The cast of Les Miserables at Actors’ Playhouse.By Hap Erstein
There was nothing miserable about the Actors’ Playhouse production of the epic musical Les Miserables, the nominating committee for the 34th annual Carbonell Awards said Tuesday as it showered the show with 12 nominations.
The adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel led the field vying for bragging rights of excellence in professional theater in South Florida.
Les Miz, as the popular British show is nicknamed, was cited for best musical, director (David Arisco), actor (David Michael Felty), supporting actor (Gary Marachek), three supporting actresses (Gwen Hollander, Melissa Minyard, Margot Moreland), musical direction (Eric Alsford), and all four design categories: sets (Sean McClelland), lighting (Patrick Tennant), costumes (Colleen Grady) and sound (Alexander Herrin).
Musicals dominated the nominations, with the top four nod totals going to musicals. For the top award, Les Miz will be competing with: Barnum, Maltz Jupiter Theatre (8 nominations), Vices: A Love Story, Caldwell Theatre Co. (8) and Cagney, Florida Stage (7). The fifth show in the Best Musical category is Broward Stage Door’s A Little Night Music, with four mentions.
Best Play nominees include Broadsword at Miami’s Mad Cat Theatre Company and Why Torture Is Wrong and the People Who Love Them at Plantation’s Mosaic Theatre, tied with five nods each. Two Palm Beach County companies will go head-to-head with them, Palm Beach Dramaworks for Copenhagen and the Caldwell Theatre for The Whipping Man, along with GableStage’s Speed-the-Plow.
Palm Beach County theaters had the largest cumulative nominations total with 38. Boca Raton’s Caldwell Theatre led the way with 12, two each for The Whipping Man and The Voysey Inheritance, in addition to the eight for Vices: A Love Story.
The Maltz Jupiter Theatre was close behind with 11 nominations — Barnum’s eight, plus three for Evita. Florida Stage scored nine nominations, the seven for Cagney and one each for Some Kind of Wonderful and The Storytelling Ability of a Boy. And Palm Beach Dramaworks’s six nominations were spread among four productions, Copenhagen (2), A Doll’s House (2), At Home at the Zoo (1) and Private Lives (1).
Nominations were distributed fairly evenly among the three counties of South Florida, though, with 37 going to Miami-Dade theaters and 25 to Broward. In all, 13 companies were recognized, with nominations going to 33 of the 75 eligible shows that opened during the 2009 calendar year.
Both actor Gregg Weiner and sound designer Matt Corey hit the trifecta, gaining three individual nominations each. In addition to Weiner’s nods for Dumb Show (Promenthean Theatre), A Doll’s House (Pam Beach Dramaworks) and Farragut North (GableStage), he is also up for the Best Ensemble award as a cast member of Mad Cat Theatre’s Broadsword and Farragut North.
The nail-biting officially begins now for the nominees and continues until Monday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m., when the winners will be announced in the Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. Tickets to the ceremony are $25, or $20 apiece for a group of 10 or more. They go on sale this Friday at the Broward Center’s box office (954-462-0222) or by visiting www.browardcenter.org.
A scene from Florida Stage’s Cagney.The complete list of Carbonell Awards nominations follows:
COMBINED (plays and musicals)
Best New Work (award to author)
Peter Colley, Robert Creighton and Christopher McGovern, Cagney, Florida Stage; Mario Diament, A Report on the Banality of Love, The Promethean Theatre; Terry Lawrence, Speaking Elephant, The Women’s Theatre Project; Carter W. Lewis, The Storytelling Ability of a Boy, Florida Stage; Susan Draus, Everett Bradley, Michael Heitzman and Ilene Reid, Vices: A Love Story, Caldwell Theatre Company
Best Ensemble Production (citations to cast and director)
Bombshells! A Musical Explosion of Life, Love and Telling It All!, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre; Broadsword, Mad Cat Theatre Company; Farragut North, GableStage; Some Kind of Wonderful, Florida Stage; Viva Bourgeois!, Mad Cat Theatre Company
PLAYS
Best Production of a Play (award to producing organization)
Broadsword, Mad Cat Theatre Company; Copenhagen, Palm Beach Dramaworks; Speed-the-Plow, GableStage; The Whipping Man, Caldwell Theatre Company; Why Torture Is Wrong and the People Who Love Them, Mosaic Theatre
Best Director
Joseph Adler, Farragut North, GableStage; Joseph Adler, Speed-the-Plow, GableStage; J. Barry Lewis, Copenhagen, Palm Beach Dramaworks; Richard Jay Simon, Why Torture Is Wrong and the People Who Love Them, Mosaic Theatre; Paul Tei, Broadsword, Mad Cat Theatre Company
Best Actor
John Archie, The Whipping Man, Caldwell Theatre Company; Todd Allen Durkin, At Home at the Zoo, Palm Beach Dramaworks; Paul Tei, Speed-the-Plow, GableStage; Ricky Waugh, Reasons to Be Pretty, GableStage; Gregg Weiner, Dumb Show, The Promethean Theatre
