Urinetown is No. 1 at the Doras

By John Coulbourn, TORONTO SUN

URINETOWN came out number one last night as theatre artists gathered at the Winter Garden Theatre to celebrate excellence in Toronto's performing arts at the 26th annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

Produced by CanStage and Dancap Private Equity, Urinetown topped the charts in the General Theatre division, claiming six awards in the musical category -- Best Production, Best Actor (David Keeley) and Best Actress (Mary Ann McDonald) as well as honours for direction (John Rando), musical direction (Stephen Woodjetts) and choreography (John Carrafa).

In second spot, Necessary Angel's co-production (with Factory Theatre and Wyrd Productions) of Bigger Than Jesus scored three awards: Best Production/Play, Best Actor (Rick Roberts) and Best Lighting Design (Beth Kates). Necessary Angel's production of Half Life (with Tarragon Theatre) earned Best New Play honours for playwright John Mighton as well.

The Best New Musical Dora went to David Finley for Aladdin, Ross Petty's annual Christmas panto, while Factory Theatre's production of The Leisure Society scored awards for Best Direction (Ken Gass) and Best Actress (Irene Pool.)

Michael Simpson took honours for a featured player for his performance in Soulpepper's Translations, while Astrid Janson and Julie Renton won for Best Costumes for The Red River Rebellion. Judith Bowden took Best Set Design for her work on Blue Planet. The Dora for Best Sound Design/Composition went to Lyon Smith for Little Dragon, and Theatre francais de Toronto's presentation of Est-ce qu'on ne pourrait pas s'aimer un peu? was named Best Touring Production.

In the smaller Independent Theatre Division, the evening's big winners were Theatre Extasis and the Theatre Centre, whose co-production of That Time claimed four awards -- Best Production, Best Direction (Jennifer Tarver), Best Actress (Barbara Gordon) and Best Sound Design (E.C. Woodley).

Playwright Tara Beagan claimed a Dora for Thy Neighbour's Wife and Andy Massingham won for Best Actor in Rough House.

Theatre Direct Canada took both awards in the Theatre for Young Audiences division for And By The Way Miss... while Opera Atelier cleaned up in the Opera Division for Dido And Aeneas and Susie Burpee Swept the Dance Division for Mischance & Fair Fortune.

A special honorary Dora was awarded to arts patron Bluma Appel for exceptional and lifelong dedication to the performing arts. Appel gives a cheque for $1,000 to every winner in the independent theatre division. In the history of the Doras, only two other artists have been similarly honoured -- the late Urjo Kareda and William Hutt.

The Pauline McGibbon Award to an emerging theatre artist went to lighting designer Kimberly Purtell and the Silver Ticket Award went to Sky Gilbert.