‘MY ONE AND ONLY’ TOPS CRITICS CIRCLE NOMINEES

“My One and Only,” the cream-puff Tommy Tune/Thommie Walsh revamp of “Funny Face” (laced with other delectables from the George and Ira Gershwin song bag) has walked off with not one and only, but seven Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle nominations.

Not-so-close seconds in this race for the circle’s 17th annual awards are Macheath Productions’ “Berlin to Broadway With Kurt Weill”; South Coast Repertory’s “Blue Window”; the Hume Cronyn/Jessica Tandy “Foxfire” (at the Ahmanson); Camelot Artists’ “Romeo and Juliet,” and “To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday” (seen at the Pan Andreas). All are tied at five nominations apiece.

Behind them, with four nominations each, are the Los Angeles Actors’ Theatre’s production of Samuel Beckett’s “Company”; the Lee Breuer/Bob Telson “The Gospel at Colonnus” (seen at the James A. Doolittle Theatre); Actors for Themselves’ “Inadmissible Evidence” (at the Matrix); “Noises Off” (also at the Ahmanson), and the Mark Taper Forum’s “Undiscovered Country.”

Beyond these, the field narrows.

Three-way nominees are “Borderline” (at the Skylight Theatre), “Cats” (now into its second year at the Shubert) and the Delirious Company’s “Delirious.”

Receiving two nominations each are “Glengarry Glen Ross” (Henry Fonda Theatre); “In the Sweet Bye and Bye” (Back Alley Theatre); “Old Times” (Henry Fonda), and “The 2nd Greatest Entertainer in the Whole Wide World” (L.A. Stage Co. West).

One thing guaranteed not to change, beyond death and taxes, is the capriciousness of the draw.

For instance, two musical directors--Jack Elton and John Boswell--have each been singled out for different incarnations of “Berlin to Broadway,” while not a word is found for the superb legerdemain of Wally Harper’s musical concepts for “My One and Only.” For that matter, Charles (Honi) Coles, so memorable at the Ahmanson in the same show, also was overlooked.

In a burst of uncharacteristic redundancy, the circle nominated both the production and the great solo author/entertainer of “The 2nd Greatest Entertainer” (the inimitable Dick Shawn) and then had both sound designer Jon Gottlieb and lighting designer David Hersey competing with themselves. Each was nominated twice.

And so on. This is not a criticism of the voting members of the circle, but a recognition of the systemic aberration that afflicts all awards.

It is what caused a Steven Spielberg to be overlooked in this year’s Oscar nominations while his film, “The Color Purple,” dripped in accolades--or a Dustin Hoffman to be shunned by the Tonys last year when no other performance on Broadway topped his Willy Loman (in “Death of a Salesman”). Awards, after all, work no better and no worse than the other democratic processes.

For addicts of statistics, the final tally (81 nominations in all) finds 17 productions in the larger theaters receiving 46 nominations and 12 Equity Waiver shows garnering 35. Not at all a bad balance.

Awards for distinguished achievement in theater, 1985, will be announced and distributed April 7, at a 7 p.m. sit-down dinner to be held this year in the Blossom Room of the renovated Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (where the first Academy Awards were held in 1929). The dinner will be preceded at 6 p.m. by a no-host cocktail reception in the Roosevelt’s Oscar Room.

Tickets, available through Ticket Express (213-851-3771), are $35 each if reserved by March 28, $40 each after that. (An alternative vegetarian meal can be ordered on 48 hours’ notice.)

A reminder that the circle votes no “bests” and that there can be more than one winner--or no winners at all--in any category. A list of the nominations follows:

For Distinguished Production: “Berlin to Broadway With Kurt Weill” (Zephyr Theatre, Anna Giagni and Macheath Productions); “Blue Window” (South Coast Repertory, Martin Benson and David Emmes producers); “Borderline” (Skylight Theatre, Camelot Artists Productions, Cotter Smith, Tari Linden, Brenda Bolte, Dori Keller producers); “Delirious” (Pilot Theatre, Susan Dietz and the Delirious Company producers); “The Gospel at Colonnus” (James A. Doolittle Theatre, Liza Corwin and Some Serious Business Inc., producers with the Theatre Group Inc.); “Inadmissible Evidence” (Matrix Theatre, Joseph Stern for Actors for Themselves producer); “My One and Only” (Ahmanson Theatre, Barry and Fran Weissler, in association with the One and Only Joint Venture and the Pace Theatrical Group producers); “Noises Off” (Ahmanson Theatre, James A. Nederlander, Robert Fryer, Jerome Minskoff, the Kennedy Center and Michael Codron in association with Jonathan Farkas, MTM Enterprises, Inc. and Center Theatre Group producers); “Romeo and Juliet” (Skylight Theatre, Camelot Artists Productions); “The 2nd Greatest Entertainer in the Whole Wide World (L.A. Stage Co. West, Peg Yorkin for the L.A. Public Theatre and Susan Dietz for the L.A. Stage Company producers).

