Holy Moly, Lounge Lizards! A Depression? Layoffs? The crisis of the century? Let’s party! The 30th annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards (The Arts Crisis Edition) is coming to the El Rey, in L.A.’s beautiful Miracle Mile on Monday night, March 30, 2009. That’s 5515 Wilshire Boulevard, two and half blocks west of La Brea.
Okay, James Dean wannabes and Marlon Brando worshippers, or, if you can’t get enough I Love Lucy reruns without needing medication, this is your night! Get out those black leather jackets, shine those saddle shoes, drag out that poodle skirt you found on eBay, and get ready to jive with all the cool cats. ’Cause the El Rey is going to be as sizzling as the Sahara in Las Vegas, circa 1958, as the King and Queen of the Lounge, Louis & Keely (a.k.a. Jake Broder and Vanessa Claire Smith) host the Weekly’s 30th annual celebration of L.A.’s best intimate theater, produced between January 1 and December 31, 2008.
It’ll be cabaret seating, as co-hosts Broder and Smith reprise the repartee and show numbers from their hit prize-winning musical, Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara.
Nominees get in free, $20 for their guests and the public. All tickets include table service, a pay-as-you-go bar, and a post-show reception.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m.
Remember, it’s 1958. If you dress like you live in the 21st century or something, you’ll just look like an alien, and people will stare! Don’t be embarrassed, be cool, and be there. ’Cause what will people say if you’re not?
NOMINEES (see list below): To RSVP, call (310) 574-7208.
ALL OTHERS: There will be an online booking link coming this week, stay posted. For more info, call (310) 574-7208.
You’re a nominee if your name appears on the list below, or if you were listed in a program as a producer, artistic director, actor, director, composer, choreographer, stage manager or designer for shows listed in the following categories: Production of the Year, Revival Production, Musical of the Year.
Also, you’re a nominee if you were listed in the program as an actor in any of the shows listed in the ensemble categories or Two-Person Performance category.
Finally, you’re a nominee if you were listed in the program as a producer, artistic director or designer for shows listed in the Production Design category.
The 30th annual nominees are:
PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR
My Antonia, Pacific Resident Theatre
1001, Theatre @ Boston Court
Song of Extinction, Moving Arts at [Inside] the Ford
REVIVAL PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR (of a 20th- or 21st-century work)
Betrayal, Andak Stage Company at the New Place Studio Theatre
James Joyce’s The Dead, Open Fist Theatre Company
Klüb, Actors Gang
MUSICAL OF THE YEAR
Assassins, West Coast Ensemble at the El Centro Theatre
Great Expectations, Hudson Backstage Theatre
Gulls, Theatre @ Boston Court
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, MET Theatre
Joe’s Garage, Open Fist Theatre Company
Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara, Sacred Fools Theatre/Matrix Theatre
Lovelace: A Rock Opera, Hayworth Theatre
Pest Control: The Musical, Open at the Top Productions at the NoHo Arts Center
1776, Actors Co-op
DIRECTION
L. Flint Esquerra, The Bones of Lesser Men, MET Theatre
John Langs, The Sequence, Theatre @ Boston Court
Derek Charles Livingston, M. Butterfly, Chandler Studio Theatre Center
Jon Lawrence Rivera, Sea Change, Gay and Lesbian Center
Stephen Sachs, Victory, Fountain Theatre
Scott Schwartz, My Antonia, Pacific Resident Theatre
Scott Alan Smith, Lady, Road Theatre Company
DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Kevin Cochran, R.R.R.E.D. — The Redhead Musical Manifesto, Grove Theater Center
Richard Israel, Assassins, West Coast Ensemble at the El Centro Theatre
Richard Israel, 1776, Actors Co-op
Jessica Kubzansky, Gulls, Theatre @ Boston Court
Scott Leggett, Beaverquest! The Musical, Sacred Fools Theatre Company
Charles Otte, James Joyce’s The Dead, Open Fist Theatre Company
Pat Towne, Joe’s Garage, Open Fist Theatre Company
Ken Sawyer, Lovelace: A Rock Opera, Hayworth Theatre
COMEDY DIRECTION
Darin Anthony, U.S. Drag, Furious Theatre Company at the Pasadena Playhouse
Chris Covics, Fables du Theatre, Unknown Theatre
Ian Forester, Fatboy, NeedTheater at the Imagined Life Theatre
Robert McCaskill, The Common Air, Asylum Theatre
ONE-ACT DIRECTION
Gary Blumsack, Sexy Laundry, The Hayworth Theatre
MUSICAL DIRECTION
Kevin Cochran, R.R.R.E.D. — The Redhead Musical Manifesto, Grove Theater Center
Steven Ladd Jones and Billy Thompson, American Tales, Deaf West Theatre
Dennis Kaye, Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara, Sacred Fools Theatre/Matrix Theatre
Johanna Kent, 1776, Actors Co-op
Dean Mora, James Joyce’s The Dead, Open Fist Theatre Company
ENSEMBLE
The Bones of Lesser Men, MET Theatre
Bouncers,The Lost Studio
Coffee Will Make You Black, Celebration Theatre
The Friendly Hour, Road Theatre Company
He Asked for It, Theatre of NOTE
James Joyce’s The Dead, Open Fist Theatre Company
The Mission(Accomplished), City Garage
Sea Change, Gay and Lesbian Center
The Sequence, Theatre @ Boston Court
Victory, Fountain Theatre
MUSICAL ENSEMBLE
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