Globe, Playhouse Lead in Award Nominations

The Old Globe Theatre dominated the nominations in the seventhannual San Diego Critics Circle Awards with 26 nominations, including eight for “Hamlet,” the most-nominated play of the season.

The La Jolla Playhouse, with half the length of the Globe’s season, followed with 15 nominations. Next was Lamb’s Players Theatre, edging out the San Diego Repertory Theatre for the first time ever.

Lamb’s, a small, professional quality but non-Equity (union) company, picked up 11 nominations to the Rep’s nine.

The big play for Lamb’s was “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” which garnered five nominations. Also picking up five nominations were the Rep’s “Slingshot,” the Old Globe’s “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” and the Old Globe’s “And a Nightingale Sang.”

The winners will be announced Jan. 28 in an awards ceremony at Tin Pan Alley in Hillcrest.

An unusually broad field of entries received recognition in this year’s voting period, which ran from October, 1989, through December, 1990. There were 33 shows selected from 10 theaters, including three non-Equity venues besides Lamb’s: the North Coast Repertory Theatre, the Southeast Community Theatre and the Moonlight Amphitheatre, which received one nomination each.

Starlight Musical Theatre received six nominations, including three for “Me and My Girl,” two for “Follies” and one for “Jesus Christ Superstar.” The Bowery Theatre received four, including three for “Teibele and Her Demon” and one for “The Glass Menagerie.”

Singled out for recognition were the two major theatrical events from the 1989 Soviet Arts Festival sponsored by the city. “Brothers and Sisters,” produced at the Old Globe Theatre with the Maly Theatre of Leningrad, was nominated for best road show, while “Slingshot,” a play cast locally, but written, directed and designed by Soviet artists at the San Diego Repertory Theatre, picked up nominations for best production; best director, Roman Viktyuk; and best scenic design, Vladimir Boyer. Local

artists Brenda Berry, received nods for best lighting design and Lawrence Czoka best sound design.

The 13 voting members of the San Diego Critics Circle are: Frances L. Bardacke, San Diego Magazine; Don Braunagel, Variety and Daily Variety; Nancy Churnin, Los Angeles Times; Carol Davis, San Diego Jewish Times, William E. Fark, Escondido Times Advocate; Welton Jones, San Diego Union; Robert Korbett, Uptown Publications and Revolt in Style: Pat Launer, San Diego Tribune; Ruth Lepper, Chula Vista Star-News; Patricia Morris, West Coast Community Newspapers, Christopher Schneider, the La Jolla Light; Eileen Sondak, Heritage Press, and George Weinberg-Harter, Drama-Logue.

A complete list of nominations follows:

BEST PRODUCTION: “Burn This,” San Diego Repertory Theatre; “Hamlet,” Old Globe Theatre; “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Lamb’s Players Theatre; “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” Old Globe Theatre; “My Children! My Africa!,” La Jolla Playhouse; “Slingshot,” San Diego Repertory Theatre.

BEST MUSICAL: “Follies,” Starlight Musical Theatre; “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Starlight Musical Theatre; “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Lamb’s Players Theatre; “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Moonlight Amphitheatre; “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” Old Globe Theatre; “Me and My Girl,” Starlight Musical Theatre.

BEST DIRECTION: Ralph Elias, “Teibele and Her Demon,” the Bowery Theatre; Athol Fugard, “My Children! My Africa!” the La Jolla Playhouse; Jack O’Brien, “Hamlet,” the Old Globe Theatre; Will Roberson, “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company; Will Roberson, “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” the Old Globe Theatre; Roman Viktyuk, “Slingshot,” the San Diego Repertory Theatre.

BEST ACTRESS: Kandis Chappell, “And a Nightingale Sang,” Old Globe Theatre; Loretta Devine, “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” Old Globe Theatre; Erin Kelly, “Teibele and Her Demon,” Bowery Theatre; Leigh Scarritt, “The Wind in the Willows,” Lamb’s Players Theatre; Deborah Gilmour Smyth, “An Ideal Husband,” Lamb’s Players Theatre; Sylvia M’Lafi Thompson, “Fences,” Southeast Community Theatre.

BEST ACTOR: William Anton, “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company; Richard Easton, “Uncle Vanya,” Old Globe Theatre; John Fleck, “The Granny,” Old Globe Theatre; David Cochran Heath, “The Nerd,” Lamb’s Players Theatre; Brock Peters, “My Children! My Africa!,” La Jolla Playhouse; Campbell Scott, “Hamlet,” Old Globe Theatre.