Direction: Robert Bailey (“Borderline”); Michael Blakemore (“Noises Off”); S. E. Gontarski (“Company,” Los Angeles Actors’ Theatre); Paul Hough (“Berlin to Broadway With Kurt Weill”); Milton Katselas (“Romeo and Juliet”); Ron Link (“Delirious”); Trevor Nunn (“Cats,” Shubert Theatre); Norman Rene (“Blue Window”); Kristoffer Siegel-Tabori (“Inadmissible Evidence”); David Trainer (“Foxfire,” Ahmanson Theatre); Tommy Tune and Thommie Walsh (“My One and Only”).

Playwriting: Michael Brady (“To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday,” Pan Andreas Theatre); Michael Frayn (“Noises Off”); Craig Lucas (“Blue Window”); David Mamet (“Glengarry Glen Ross,” Henry Fonda Theatre).

Musical Score: Bob Telson (“The Gospel at Colonnus”).

Concept: Lee Breuer and Bob Telson (“The Gospel at Colonnus”).

Performance in a Leading Role: Rene Auberjonois (“The Petrified Forest,” Los Angeles Theatre Center); Barbara Bain (“Wings,” Odyssey Theatre Ensemble); Eric Bogosian (“Funhouse,” Matrix Theatre); Hume Cronyn (“Foxfire”); Thomas Harrison (“Romeo and Juliet”); Tom Key (“Cotton Patch Gospel,” Westwood Playhouse); Alan Mandell (“Company”); Joe Mantegna (“Glengarry Glen Ross”); Rue McClanahan (“In the Sweet Bye and Bye,” Back Alley Theatre); Ian McShane (“Inadmissible Evidence”); Christina Pickles (“Undiscovered Country,” Mark Taper Forum); Harold Pinter (“Old Times”); Linda Purl (“Romeo and Juliet”); Dick Shawn (“The 2nd Greatest Entertainer in the Whole Wide World”); Cotter Smith (“Borderline”); Ray Stricklyn (“Confessions of a Nightingale,” Beverly Hills Playhouse); Jessica Tandy (“Foxfire”); Tommy Tune (“My One and Only”).

Performance in a Featured Role: John Anderson (“In the Sweet Bye and Bye”); Bruce Davison (“The Normal Heart,” Las Palmas Theatre); Gail Strickland (“To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday”).

Ensemble Performance: Tabi Cooper, Robert Fieldsteel, Tom Fisher, Chris Pass (“Andrea’s Got Two Boyfriends,” Burbage Theatre); Bill Bowerstock, Michelle Callahan, Karon Kearney, Robert Neches, Sarah Tattersall, Michael Vodde (“Berlin to Broadway With Kurt Weill”); Jane Galloway, Tuck Milligan, Chris Mulkey, Brad O’Hare, Lisa Pelikan, Maureen Silliman, Barbara Tarbuck (“Blue Window”).

Production Design: Timian Alsaker (“Company”).

Scenic Design: Michael Annals (“Noises Off”); D. Martyn Bookwalter (“To Gillian on her 37th Birthday”); A. Clark Duncan (“Inadmissible Evidence”); Cliff Faulkner (“Blue Window”); Ralph Funicello (“Undiscovered Country”); Gerry Hariton and Vicki Baral (“Delirious”); Ming Cho Lee (“Traveler in the Dark,” Mark Taper Forum); Adrianne Lobel and Tony Walton (“My One and Only”); David Mitchell (“Foxfire”); John Napier (“Cats”).

Lighting Design: Martin Aronstein (“Undiscovered Country”); Ken Billington (“Foxfire”); D. Martyn Bookwalter (“To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday”); David Hersey (“Cats”); David Hersey (“Old Times”).

Costume Design: Sam Kirkpatrick (“Undiscovered Country”); John Napier (“Cats”); Rita Ryack (“My One and Only”).

Sound Design: Steven Barker (“To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday”); Jon Gottlieb (“Company”); Jon Gottlieb (“Nanawatai,” Los Angeles Theatre Center); Rock City (“The Gospel at Colonnus”).

Musical Direction: John Boswell (“Berlin to Broadway With Kurt Weill”); Jack Elton (“Berlin to Broadway With Kurt Weill”); Jack Lee (“My One and Only”).

Choreography: Martha Clarke (“The Garden of Earthly Delights,” James A. Doolittle Theatre); Danny Daniels (“Tap Dance Kid,” Pantages Theatre); Tommy Tune and Thommie Walsh (“My One and Only”).

Fight Staging: John Robert Beardsley and Robert Bouchey (“Romeo and Juliet”).