‘Lion King’ Collects a Pride of Ovation Nominations

“The Lion King” reigned in the Ovation Award nominations announced Monday.

The Disney musical at the Pantages Theatre received 12 nods--three more than the runner-up, “Contact,” which played the Ahmanson Theatre. Tied for third place, with five each, were the little musical “bare,” Pasadena Playhouse’s revival of “Do I Hear a Waltz?” and the Ahmanson Theatre musical trilogy “3hree.”

Center Theatre Group’s 32 nominations--19 at the Ahmanson Theatre, 13 at the Mark Taper Forum--were the most for one producer or theater. The peer-voted Ovations, sponsored by Theatre LA, will be presented Nov. 12 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Victory Theatre co-founder Tom Ormeny will receive the James A. Doolittle Award for leadership, Cathy Rigby the Career Achievement Award. Nominees:

Musical, larger: “Titanic,” Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center; “The Lion King,” Disney Theatricals at Pantages Theatre; “Contact,” Ahmanson Theatre; “Hair,” Reprise! at Wadsworth Theater; “Brigadoon,” Musical Theatre West at Carpenter Center.

Musical, smaller: “The Grave White Way,” Curtain Down Productions at Hudson Backstage Theatre; “A Little Night Music,” Interact Theatre; “bare,” God Help Productions at Hudson Mainstage Theatre; “There’s No Place Like Hollywood,” Shirley Hillard at Stella Adler Theatre; “Glad to Be Unhappy: The Lyrical Life of Lorenz Hart,” Theatre West.

Play, larger: “A Huey P. Newton Story,” Cultural Affairs Department at Los Angeles Theatre Center; “Looking for Normal,” Geffen Playhouse; “In Real Life,” Mark Taper Forum; “Death of a Salesman,” Ahmanson Theatre; “The Vagina Monologues,” James P. Freydberg, Yvette Fromer, William P. Suter at Canon Theatre.

Play, smaller: “Two-Headed,” Timescape Arts Group at John Anson Ford Theatre; “Good Thing,” Mark Taper Forum at Actors’ Gang; “Weights,” Mark Taper Forum at Actors’ Gang; “The Godfather Workout (The Last Scenes),” Susan O’Sullivan at Theatre East; “Underneath the Lintel,” Actors’ Gang.

World premiere: Nick Zagone, “David and Goliath in America”; Jessica Litwak, “Victory Dance”; Damon Intrabartolo and Jon Hartmere Jr., “bare”; Jane Anderson, “Looking for Normal”; Jessica Goldberg, “Good Thing.”

New translation/adaptation: Clara Bellar, Herb Mendelsohn and cast, “A Flea in Her Ear”; Brent Hinkley, “How to Steal an Election”; Karen Leeds Schuler and Richard Miller, “Beat for Sparrows”; Roland Dubillard, “Diablogues.”

Director, musical: Susan Stroman, “Contact”; Julie Taymor, “The Lion King”; Kristin Hanggi, “bare”; Brad Rouse, Scott Schwartz and Harold Prince, “3hree”; Jon Engstrom, “Evita.”

Director, play: Brent Hinkley, “Underneath the Lintel”; Anthony Sandoval, “Pathe-X”; Ron Lagomarsino, “Looking for Normal”; Daniel Sullivan, “In Real Life”; Veronica Brady, “Two-Headed.”

Lead actor, musical: Anthony Crivello, “Do I Hear a Waltz?”; John Griffin, “bare”; Avi Hoffman, “Too Jewish?”; Eric Kunze, “Evita”; John Vickery, “The Lion King.”

Lead actress, musical: Fuschia, “The Lion King”; Karen Morrow, “Call Me Madam”; Gogi Grant, “Glad to Be Unhappy: The Lyrical Life of Lorenz Hart”; Keili Lefkovitz, “bare”; Carol Lawrence, “Do I Hear a Waltz?”

Lead actor, play: Roger Guenveur Smith, “A Huey P. Newton Story”; David Hyde Pierce, “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks”; Alan Alda, “QED”; John Spencer, “Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine”; Brian T. Finney, “Underneath the Lintel.”

