Happy Dora Day! To mark the occasion, my thoughts on this year's nominees ( here's the full list) are in today's paper. I'll also be live-blogging the Toronto theatre awards's ceremony - hosted by Jian Ghomeshi - here tonight. Please come and join me starting at 7:30pm.
As I mention in the article today, there's no outrageous omission at this year's Doras - unlike last year when Studio 180's top-notch production of Stuff Happens was completely ignored in the nominations. Nonetheless, there are a few performances and productions that I think were overlooked the General Division this season.
Outstanding Production of a Play: It's a Wonderful Life. Yes, it is sad that Canadian Stage Company's only entirely successful show this year was an adaptation of the ubiquitous Frank Capra film. But quality should trump snobbery - and Donna Feore's sleek production was head and shoulders above at least two of the nominated ones.
Outstanding New Play: Florence Gibson's Missing. The stylish dialogue in this mystery about a woman who disappears from her rural home in the 1970s made it worth a nod, if not a win.
Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Principal Role: Eric Peterson. Returning triumphantly to the stage from Corner Gas, Peterson gave us a cantankerous Shelley Levine in Soulpepper's Glengarry Glen Ross and a vile patriarch in Festen. He could have been nominated for either.
Outstanding Featured Performance in a play: Taylor Trowbridge. As Lily, the gnarled innocent in Nightwood's flawed adaptation of Helen Humphreys's Wild Dogs, this young actress left an indelible impression.
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical: Noella Huet, the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music. How was that voice not nominated? Dress her ugly and put her on a reality TV show and she'd be a worldwide sensation.
Outstanding Onstage Couple: Okay, this isn't actually a category, nor will it ever be unless the Doras take a page from the MTV Movie Awards. Which perhaps they should consider, given the many worthy contenders. Caroline Cave and Mike Shara might have been up for either The Way of the World or Black Comedy, two Soulpepper comedies that opened last summer and have apparently been forgotten. Cara Ricketts and Awaovieyi Agie had memorable chemistry as rebellious Beneatha and the gallant Nigerian Asagai in Soupepper/Theatre Calgary's A Raisin in the Sun. And Todd Thomson and Liisa Repo-Martell's awkward romance made Kristen Thomson's The Patient Hour worth watching, even if the metaphysical hospital drama under them needed a little medical attention.
Who or what do you feel should have been acknowledged with a nomination? We haven't even mentioned the independent division...
J. Kelly Nestruck