Best Actress
Linda Bernhard, Playhouse Creatures , The Women’s Theatre Project; Barbara Bradshaw, Why Torture Is Wrong and the People Who Love Them, Mosaic Theatre; Lela Elam, No Child, GableStage; Angie Radosh, Speaking Elephant, The Women’s Theatre Project; Laura Turnbull, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Mosaic Theatre
Best Supporting Actor
Dennis Creaghan, The Voysey Inheritance, Caldwell Theatre Company; Todd Allen Durkin, Reasons to Be Pretty, GableStage; Erik Fabregat, Why Torture Is Wrong and the People Who Love Them, Mosaic Theatre; Gregg Weiner, A Doll’s House, Palm Beach Dramaworks; Gregg Weiner, Farragut North, GableStage
Best Supporting Actress
Elena Maria Garcia, Summer Shorts: Signature Shorts, City Theatre; Patti Gardner, Defiance, GableStage; Erin Joy Schmidt, Viva Bourgeois!, Mad Cat Theatre Company; Deborah L. Sherman, Dumb Show, The Promethean Theatre; Miriam Wiener, In a Dark, Dark House, Mosaic Theatre
MUSICALS
Best Production of a Musical (award to producing organization)
Barnum, Maltz Jupiter Theatre; Cagney, Florida Stage; Les Miserables, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre; A Little Night Music, Broward Stage Door; Vices: A Love Story, Caldwell Theatre Company
Best Director of a Musical
David Arisco, Les Miserables, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre; Bill Castellino, Cagney, Florida Stage; Clive Cholerton, Vices: A Love Story, Caldwell Theatre Company; Gordon Greenberg, Barnum, Maltz Jupiter Theatre; Margaret M. Ledford, Cannibal! The Musical, The Promethean Theatre
Best Actor in a Musical
Matthew William Chizever, Cannibal! The Musical, The Promethean Theatre; Robert Creighton, Cagney, Florida Stage; David Michael Felty, Les Miserables, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre; Mark A. Harmon, A Little Night Music, Broward Stage Door; Brad Oscar, Barnum, Maltz Jupiter Theatre
Best Actress in a Musical
Natalie Venetia Belcon, Vices: A Love Story, Caldwell Theatre Company; Misty Cotton, Barnum, Maltz Jupiter Theatre; Jodie Langel, Evita, Maltz Jupiter Theatre; Kimberley Xavier Martins, A Little Night Music, Broward Stage Door; Holly Shunkey, Vices: A Love Story, Caldwell Theatre Company
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical
Darrin Baker, Cagney, Florida Stage; Marcus Bellamy, Vices: A Love Story, Caldwell Theatre Company; Nathanial Braga, Barnum, Maltz Jupiter Theatre; Gary Marachek, Les Miserables, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre; Rudy Martinez, Evita, Maltz Jupiter Theatre
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical
Katherine Amadeo, Cannibal! The Musical, The Promethean Theatre; Miki Edelman, A Little Night Music, Broward Stage Door; Gwen Hollander, Les Miserables, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre; Melissa Minyard, Les Miserables, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre; Margot Moreland, Les Miserables, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Best Musical Direction
Eric Alsford, Les Miserables, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre; Helen Gregory, Barnum, Maltz Jupiter Theatre; Helen Gregory, Evita, Maltz Jupiter Theatre; Christopher McGovern, Cagney, Florida Stage; Jon Rose, Vices: A Love Story, Caldwell Theatre Company
Best Choreography:
Chrissi Ardito, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Broward Stage Door; Chrissi Ardito, Cannibal! The Musical, The Promethean Theatre; AC Ciulla, Vices: A Love Story, Caldwell Theatre Company; Joshua Rhodes, Barnum, Maltz Jupiter Theatre; Jeff Shade, Cagney, Florida Stage
DESIGN (plays and musicals)
Best Set Design
Antonio Amadeo, Macon City: A Comic Book Play, The Naked Stage; Michael Amico, Private Lives, Palm Beach Dramaworks; Joe Kimble, Broadsword, Mad Cat Theatre Company; Sean McClelland, In a Dark, Dark House, Mosaic Theatre; Sean McClelland, Les Miserables, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Best Lighting Design
Suzanne M. Jones, In a Dark, Dark House, Mosaic Theatre; John Manzelli, Macon City: A Comic Book Play, The Naked Stage; Jeff Quinn, No Child, GableStage; Jeff Quinn, Why Torture Is Wrong and the People Who Love Them, Mosaic Theatre; Patrick Tennent, Les Miserables, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre
Best Costume Design
Alberto Arroyo, The Voysey Inheritance, Caldwell Theatre Company; Danielle Campbell, Viva Bourgeois!, Mad Cat Theatre Company; Colleen Grady, Les Miserables, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre; Brian O’Keefe, A Doll’s House, Palm Beach Dramaworks; Alejo Vietti, Barnum, Maltz Jupiter Theatre
Best Sound Design
Matt Corey, Broadsword, Mad Cat Theatre Company; Matt Corey, Cannibal! The Musical, The Promethean Theatre; Matt Corey, Macon City: A Comic Book Play, The Naked Stage; Alexander Herrin, Les Miserables, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre; Steve Shapiro, Summer Shorts: Signature Shorts, City Theatre