Lead actress, play: Laurie Metcalf, “Looking for Normal”; Mary Mara, “Two-Headed”; Charlayne Woodard, “In Real Life”; Uta Hagen, “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks”; Caroline Aaron, “Call Waiting.”

Featured actor, musical: William Akey, “The Lion King”; Hugh Panaro, “Call Me Madam”; Adam Dannheisser, “Contact”; Danny Rutigliano, “The Lion King”; Alan Campbell, “Contact.”

Featured actress, musical: Holly Cruikshank, “Contact”; Donna McKechnie, “Mack & Mabel”; Moe Daniels, “The Lion King”; Meg Howrey, “Contact”; Tina Gasbarra, “Do I Hear a Waltz?”

Featured actor, play: Daniel Reichert, “Side Man”; Leslie Jordan, “Southern Baptist Sissies”; Howard Witt, “Death of a Salesman”; Derek Sitter, “The Dead Boy”; Scott Venters, “Molly’s Delicious.”

Featured actress, play: Anastasia Basil, “In Flagrante Gothicto”; Elizabeth Franz, “Death of a Salesman”; Ann Walker, “Southern Baptist Sissies”; Daphne Ashbrook, “Landscape of the Body”; Brenda Ballard, “Wait Until Dark.”

Ensemble performance: casts of “The Vagina Monologues,” “Infinity,” “Pathe-X,” “Good Thing,” “Night and Her Stars.”

Choreographer: Lynne Taylor-Corbett, “Swing!”; Garth Fagan, “The Lion King”; Rob Ashford, Daniel Stewart, Michael Arnold, “3hree”; Susan Stroman, “Contact”; Jon Engstrom, “Evita.”

Set, larger: Walt Spangler, “3hree”; Roy Christopher, “Do I Hear a Waltz?”; Richard Hudson, “The Lion King”; Thomas Buderwitz, “Titanic”; David Gallo, “King Hedley II.”

Set, smaller: Cecil Schmidt, “The Slow and Painful Death of Sam Shepard”; Desma Murphy, “A Mislaid Heaven”; Greg Richman, “Call Waiting”; John Patrick, “The Night of the Iguana”; Susan Fellman, “Night and Her Stars.”

Lighting, larger: Donald Holder, “The Lion King”; Tom Ruzika, “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks”; Michael Gilliam, “Do I Hear a Waltz?”; Howell Binkley, “3hree”; Kathy A. Perkins, “In Real Life.”

Lighting, smaller: Robert L. Smith, “A Mislaid Heaven”; Robert L. Smith, “David and Goliath in America”; Robert Fromer, “Sleepwalk”; Frank McKown, “On the Open Road”; Fredrick Wenzlaff, “Infinity.”

Costumes, larger: Candice Cain, “The Body of Bourne”; William Ivey Long, “Contact”; Beaver Bauer, “Everything’s Ducky”; Julie Taymor, “The Lion King”; Miguel Angel Huidor, “3hree.”

Costumes, smaller: Sarah Fernandez and Moira Moore, “A Mislaid Heaven”; Kara Feely, Paule Lemasson, Norma Ramos, “Pathe-X”; Talia Jones, “Night and Her Stars”; Peter A. Lovello, “A Little Night Music”; Shon LeBlanc, “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”

Sound, larger: Philip G. Allen, “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks”; Scott Stauffer, “Contact”; Richard Woodbury, “Death of a Salesman”; Steve C. Kennedy, “The Lion King”; Marc Anthony Thompson, “A Huey P. Newton Story.”

Sound, smaller: Randy Schulman and DE3, “Infinity”; Karl Fredrik Lundenberg and Al Jackson, “Weights”; Jef Bek and Eric Snodgrass, “Pathe-X”; Jef Bek, Eric Snodgrass and J Warner, “The Slow and Painful Death of Sam Shepard”; Wav Magic and Ken Sawyer, “A Mislaid Heaven.”