussert ("The Sound of Music," Paper Mill Playhouse); Carolee Carmello ("Baby"); Sarah Litzsinger ("tick, tick ... BOOM!"); Jane Connell ("My Fair Lady"); Nicole Ortiz ("Black Nativity," African Globe TheatreWorks, Newark) Winner: Ortiz. In celebrating the birth of Christ, the doe-eyed, high-cheekboned beauty revealed a voice that resonated like a cello, and sang as sultry as Dinah Washington and as exciting as Diana Ross.
Best Play Actor: Egon P. Davson ("A Streetcar Named Desire," African Globe TheatreWorks); Brian Dowd ("Twilight of a Warrior," Celtic Theatre Company, South Orange); Glenn Jones ("Cafflin' Johnny," Celtic Theatre); Paul Niebanck ("Pygmalion"); James Michael Reilly ("That Scoundrel Scapin"); Carl Wallnau ("Engaged," Centenary Stage Company, Hackettstown) Winner: Wallnau. Playing a Victorian dandy, Wallnau was indeed dandy. His character's fatal flaw was that he couldn't help himself from proposing marriage to every woman he met. "I am a man of quick impulses. I see, I feel, I speak," Wallnau said most accurately, perfectly replicating the manner of matinee idols a century ago.
Best Play Actress: Karen Case Cook ("Wit," Women's Theater Company); Wendy Barrie-Wilson ("The Glass Menagerie," Shakespeare Theatre); Victoria Mack ("Pygmalion"); Cigdem Onat ("Attacks on the Heart," George Street); Liz Zazzi ("Pterodactyls" at the Theatre Project, Cranford, and "The Adjustment") Winner: Zazzi. All five were brilliant, but Zazzi's the one who was brilliant twice -- first as a confident political lobbyist who's surprised when she turns out not to have all the answers, then as a constantly complaining mother who doesn't know how wonderful life is.
Best Featured Play
Actor: Austin Colaluca ("King John"); Kevin Carolan ("Lips Together,
Teeth Apart");
John Lloyd Young ("The Chosen"); Jimmy Smits and David
Zayas ("Anna in the Tropics")
Winner: Colaluca.
Though the character was supposed to be a 16-year-old king, Colaluca has
just finished fifth grade. Yet he was superb at delivering the dense
language, and amazingly conquered a scene where he must use grace and
psychology to keep from being blinded by enemies.
Best Featured Play Actress: Vanessa Aspillaga ("Anna in the Tropics"); Alison Fraser ("Lips Together, Teeth Apart"); Leslie Lyles ("Wilderness of Mirrors"); Gerrianne Raphael ("A Delicate Arrangement," TheatreFest, Montclair); Dana Jones ("The Other Side of Newark," Luna Stage) Winner: Fraser. She played a community theater actress who's part diva, part flibbertigibbet, and all free spirit. Yet when she had to come down to earth, she also came down to brass tacks -- and used those tacks to burst everyone else's bubbles.
Best Director of a Play: SuzAnne Barabas ("The Adjustment"); Bonnie J. Monte ("Pygmalion"); Emily Mann ("Anna in the Tropics"); Paul Mullins ("King John"); John J. Wooten ("A Delicate Arrangement") Winner: Mullins. Staging "King John" was no easy task, for the play doesn't hold together, though it has many compelling scenes. Mullins simply didn't worry about the former problem, but made each scene dynamic and compelling.
Best Director of a Musical: Jonathan Fox ("The Tragedy of Carmen"); James Glossman ("Dragons"); Gary Griffin ("My Fair Lady"); Mark S. Hoebee ("Baby"); David Saint ("tick, tick ... BOOM!") Winner: Hoebee. If he'd staged this show on Broadway in 1983 with such precision and clarity, it would have been a hit.
Best Choreography: John T. Booth ("Black Nativity"); Dawn Ward Lau ("The Rocky Horror Show," Forum Theatre Company, Metuchen); Jenn Warnock ("The Big Bang") Winner: Booth. The 19-year-old shows he's wise beyond his years in the deft and unexpectedly delightful hip-hop, tap and jazz steps he gives his dancers.
Best Book: David Auburn and Jonathan Larson ("tick, tick ... BOOM!"); Boyd Graham ("The Big Bang"); Sheldon Harnick ("Dragons"); Terrence McNally ("The Full Monty") Winner: McNally. He didn't edit the 1997 British film, but adapted it for Americans, setting it in Buffalo, N.Y. He succeeded in making the audience care about a new set of guys who were out of work and didn't know that to do next.
Best Score: Boyd Graham and Jed Feuer ("The Big Bang"); Marcus Devine, Michael and Alexis Allen ("If These Hips Could Talk"); Sheldon Harnick ("Dragons"); Jonathan Larson ("tick, tick ... BOOM!"); David Yazbek ("The Full Monty") Winner: Larson. A plot point in the musical is that Stephen Sondheim, Broadway's premier composer-lyricist, winds up a fan of Larson's work. No wonder, given the 14 songs in this score.
Best Sets: Tim J. Amrhein ("The Merry Wives of (West) Windsor," Princeton Rep Shakespeare Festival); Nora Chavooshian ("Immoral Imperatives," Luna Stage); Andrew Lieberman ("Wintertime," McCarter Theatre); Thomas Lynch ("Fraulein Else"); Michael Vaughan ("A Walk in the Woods") Winner: Amrhein. In this update of a dim Shakespearean comedy, he provided a replication of Mercer County -- down to the train platform in Princeton Junction and the tony suburban homes of West Windsor.
Best Costumes: Cathleen Edwards ("The Sound of Music"); Karen A. Ledger ("Pygmalion"); David Murin ("Lips Together, Teeth Apart"); Mattie Ullrich ("That Scoundrel Scapin"); Anthony Ward ("Oliver!") Winner: Ullrich. For this free-wheeling commedia dell'arte, she provided elegant clothes for the high-born characters and colorful rag-tag duds for the lower-borns.
Best Lighting: James H. Aitken ("That Scoundrel Scapin"); Peter Kaczorowski ("Anna in the Tropics"); David Lander ("Wilderness of Mirrors"); Steven Rosen ("Pygmalion"); Shelley Sabel ("Much Ado about Nothing," Shakespeare Theatre) Winner: Lander. He took a terrifying tale of what the espionage game is really like, and lit it so it appeared to be a film noir, with layer upon layer of shadows.
Regional Theatre Award: George Street Playhouse. Every one of the six plays scored at least one nomination, from the scary "Wilderness of Mirrors" to the scarier 9/11 drama "Attacks on the Heart," to the erudite "A Walk in the Woods," the sizzling "Agnes of God," the hilarious "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," and the edgy "tick, tick ... BOOM!" Every theater should have such a season.
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