‘Carousel’ Leads the Ovation Race

“Carousel” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” two musicals that appeared at the Ahmanson Theatre, won the most nominations for the 1995-96 Ovation Awards, announced Tuesday by Theatre L.A., the sponsoring organization. “Carousel” took 12 nominations and “Kiss” bagged 10.

The Mark Taper Forum’s production of Marivaux’s “Changes of Heart” won seven nominations--more than any other locally generated show. Topping the list of nominees in sub-100-seat theaters was “Dinah Was” at the Coast Playhouse, with six nods. Three shows won five nominations each: “The Ellis Jump” at the Met Theatre, “An Inspector Calls” at the Ahmanson Theatre and “Annie Get Your Gun” at La Mirada Theatre.

Among producing organizations, Center Theatre Group had no competition, winning 30 nominations for its own productions or co-productions at the Ahmanson and Taper and also serving as the Ovation sponsor for the Livent (U.S.) production of “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” which played CTG’s Ahmanson and garnered 10 more nominations.

“Kiss” also played at two other Southland venues, but those theaters don’t belong to Theatre L.A.--a requirement for Ovation eligibility--so it was the Ahmanson engagement that earned the kisses for “Kiss.”

This year yielded the first nominations ever for a show produced outside Los Angeles County, as the MusiComedy Co. production of “The Taffetas” at the Gem Theatre in Garden Grove took three nominations. The show’s producer Edmund Gaynes, based in the San Fernando Valley, is a member of Theatre L.A., which has often promoted itself as extending beyond Los Angeles County, even though such prominent Orange County producers as South Coast Repertory and Orange County Performing Arts Center are not members.

The nominations were announced at Planet Hollywood in Beverly Hills, where emcee Marilu Henner and other celebrities who read the nominations were surrounded by movie memorabilia. The awards will be presented on Nov. 18 at the Shubert Theatre.

The nominees:

* Play/Larger: “The 24th Day,” produced by Seth Flicker and Michael Filerman at Coronet Theatre; “Psychopathia Sexualis,” “Three Tall Women,” “Changes of Heart,” Mark Taper Forum; “An Inspector Calls,” Ahmanson Theatre.

* Play/Smaller: “The Central Ave. Chalk Circle,” Cornerstone Theater at Watts Labor Community Action Committee; “Radio Mambo: Culture Clash Invades Miami,” Culture Clash at Tamarind Theatre; “A Language of Their Own,” East West Players; “The Ellis Jump,” Met Theatre; “Great Expectations,” A Noise Within.

* Musical/Larger: “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” Livent (U.S.) Inc. at Ahmanson Theatre; “Carousel,” Ahmanson Theatre; “Radio Gals,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” La Mirada Theatre; “The Taffetas,” MusiComedy Co. at Gem Theatre.

* Musical/Smaller: “Dinah Was,” Douglas Sills and Blind Pig Productions, Tina Treadwell Productions, at Coast Playhouse; “Guys and Dolls,” Actors Co-op; “City of Angels,” Colony Studio Theatre; “Twist of Fate,” Mindy Schwartz at Tiffany Theater; “Avenue X,” Odyssey Theatre.

* Writing of a World Premiere: Vince Waldron, “Confessions of a Lady Killer”; Jim McGrath, “The Ellis Jump”; Joe Santi, “Blue Laws”; Maurice Keller, “Wilde . . . and Wonderful”; Del Shores, “Sordid Lives.”

* Translation/Adaptation: Beth Milles, “The Imaginary Invalid”; Stephen Keep Mills, “A Christmas Carol: The Ghost Story of Christmas”; Alan Palmer, “Songs the Girls Sang”; Dan Shor, “He Who Gets Slapped (The Painted Laugh)”; Ed Trotta, “Animal Farm.”

* Director/Musical: Nicholas Hytner, “Carousel”; Harold Prince, “Kiss of the Spider Woman”; Pamela Hall, “The Taffetas”; Bob Devin Jones, “Dinah Was”; Frank Lombardi, “Annie Get Your Gun.”

* Director/Play: Ron Orbach, “The Ellis Jump”; Bill Rauch, “The Central Ave. Chalk Circle”; Greg Howells, “Family Secrets”; Jeff Seymour, “El Salvador”; Roger Guenveur Smith, “Radio Mambo: Culture Clash Invades Miami.”

* Leading Actor/Play: John Michael Higgins, “Changes of Heart”; Bruce Wright, “The Ellis Jump”; John Aylward, “Psychopathia Sexualis”; Alec Mapa, “Porcelain”; Robert Prosky, “Camping With Henry and Tom.”

