The Daily Record
December 31, 2006
High points of ’06
Morris area stages served up great theater
by William Westhoven
Writing this traditional end-of-the-year column is never a chore. What better way to celebrate the holiday season than to sit back and revisit all the great theater you’ve seen over the past 12 months — lingering on the high points, and fast-forwarding through the others.
Regular readers know the reach of this column covers most of north and central New Jersey, but only the eight professional theaters operating in the Daily Record area are eligible.
Those theaters are the Bickford Theatre at the Morris Museum in Morris Township, Centenary Stage Company at Centenary College in Hackettstown, The Growing Stage Theatre in Netcong, Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, Playwrights Theatre in Madison, the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in Madison, Tri-State Actor’s Theater in Sussex and the Women’s Theater Company in Parsippany.
Also, full disclosure requires disclaimers regarding the subjective nature of the awards process (a committee of one, with some modest oversight from the missus) and the intangible quality of the awards themselves (winners shall receive no statue, certificate or swag). And, of course, the awards are void where prohibited by law.
With the boilerplate legalese behind us, please turn off your cell phones and pagers and applaud the winners of the 2006 Morris Stage awards:
Best drama
David Wiltse’s “The Good German” at Playwrights Theatre in Madison (not the current movie of the same name). An astonishing period drama set in Nazi Germany — a woman asks her husband (an anti-Semite who doesn’t think much of the Nazis, either) to hide a Jewish man in their home. When the Nazis kill her, the men forge a tense bond that leads to an inevitable explosion. In short, the best play I’ve ever seen at Playwrights.
Honorable mention: “Richard III” at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey was more fun than we could have possibly imagined.
Best comedy
“The Taming of the Shrew” was tightened to 90 minutes and brought outdoors this year by the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Director Brian B. Crowe energized it with food fights and silent-film slapstick. Chaplin couldn’t have done any better.
Honorable mention: “Sleeping Beauty,” The Growing Stage. Adapter Perry Arthur Kroger’s fractured fairy tale was weird and wonderful, including a cooking show, an infomercial, a ukulele solo and a yellow, 6-foot stegosaurus named Fifi.
Best musical
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” This co-production from Paper Mill and McCarter Theatre in Princeton could have claimed the title in several categories, from best play to best revival or even best comedy. Visionary director Tina Landau interpreted “Midsummer” as the collective “dream” of the New York City-based pop-rock musical trio Groovelily, who perform the score and play supporting roles. Landau added “Cirque du Soleil” visuals and turned Shakespeare’s romantic fantasy into the unchallenged theatrical event of the year.
Honorable mention: Unique staging and a strong cast at Paper Mill made yet another revival, “Carnival,” surprisingly welcome.
Best actor in a drama
Paul Mullins wickedly evil “Richard III” was so much fun, you almost hated to see him get his what-for.
Best actress in a drama
At the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Laila Robins was perfectly cast as Madame Ranevskaya in “The Cherry Orchard,” and flawless in performance, showing us every angle of this classically conflicted character.
Honorable mention: Victoria Mack at the same theater, surviving a long night of Victorian melodrama in “Pride and Prejudice.”
Best actor in a comedy
This year, almost all best comedic performances were in supporting roles. The best of the bunch was Jeffrey M. Bender as Bob Acres in “The Rivals.” Bender went into full Monty Python “twit” mode as the unsteady suitor and reluctant duelist, and stood tall among a cast of top comedy actors.
Best actress in a comedy
Lea DeLaria turned Nick Bottom into an androgynous cross between Lou Costello and Ella Fitzgerald in McCarter and Paper Mill’s “Midsummer.”
Best actor in a musical
James Clow sidestepped the ghost of James Stewart and made a three-dimensional George Bailey in “A Wonderful Life” at Paper Mill.
Best actress in a musical
Tovah Feldshuh was a feisty title character in “Hello Dolly!” at Paper Mill, cracking wise in a thick brogue, binge-eating and reminding everyone she sings as well as she acts.
Honorable mention: Gwendolyn Walker fearlessly reprised her title role in “Always, Patsy Cline” at Tri-State. A welcome encore.
Most acting range
Karen Case Cook and Gayle Stahlhuth played frontier women from childhood to AARP status in the Women’s Theater Company’s production of “Two-Headed.”
Hardest-working man in show business
Paul Mullins, who both directed (“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”) and starred (“Richard III”) on the mainstage at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.
Hardest-working woman in show business
Barbara Krajkoswki, who moved her Women’s Theater Company to Parsippany over the winter, staged a benefit for the company (starring her daughter, Tony winner Jane Krakowski) in the spring at the Bickford Theatre, then returned to the Bickford in the fall to direct “Catch Me If You Can.”
Best score
GrooveLily’s original music for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was both modern and in perfect harmony with lyrics written 400 years ago.
Honorable mention: The rock-me-gently songs of Ellie Greenwich stoked “Smokey Joe’s Café” at the Women’s Theater Company.
Best bad guy
Mark H. Dold was so much fun as the vengeful Cloton in the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s production of “Cymbeline” that we were disappointed when he lost his head–literally. Honorable mention: Peter Ludwig as womanizing artist in Centenary Stage Company’s “The Dew Point.” This wolf in sheep’s clothing could have used the same close shave that Cloton got.
Best bad girl
Beth Glover was an unapologetic whiskey-swilling mom who left her children, without regret, in “The Good Girl Is Gone” at Playwrights Theatre.
Best director (drama)
Tina Landau won honorable mention in this category for “Of Thee I Sing” at Paper Mill in 2004. After “Midsummer,” I’m starting the Parsippany chapter of her fan club.
Honorable mention: Vivienne Benesch moved from supporting actress to director status at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and, in her first crack, turned “Richard III” into a devilishly guilty pleasure.
Best set
“Carnival” opened on a dark, barren stage at Paper Mill and built a unique world of color and imagination with puppets, atmospheric lighting and a caravan of carts.
Best lobby
The café-style lobby at the Parsippany Arts Center is a great place to gather before and after shows by its new tenant, the Women’s Theater Company.
Best costumes
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey can always be relied on for stunning costumes, but at three hours-plus and 44 scenes, none had more than “Pride and Prejudice.”
Best new actor
Alex Zalenty, a 13-year-old Stirling resident, stole “A Thousand Clowns” from his Equity professional costars at the Bickford Theatre.
Best new actress
Another 13-year-old, Beth Codey, carried two hours of “The Wizard of Oz” on her still-growing shoulders at the Growing Stage.