THEATER NOTES : Drama Critics Circle Awards Come Alive

This year’s Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle awards ceremony, held Monday at Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City, was more quotable than usual, thanks to the infusion of suspense--and celebrities.

In recent years, LADCC awards were announced in advance, then passed out by the critics. But this year the awards were kept hush-hush until the ceremony, and well-known theater personalities were recruited to open the envelopes. Only a few circle members (including this reporter) helped present the awards.

Lynn Redgrave, the sprightly emcee, brought the house down with jocular remarks after she failed to win a creation/performance award for her solo show, “Shakespeare for My Father.”

“This is where I’m supposed to be gracious,” she said. “But we’re closing on Sunday, so who needs this (expletive) award?” The crowd roared.

A few minutes later, she added that she was wondering what Sally Field would have done in her place, and then screeched out a parody of Field’s famous Oscar remarks: “You hate me! You really hate me!”

As the ceremony ended, however, Redgrave turned serious, delivering a call to arms on behalf of retaining a mid-sized theater in Beverly Hills. The Canon Theatre, where “Shakespeare for My Father” closes today, is slated for demolition as part of a not-quite-finalized plan to erect a Bloomingdale’s on its block; Redgrave called it “one of the very few mid-sized theaters (in the L.A. area) where actors can make a living.”

“Besiege that bloody City Council,” implored Redgrave, sounding for a moment like her activist sister Vanessa. She wasn’t requesting the preservation of the Canon but rather its replacement by another mid-sized theater on the same block. “Bloomingdale’s has the money, and the City Council is able to insist that the block include a mid-sized theater,” she said.

Highways artistic director Tim Miller also sounded an alarm, this one on behalf of arts funding, as he accepted a special award.

“L.A. produces a lot of artists Jesse Helms loves to hate,” he told the crowd Monday, saying the city has created “a vortex of intense performance energy that gets their underwear in a bother.” Opponents of arts funding “have the theater community targeted,” he said. “Keep the fire under their butts.”

On a less volatile note, many of the presenters and performers toasted veteran actress-director and Theatre West co-founder and chair Betty Garrett, recipient of a lifetime achievement award. Her son, actor Andrew Parks, recalled that the 75-year-old Garrett was hospitalized last year, but only two weeks ago she could be seen on her hands and knees at Theatre West, scrubbing paint off the lobby floor.

Accepting the award, Garrett responded, “It’s like getting a prize for eating chocolate ice cream. It’s something I would do whether you even noticed me.”

One of those who noticed was actress Janet Leigh, who showered praise on Garrett before presenting a writing award. Leigh also provided an inadvertently poignant moment when she began to read the name inside her envelope, that of “Marvin’s Room” playwright Scott McPherson. She hesitated and began sobbing as she read the rest of the message--that McPherson died of AIDS-related complications in 1992. “Is this true? I’m sorry, I didn’t know that,” she said, amid her tears.

Fortunately the painful moment was followed not by more banter but by a crystalline rendition of “Try to Remember” from singer Karen Culliver.*