The Best in LA Theatre for 2008

(alphabetical listings)
(in certain categories artists performing outside LA may be included)

Top Productions
Alice in One-Hit Wonderland 2, Through the Looking Glass – Troubies @ Falcon Theatre
American Tales – Antaeus Company
Assassins – West Coast Ensemble
Great Expectations – Hudson Theatre/Odyssey Theatre
House of Blue Leaves – Mark Taper Forum
Kiss of the Spider Woman – Bootleg Theatre
Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara – Sacred Fools/Matrix Theatre
My Antonia – Rubicon Theatre, Ventura
Prelude & Liebestod – LCGRT (Lonnie Chapman’s Group Repertory Theatre)
Singin’ in the Rain – Cabrillo Music Theatre
Waiting in the Wings – Theatre West
West Side Story – Hudson Backstage

Most Promising New Musical
9 to 5: The Musical – Ahmanson

Most Promising New Play (tie)
Girl’s Room – El Portal Mainstage
Looped – Pasadena Playhouse

Most Unique Production: Play with Standup Comedy
Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress – Geffen Playhouse

Most Unique Performance: Play within Orchestral Concert
John Malkovich – Seduction and Despair - Musica Angelica (Santa Monica)

Best Ensemble – Play (tie)
The Friendly Hour – The Road
Waiting in the Wings – Theatre West

Best Ensemble – Musical (tie)
The Andrews Brothers – Musical Theatre West
West Side Story – Hudson Backstage

Best Lead Performance
Chad Borden/Terra C. Macleod – Kiss of the Spider Woman (Bootleg)
Jake Broder/Vanessa Claire Smith – Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara (Matrix)
Kate Burton/Jane Kaczmarek/John Pankow – House of Blue Leaves (Mark Taper Forum)
Laura Darrell – West Side Story (Hudson Backstage)
Larry Eisenberg – Prelude & Liebestod (LCGRT)
David Engel – Singin’ In the Rain (Cabrillo @ Thousand Oaks)
Eden Espinosa – Flora the Red Menace (Reprise!)
Beth Kennedy – Alice in One-Hit Wonderland 2/As U2 Like It (Troubies @ Falcon)
Sharon Lawrence – Orson’s Shadow (Pasadena Playhouse)
Adam Simmons – Great Expectations (Hudson)
Pamela Taylor/Eduardo Enrikez – Blood Brothers (Whitefire)
Granville Van Dusen – Memoirs of Abraham Lincoln (Falcon)

And...Equally Memorable
Dave Barrus – Songs from an Unmade Bed (Celebration)
Jonathan Crombie – Drowsy Chaperone (Ahmanson)
Barbara Gruen/Henry Gummer – A Good Smoke (Chandler Studio)
Valerie Harper/Chad Allen – Looped (Pasadena Playhouse)
Megan Hilty/Stefanie J. Block/Allison Janney/Mark Kudisch – 9 to 5 (Ahmanson)
David Hess/Judy Kaye – Sweeney Todd (Ahmanson)
Allen E. Read/ Michelle Duffy – Mask (Pasadena Playhouse)
Stewart W. Calhoun/Alex Schemmer – Thrill Me (Hudson)

Best Featured Performance
Rick Batalla – As U2 Like It (Troubies @ Falcon)
Ellen Crawford/Dave Barrus – Great Expectations (Hudson)
Melissa Fahn/Randy Rogel – Singin’ in the Rain (Cabrillo @ Thousand Oaks)
Madelynn Fattibene – A Good Smoke (Chandler Studio)
Kathy Fitzgerald – 9 to 5 (Ahmanson)
Betty Garrett – Waiting in the Wings (Theatre West)
Janet Krupin – West Side Story (Hudson Backstage)
Michael Lanning – Mask (Pasadena Playhouse)
Megan Lawrence – Flora the Red Menace (Reprise!)
John O’Brien – Assassins (Cast)
Andrea Syglowski – Post Mortem (Lyric Hyperion)
Liz Vital/Stewart W. Calhoun - How Cissy Grew (El Portal, Secondstage)

Best Authors
William Derringer – The Passion that Bites Back
Steven Stanley – Moroccan Roll

Best Solo Artist: Play
Ann Randolph – Squeeze Box (Steinway Hall)

Best Solo Artist: Variety
Jeff Trachta - Jeff Trachta Live! (Spa Resort Casino, Palm Springs)

Entertainer of the Year
Jeff Trachta – Jeff Trachta Live! (Spa Resort Casino, Palm Springs)

Best Theatre CD
Patti Lupone Gypsy

Consistently Outstanding Achievement in Producing Musicals with a Very Limited Run (tie)
Musical Theatre West (The Carpenter Center, Long Beach)
Reprise Theatre Company (The Freud @ UCLA and Brentwood Theatre)