Helen Hayes 2009: A Good Night For Revolutionaries
Sure, the student revolutionaries may not have triumphed in the uprising of 1803, but Signature's Les Miserables was definitely triumphant last night at the 25th Anniversary Helen Hayes Awards.
The outstanding regional production, which crammed an epic musical into a theater with less than 300 seats, took home a number of the evening's high profile prizes, including awards in the musicals categories for director, musical direction, supporting actor and actress (a tie), ensemble and best musical overall.
For a 25th anniversary show, last night's celebration didn't include a whole lot of extra fanfare. Blame the economy, perhaps — instead of corsages, for example, the winners were recognized with whimsical glow necklaces. The show stuck with the no-host format, a cluster of singers peppering the ceremony with a collection of often corny musical theater parodies (the most amusing, surprisingly enough, recognizing the awards' sponsors).
But what it lacked in fanfare the awards more than made up with in inclusiveness, a Helen Hayes trademark. Its tribute award recognized every artistic director of the city's 70+ professional theatre companies (all were brought onstage to boot). Categories burst at the seams with nominations, such as the 12-nominee category for outstanding ensemble, resident play. And there were plenty of ties; cuthroat competitiveness was hardly the spirit here.
Cutest speech was a no-brainer — the precocious Angelina Kelly, who shared the supporting actress in a resident musical prize for her work as an adorably dorky kid in Signature's Ace. Kelly's mom told her that whatever happens, she was to smile and act absolutely thrilled. "I'm thrilled," she confirmed to the audience.
Studio Theater's Joy Zinoman also scored some laughs as she accepted a shared award for best resident play, Blackbird. She shared her secret for taking home the coveted prize. "You do a two-person play about pedophilia at Christmastime," Zinoman said dryly. "It's a guarantee."
The night had a handful of surprises in store. Chita Rivera in The Visit was no shock as a recipient of the best actress in a resident musical, but Natascia Diaz was more than a little surprised to share the trophy with her for her turn in ROOMS a rock romance (a show that sadly went unrecognized for the rest of the evening). "Oh my god, oh my god," she kept repeating to calm herself as she took the stage.
Despite his untimely death, Robert Prosky was bested by Next To Normal's Aaron Tveit in the supporting actor, non-resident play category. The best actor trophy, however, was renamed in Prosky's honor. The Happy Time's David Margulies beat out an entire group of performers from more widely-seen musicals to snag a best actor in a resident musical trophy.
It was a great night for Synetic Theatre, which took home a number of prizes, many for its silent production of Romeo and Juliet. Small companies did not fare as well — few were nominated, and wins were largely limited to Catalyst's sound design trophy and a first win for Theater J, which took home one of the night's most illustrious awards as the affecting Honey Brown Eyes was deemed best new play.
A full list of winners is available online.