BEST ACTOR, SUPPORTING: William Ball, “The Cherry Orchard,” La Jolla Playhouse; Mike Buckley, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Lamb’s Players Theatre; Richard Kneeland, “Uncle Vanya,” Old Globe Theatre; Jon Matthews, “Burn This,” San Diego Repertory Theatre; Rick Meads, “An Ideal Husband,” Lamb’s Players Theatre.

BEST ACTRESS, SUPPORTING: Priscilla Allen, “Blithe Spirit,” Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company; Mary Bond Davis, “Heartbeats,” Old Globe Theatre; Katherine McGrath, “And a Nightingale Sang,” Old Globe Theatre; Christine Saffran, “Me and My Girl,” Starlight Musical Theatre; Rosina Widdowson-Reynolds, “Cymbeline,” San Diego Repertory Theatre.

BEST NEW PLAY: “A Festival of Christmas ‘89,” Lamb’s Players Theatre; “Heartbeats,” by Amanda McBroom and Bill Castellino, Old Globe Theatre; “Life During Wartime,” by Keith Reddin, La Jolla Playhouse; “White Man Dancing,” by Stephen Metcalfe, Old Globe Theatre.

BEST SCORE: Lawrence Czoka, “The Glass Menagerie,” Bowery Theatre; Bob James, “Hamlet,” Old Globe Theatre; Gina Leishman, “Don Quixote de la Jolla,” La Jolla Playhouse; Des McAnuff-Michael Roth, “Twelfth Night,” La Jolla Playhouse; Amanda McBroom, Jerry Sternbach, Michele Brourman and Tom Snow, “Heartbeats,” Old Globe Theatre; Mel Marvin and John McKinney, “The Cherry Orchard,” La Jolla Playhouse.

BEST SCENIC DESIGN: Vladimir Boyer, “Slingshot,” San Diego Repertory Theatre; Kent Dorsey, “And a Nightingale Sang,” Old Globe Theatre; Ralph Funicello, “Hamlet,” Old Globe Theatre; Heidi Landesman, “The Cherry Orchard,” La Jolla Playhouse; Ocie Robinson, “The 1940s Radio Hour,” North Coast Repertory Theatre; Beeb Salzer, “Teibele and Her Demon,” Bowery Theatre.

BEST COSTUMES: Robert Blackman, “The Cherry Orchard,” La Jolla Playhouse; Lewis Brown, “Hamlet,” Old Globe Theatre; Susan Hilferty, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” La Jolla Playhouse; Jeanne Reith, “An Ideal Husband,” Lamb’s Players Theatre; Veronica Murphy Smith, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Lamb’s Players Theatre.

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN: Brenda Berry, “Slingshot,” San Diego Repertory Theatre; Ashley York Kennedy, “Burn This,” San Diego Repertory Theatre; Peter Maradudin, “And A Nightingale Sang,” Old Globe Theatre; Peter Maradudin, “Hamlet,” Old Globe Theatre; Chris Parry, “Macbeth,” La Jolla Playhouse; David F. Segal, “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” Old Globe Theatre.

BEST SOUND DESIGN: Lawrence Czoka, “Slingshot,” San Diego Repertory Theatre; John Kilgore, “Life During Wartime,” La Jolla Playhouse; Jeff Ladman, “Hamlet,” Old Globe Theatre; Jeff Ladman, “And a Nightingale Sang,” Old Globe Theatre; Jeff Ladman, “Our Town,” Old Globe Theatre; James LeBrecht, “My Children! My Africa!,” La Jolla Playhouse.

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY: Wayne Cilento, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” La Jolla Playhouse; Danny Herman, “Follies,” Starlight Musical Theatre; Bonnie and Don Ward, “Me and My Girl,” Starlight Musical Theatre; Pamela Turner, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Lamb’s Players Theatre.

BEST ROAD SHOW: “Brothers and Sisters,” Maly Theatre of Leningrad, produced at the Old Globe Theatre; “Family Secrets,” produced by Linda Sterns at the Hahn Cosmopolitan Theatre; “I Am Celso,” co-produced by the Bowery Theatre and Teatro Mascara Magica at the Kingston Playhouse; “Jeeves Takes Charge,” produced by Charles H. Duggan at the Lyceum Stage; “Latins Anonymous,” produced by the San Diego Repertory Theatre at the Lyceum Stage; “World Without End,” produced by Sushi Performance Gallery at Sushi Performance Gallery.