* Leading Actress/Play: Mary Lou Rosato, “Changes of Heart”; Dawn Maxey, “The Ellis Jump”; Marian Seldes, “Three Tall Women”; Karen Kondazian, “Orpheus Descending”; Sherry Glaser, “Family Secrets.”

* Leading Actor/Musical: Juan Chioran, “Kiss of the Spider Woman”; Perry Stephens, “Annie Get Your Gun”; Dan Gerrity, “Twist of Fate”; Perry Stephens, “Guys and Dolls”; Patrick Wilson, “Carousel.”

* Leading Actress/Musical: Sarah Uriarte, “Carousel”; Yvette Freeman, “Dinah Was,” Cathy Rigby, “Annie Get Your Gun”; Chita Rivera, “Kiss of the Spider Woman”; Barbara Passolt, “City of Angels.”

* Featured Actor/Play: Christopher Liam Moore, “Deporting the Divas”; Steven M. Porter, “The Imaginary Invalid”; Laurence O’Dwyer, “Changes of Heart”; Hank Cheyne, “A Kind Man and a Good Lover”; Tom Fitzpatrick, “The Imaginary Invalid.”

* Featured Actress/Play: Maria Canals, “Changes of Heart”; Katy Selverstone, “Breaking the Code”; Tracy Middendorf, “Orpheus Descending”; Jane Kaczmarek, “Kindertransport”; Melinda Peterson, “The Illustrated Woman.”

* Featured Actor/Musical: Bud Leslie, “Dinah Was”; Brett Rickaby, “Carousel”; Dorian Harewood, “Kiss of the Spider Woman”; Lego Louis, “City of Angels”; Victor Love, “Dinah Was.”

* Featured Actress/Musical: Julianne Buescher, “Tight Quarters”; Sherry D. Boone, “Carousel”; Rebecca Eichenberger, “Carousel”; Melody Garrett, “Dinah Was”; Merle Louise, “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

* Ensemble Performance: casts of “Mad Forest,” “Radio Mambo: Culture Clash Invades Miami,” “Confessions of a Lady Killer,” “Hellcab,” “El Salvador.”

* Set Design/Larger: Jerome Sirlin, “Kiss of the Spider Woman”; Yael Pardess, “Blade to the Heat”; Bob Crowley, “Carousel”; James Leonard Joy, “Camping With Henry and Tom”; Ian MacNeil, “An Inspector Calls.”

* Set Design/Smaller: Yuki Nakamura, “And the Soul Shall Dance”; Douglas D. Smith, “Death of a Salesman”; Rick Ortenblad, “Birdsend”; Deborah Raymond and Dorian Vernacchio, “Mad Forest”; Robert W. Zentis, “Orpheus Descending.”

* Costume Design/Larger: Bob Crowley, “Carousel”; Candice Cain, “Blade to the Heat”; Ian MacNeil, “An Inspector Calls”; Martin Pakledinaz, “Changes of Heart”; Florence Klotz, “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

* Costume Design/Smaller: Kristen Anacker, “El Salvador”; Mary Jane Miller, “Home Fires”; Lynn Jeffries, “The Central Ave. Chalk Circle”; Franco Carbone, “The Triumph of Love”; Alix Hester, “The Imaginary Invalid.”

* Lighting Design/Larger: Rick Fisher, “An Inspector Calls”; Anne Militello, “Blade to the Heat”; Howell Binkley, “Kiss of the Spider Woman”; Chris Parry, “Camping With Henry and Tom”; Paul Pyant, “Carousel.”

* Lighting Design/Smaller: Ken Booth, “Orpheus Descending”; Lisa Hashimoto, “Porcelain”; Ken Booth, “Kindertransport”; J. Kent Inasy, “Mad Forest”; Russell Champa, “The Imaginary Invalid.”

* Sound Design/Larger: Jon Gottlieb, “Changes of Heart”; Steven Canyon Kennedy, “Carousel”; T. Richard Fitzgerald, “An Inspector Calls”; Jon Gottlieb, “Blade to the Heat”; Martin Levan, “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

* Sound Design/Smaller: Dwayne Douglass, “Birdsend”; Yuki Nakamura, “And the Soul Shall Dance”; Jeff Seymour, “El Salvador”; Charles Dayton, “Park Your Car in Harvard Yard”; Laurence O’Keefe, “The Imaginary Invalid.”

* Choreography: Patsy Sabline, “The Taffetas”; Michael Lichtefeld, “Annie Get Your Gun”; Vincent Paterson and Rob Marshall, “Kiss of the Spider Woman”; Sir Kenneth MacMillan, “Carousel”; Patti Colombo, “Radio Gals.”