Joe Adler and the cast of Blasted, which won Best Play for GableStage at Monday night’s Carbonell Awards.
By Hap Erstein
Last night’s 35th annual Carbonell Awards ceremony had a curious, unscripted recurring theme – actor Todd Allen Durkin’s private parts.
I guess we should have seen it coming – the theme, not the naughty bits – since he did appear full frontally nude in Gable Stage’s production of Blasted, the runaway award winner, and later was featured in Mosaic Theatre’s The Irish Curse, which talked about, but didn’t show, the genetic tendency of Irish men to have small genitals.
In any event, the evening began with a clever musical parody of Stephen Sondheim’s Art Isn’t Easy, with lyrics by Maribeth Graham reviewing the year in South Florida theater. In it, she made the first mention of Durkin’s penis – following it with a very Sondheimian rhyme “between us” – and many a presenter and recipient followed suit.
Picture Joe Adler and Avi Hoffman, the directors of the two above plays, discussing across the stage of the Broward Center’s Amaturo Theatre, the relative size of Durkin’s, um, Johnson. Alas, Durkin did not win a Carbonell for his Blasted performance, so he had no opportunity for a podium rebuttal, settling instead for a few shouted responses from the audience.
Later, when Gregg Weiner won for the year’s Best Actor in GableStage’s Fifty Words, he recalled his early acting training at New World School of the Arts, where he learned to “act with his balls.” That, too, quickly became a catch phrase of the evening.
Anyway, it was a big night for Blasted, the Sarah Kane play heavy with sexual and political perversions, which Adler called the most daring play he had ever produced. It won for Best Play Production, Best Director (Adler), Best Sound Design (Matt Corey), Best Scenic Design (Tim Connolly) and Best Lighting Design (Jeff Quinn).
Actors’ Playhouse of Coral Gables, perennial winner for its major musical productions, won for Miss Saigon, which was cited for Best Director (David Arisco), Best Actor in a Musical (Herman Sebek) and Best Musical Direction (Eric Alsford). In the evening’s chief surprise, though, it lost the Best Production of a Musical Carbonell to Broward Stage Door Theatre’s Mack and Mabel, the only award that show received.
Among Palm Beach County theaters, the Maltz Jupiter had a good night, pulling in four Carbonells for three different shows – Best Ensemble (Twelve Angry Men), Best Actress, Musical (Tari Kelly, Anything Goes), Best Choreography (Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Anything Goes) and Best Costume Design (Jose M. Rivera, La Cage aux Folles).
Florida Stage demonstrated its ability to find and develop new plays, winning for Best New Work (Christopher Demos-Brown’s When the Sun Shone Brighter). It also was cited for two of its performers, Deborah L. Sherman (Best Supporting Actress, Play, Goldie, Max & Milk) and Nick Duckart (Best Supporting Actor, Musical, Dr. Radio).
Palm Beach Dramaworks went home with one award, Best Supporting Actor, Play (Will Connolly, Candida). The Caldwell Theatre was shut out, however, having gone into the evening with only one nomination.
Here is the complete list of competitive winners:
* Best Production of a Play – Blasted, GableStage
* Best Production of a Musical – Mack and Mabel, Broward Stage Door Theatre
* Best Director, Play – Joseph Adler, Blasted
* Best Director, Musical – David Arisco, Miss Saigon, Actors’ Playhouse
* Best New Work – Christopher Demos-Brown, When the Sun Shone Brighter, Florida Stage
* Best Actor, Play – Gregg Weiner, Fifty Words, GableStage
* Best Actress, Play – Barbara Bradshaw, Collected Stories, Mosaic Theatre
* Best Actor, Musical – Herman Sebek, Miss Saigon
* Best Actress, Musical – Tari Kelly, Anything Goes, Maltz Jupiter Theatre
* Best Supporting Actor, Play – Will Connolly, Candida, Palm Beach Dramaworks
* Best Supporting Actress, Play – Deborah L. Sherman, Goldie, Max & Milk, Florida Stage
* Best Supporting Actor, Musical – Nick Duckart, Dr. Radio, Florida Stage
* Best Supporting Actress, Musical – Lisa Manuli, Motherhood: The Musical, GFour Productions
* Best Musical Direction – Eric Alsford, Miss Saigon
* Best Choreography – Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Anything Goes, Maltz Jupiter Theatre
* Best Lighting Design – Jeff Quinn, Blasted
* Best Scenic Design – Tim Connolly, Blasted
* Best Costume Design – Jose M. Rivera, La Cage aux Folles, Maltz Jupiter Theatre
* Best Sound Design – Matt Corey, Blasted
* Best Ensemble – Twelve Angry Men, Maltz Jupiter Theatre