Sometimes 11 votes can add up to ‘1776’

For a decade, competitive Ovation Awards have saluted L.A.’s supposedly finest theatrical achievements. These peer-judged honors have become a November tradition, almost like Thanksgiving turkey.

In the pre-Ovations days of the ‘80s, Times theater reporter Sylvie Drake observed Thanksgiving by writing an annual column devoted to “turkey awards” that she presented to dubious achievements in L.A. theater.

It’s time to revive her award, however briefly, in order to present a turkey award to the competitive Ovations.

The strangest Ovation oddity that leaped out of this year’s awards, presented at the Orpheum Theatre last week, was that the production that won the most Ovations -- five -- was a revival of the musical “1776” by Performance Riverside.

This “1776” played only nine regular performances, plus three school-group matinees that also were opened to Ovation voters. How could such a brief show in Riverside win the most awards at an event that’s designed by its sponsor, the LA Stage Alliance, to promote L.A. theater?

One critical factor is an Ovation rule that allows a production to qualify for awards if a minimum of eight voters see it and cast ballots. That’s eight out of a total of 178 voters this year.

If only eight voters see a show but all eight give that show’s candidates perfect scores, that show is going to win big. The awards are determined by the median score of all the voters who saw that particular show -- even if there were only eight. Box offices usually retain records of which voters picked up tickets and presumably saw the shows, and producers have access to the lists of which voters have cast ballots on their shows.

This is all very different from, say, the Oscars or the Screen Actors Guild Awards, in which voters don’t score candidates but simply vote for their favorites -- and in which there is no way of verifying if a voter has actually seen the movie or the performance.

Eleven Ovation voters saw Riverside’s “1776,” according to Performance Riverside’s outgoing executive director and producer, Steven Glaudini.

By contrast, 75 voters saw Baz Luhrmann’s “La Boheme,” which won the next highest number of awards (four) but was defeated by “1776” for best musical in a larger theater. “La Boheme” was at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown L.A.

Isn’t it possible or even likely that the chances of dissent in a group of 75 people are greater than in a group of 11? And that those voters who were so hungry for another rendition of “1776” that they drove all the way to Riverside might have been especially predisposed to like it?

These questions are not intended to slight Riverside’s “1776.” I didn’t see it, but several people who saw it told me it was wonderful. Glaudini and “1776” director Nick DeGruccio said they mounted no special campaign to get voters to see “1776.” Indeed, Glaudini sounded somewhat surprised that “1776” did so well in the Ovations compared to some of his other Riverside productions.

Yet the people who run the Ovations are aware that a producer of an obscure show could be tempted to mount a campaign among especially friendly voters to attract their attendance and their votes. They are so aware of this that a movement is afoot to raise the number of voters who must see a production from eight to 12 or 16.

If a new minimum were adopted -- an action that would have to wait until next September, when the next round of Ovation voting begins -- it obviously would eliminate some productions from consideration, not only in faraway Riverside but also in L.A., especially among shows with low profiles, short runs and tiny seating capacities.

But it also would add credibility to the results.

If a few tiny L.A. productions get struck off the Ovations list, they can always hope for a nod from the LA Weekly Awards -- which are restricted to productions with fewer than 100 seats.

And if a few outlying shows such as “1776” would no longer qualify, is that so terrible?

South Coast Repertory and Laguna Playhouse, in Orange County, somehow manage to survive despite the fact that they don’t participate in the Ovations. It helps that they often produce work that’s superior to the shows that win Ovations. Like baseball’s Angels before Arte Moreno bought the team, these Orange County groups have enough self-confidence to resist dragging in a spurious L.A. connection.

Most productions have closed by the time they’re up for Ovation Awards, so seldom is there any direct box-office benefit of an award. The larger goal of the Ovations is to raise the visibility of L.A. theater in general, which isn’t accomplished when the most awards go to a revival in Riverside.

The Ovations are supposed to help unify and clarify the vast sprawl of the L.A. theatrical landscape. This year, the sprawl won.