| . | 06/10/2009
65th Annual Theater World Awards, 2009
By: Eugene Paul
John Willis, organizer of the Awards for 45 years
Host Peter Felicia
You’ve fretted about the Tonys, who’s gotten what, which show won the nod, this director, that composer, designer, choreographer, best star, best featured player, singer and on and on, every bit of the conjecture polled, parlayed paper to paper, column to column, blog to blog, critic to critic, flogged for every bit of audience attention anywhere in the media even after the awards doled out by the Drama League, the Outer Critics Circle, the Drama Desk, all of them, but there is no award program more cherished in its own, unique way than the Theater World Awards. Which has special rules: Rule # 1: you have to be a performer. Rule # 2: You have to be making your Broadway debut. Rule # 3: You have to make a “significant” contribution to the art of theatrical performing.
For 2009, 111 women were nominated, 174 men, all new to Broadway. Only twelve were selected. (Well, maybe a special or so as well.) They joined the precious few so honored in the sixty-five years of the Theater World Awards, awards theater folk choose and present to other theater folk, a community and a ceremony attended –invitation only – by theater folk. It don’t’ never end up on the tube. The theater babies range in age from – well, in 2009, from the trio of Billy Elliotts, all firsts on Broadway, to Geoffrey Rush, a tad or two tads older, also his first Broadway appearance, laden as he is with theatrical honors and awards in a long and distinguished career. That’s the way it works. How else it works is its charm, its fun, its wit, its hilarity, its emotion, its sentimentality because each new recipient receives his or her award from the hands of a previous winner. Which is Rule # 4. For instance, startlingly funny Tovah Feldshuh (Tovah? Funny? Ye Gods!) who won her Theater World trophy thirty-something years ago, presented to the three baby Billy Elliott starring dancers. And some day, these babies will take their turn presenting the Theater World Award to a new first on Broadway performer. Eight hundred winners, so far, polling every famous name you can think of, make the unbroken chain that twelve new kids to the community join. Sure, it’s mushy, but it’s grand, grand, grand.
Daniel Blum started it all in 1944 but there is no question that the real father of the awards is John Willis, who took over 45 years ago, grew it ever since to its present, treasured status, perhaps the most coveted award in show business.. Certainly the most enjoyed. Last year, when incredible Loretta Ables Sayre arrived fresh from Hawaii to play Bloody Mary in the superb revival of South Pacific and had a Theater World Award bestowed on her dazzled head, she was so contagious in her joy she captured an entire audience of hard boiled softies, show biz folk, in moments. This year, when she presented to Joe Turner’s Chad Coleman, the joy was still reverberating. As was his. As with every recipient. As with every presenter. Andrea Martin, the marvelous looney of an overwhelmed slavey in Exit the King, had the wicked joy of running a roast on her newbie, the star of her show, Geoffrey Rush, but couldn’t hide the love and joy, wildly funny as she was.
And so it went. Craig Bierko, ten times funnier and more charming as a presenter than he is as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, presented to brand new Josh Grisetti, Harriet Walter, Queen Elizabeth in Mary Stuart,(and wearing Queen Elizabeth’s image in her earrings) wittily, graciously presented a special award to the entire cast of The Norman Conquests, (“these old lags” she called them). And there they were, gobsmacked, the whole lot because there is nothing like this on the other side of the Atlantic. Whereupon Ben Miles, who plays the most inarticulate character in the shows, all three of them, acted as spokesman because “six British people apologizing for winning something is pretty tedious.” Tedium free, all. In fact, one journalist who covers theater sighed, “This Theater World Awards show is my reward for the whole season.” Can’t get any gloppier than that.
Following are the Theater World Award winners and their presenters.
Jennifer Grace (Our Town), presenter Dylan Baker
Josh Grisetti (Enter Laughing), presenter Craig Bierko
Condola Rashad (Ruined), presenter Daniel Breaker
Josefina Scaglione (West Side Story), presenter Kristin Chenoweth
David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish (Billy Elliott), presenter Tovah Feldshuh
Chad Coleman (Joe Turner’s Come and Gone), presenter Jayne Houdyshell
Colin Hanks (33 Variations), presenter Susan Kellerman
Geoffrey Rush (Exit the King), presenter Andrea Martin
Haydn Gwynne (Billy Elliott), presenter Howard McGillin
Marin Ireland, reasons to be pretty
Susan Louise O’Connor (Blithe Spirit), presenter Nellie McKay
Chad Coleman (Joe Turner’s Come and Gone), presenter Loretta Ables Sayre
Wesley Taylor (Rock of Ages), presenter John Tartaglia
Amelia Bullmore, Jessica Hynes, Stephen Mangan, Ben Miles, Paul Ritter, Amanda Root (Norman Conquests), presenter Harriet Walter
And if you want to make your own wagers on which of these winning talents will shine brightest in ten more years, here’s your chance to send in your choice. We’ll publish the results, of course, and keep an eye on things to see if you’re right. Stick around.
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street, in an invitation-only ceremony, Tuesday, June 2, 2009 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m
Photos by Jeannie Lieberman
John Willis and Jeanne Lieberman, editor Theaterscene.net
Stephen Mangan (Norman Conquests)
Jessica Hynes, Ben Miles (Norman Conquests)
A very glam Tovah Feldshuh
Cast of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone still a flutter over Obama’s visit
Dylan Baker and Andrea Martin
Geoffrey Rush (Exit the King),
John Tartaglia (Shrek)
John Willis
Marin Ireland, reasons to be pretty
Condola Rashad (Ruined)
Chad Coleman (Joe Turner’s Come and Gone)
Andrea Martin (Exit the King)
presenter Daniel Breaker (Shrek)
Colin Hanks (33 Variations), Dylan Baker
Jayne Houdyshell and Howard McGillin
Craig Bierko presented to Josh Grisetti (Enter Laughing)
Josh Grisetti
Craig Bierko
David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish (Billy Elliott)
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