We all know how utterly meaningless most award shows are. The Sound of Music was deserving of a Best Film Oscar?
Sure, and the current presidents of Iran and North Korea should have landed the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010.
My third annual Allan Awards for Strange, Wonderful and Awful Moments in Toronto-Area Theatre begins now:
The Best Musical Evening with the Lowest-cost Tickets of 2010:
The exquisitely tuneful Candide by Leonard Bernstein, presented near perfectly and with great wit by graduate students of music at the University of Toronto.
For less than $20 a seat, this uproariously cynical classic provided a feast for the eyes and ears and made over-priced, noisy, unpleasant “jukebox” shows, such as Rock of Ages and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, melt like snow in one’s memory.
The Best Plays of 2010 Written by Canadians that Helped us Survive the G20’s mortifications:
Michael Healey’s Courageous at the Tarragon, directed by Richard Rose. When two of our country’s best actors (Tom Rooney and Patrick Gilligan, both Stratford and Shaw stalwarts) make us howl with laughter while thinking deeply about subjects such as human rights, dignity and faith, you know that our countrymen are capable of greatness.
And cowinner is Erin Shields for If We Were Birds, a modern version of the two-millennia-old myth of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Who dares sayeth that world-class talent stops at the 49th parallel?
Best Play Involving Non-human Actors:
Who else but world-class puppeteer Ronnie Burkett, who just honoured the Factory Theatre with an incredible production of his latest and greatest work, Billy Twinkle? An amazing talent.
Best Play by one of the Finest Playwrights from Across the Pond:
Playwright Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9 at the Panasonic, of all places, and featuring the estimable talents of Ann-Marie MacDonald, Ben Carlson, Megan Follows and Yanna McIntosh and brilliantly directed by Alisa Palmer. Bless you for this, David Mirvish: such challenging theatre is rarely seen outside our smallest non-profits.
World-class Cutting-edge Comedy and Satire Award:
Second City is back in the game with the hilarious Something Wicked Awesome This Way Comes that hearkens back to their heyday when they ruled the comedic roost in this city. Still running, down in the shadow of the Rogers Centre and for not much more than $20 a seat.
Congratulations to all the winners!