Don Grigware is an Ovation nominated actor with The Road Theatre Company who inaugurated Behind the Scenes Theatre Chit Chat for the former Metro LA (previously NoHo LA) during a six-year stint as theatre editor. He has contributed to the former www.reviewplays.com with his monthly column Let’s Talk Theatre.
Friday, December 19, 2008
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)
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