The Stage

UK’s La Cage and Red begin US awards haul

Published Monday 24 May 2010 at 13:25 by Judd Hollander

The Broadway production of La Cage Aux Folles tied for top honours at the 60th Annual Outer Critic Circle Awards, honoring excellence on and off Broadway during the 2009/10 New York Theatrical season.

La Cage, which originated at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London, took home honours in the categories of Outstanding Revival of a Musical, Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Douglas Hodge), Outstanding Director if a Musical (Terry Johnson) and Outstanding Costume Design (Matthew Wright). Also winning four awards, the most any show received, was the original musical Memphis, a rock n’ roll story set in the early 1950s.

Winning the Award for Outstanding Play was John Logan’s Red. The play, starring Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne, began its journey to Broadway at the Donmar Warehouse. Taking home the prize for Outstanding Actress in a musical was Catherine Zeta-Jones for her role in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music - a revival which, like La Cage, also started at the Menier.

Other winners included Denzel Washington, as Outstanding Actor in a Play, for his role in August Wilson’s Fences, and Carrie Fisher for her one-woman show Wishful Drinking.

The current cast of the Broadway comedy God of Carnage (Dylan Baker, Jeff Daniels, Lucy Liu and Janet McTeer) will serve as presenters at the awards, which will be held on May 27 at Sardi’s Restaurant in the heart of the Times Square Theatre District.

Celebrating its 60th season of bestowing awards for excellence in the field of theatre, the Outer Critic Circle is an association with members affiliated with more than ninety newspapers, magazines, web sites, radio and television stations, and theatre publications in America and abroad.

Meanwhile, the Village Voice 55th Annual OBIE Awards honored Janet Rylance for her work with The Bridge Project for As You Like It, which appeared at the Brooklyn Academy of Music earlier this season. Also receiving Obies (there are no specific categories at these awards, which recognize work off and off-Broadway) was playwright Enda Walsh for The New Electric Ballroom, which started at Ireland’s Druid Theatre, and the production team of Neil Murray (sets and costumes), Malcolm Rippeth (lighting) Gemma Carrington and John Driscoll (projection) for their work on Brief Encounter, produced by the UK’s Kneehigh Theatre.

Also, Alfred Molina was the man of the hour at the 76th Annual, Drama League Awards, receiving that group’s Distinguished Performance Award out of a field of more than 50 performances the League deemed noteworthy this past theatre season, including work by such actors as Daniel Craig (A Steady Rain), Nathan Lane (The Addams Family), Angela Lansbury & Catherine Zeta Jones (Night Music), Jude Law (Hamlet), and Christopher Walken (A Behanding in Spokane). The Distinguished Performance Award is considered one of the most prestigious theatrical honors in the US and can be won only once in a person’s career. Several past winners were also hand, including Hugh Jackman, Rosemary Harris, and Liev Schreiber.

In the other Drama League categories, Red received the Award for Distinguished Performance of a Play, while La Cage took the honors in the musical revival category. The new musical award went to Sondheim on Sondheim, a musical revue/video documentary presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company; while the award for Distinguished Revival of a Play went to A View From The Bridge starring Schreiber and Scarlett Johanasson.

Founded in 1916, the Drama League is one of the nation’s oldest continuously-operating, not-for-profit arts advocacy and education organizations. The Awards were first given out in 1935, making them one of the oldest artistic awards in America.