Los Angeles theater has made a name for itself over the past few years—sure, it's not Broadway, but Angelenos can find high-caliber shows all across the Southland. Case in point? The 27th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards nominees, which were announced this morning.
While you may think that well-known theaters like Kirk Douglas Theatre, A Noise Within or the Theatre @ Boston Court would lead the pack with the highest number of nominations, it's actually La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. The theater has 22 nominations for its productions of American Idiot (7), First Date (7), Dreamgirls (4) and Empire (4). In fact, the theater has a pretty good chance at winning the Best Production of a Musical category (Large Theatre) since two of its productions—American Idiot and First Date—make up two-thirds of the category. Also nominated in that category is Los Angeles LGBT Center's Ham: A Musical Memoir.
Up for the coveted Best Season award is Celebration Theatre, Geffen Playhouse and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Though La Mirada Theatre has the most nominations, it's notably absent from the best season list, as is the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, the Theatre @ Boston Court and Rubicon Theatre Company—all of which were nominated last year, with the Wallis taking home the award.
Center Theatre Group is also up for numerous awards—20, to be exact. Kirk Douglas Theatre's Endgame is up for 10 awards, including Best Production of a Play (Large Theatre) and Best Acting Ensemble of a Play. Mark Taper Forum's Father Comes Home from the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 has 6 nominations, primarily in the acting categories. Not to be left out is Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson productions, Grey Gardens and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, which are also nominated.
Proving it deserves its Best Season nomination, Geffen Playhouse has 18 nominations. It's production of Guards of the Taj racked up seven nominations while Barcelona got six, Outside Mullingar pulled in two, while These Paper Bullets! A Modish Ripoff of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and Big Sky both got one. But Celebration Theatre is on its heels with 16 nominations total, with The Boys from Oz accounting for 10 of those.
The Ovation Awards were founded in 1989 by LA STAGE Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to growing the performing arts in the greater L.A. area. They are the only peer-judged theater awards in L.A. The winners will be announced during a ceremony at the Ahmanson Theatre on Tuesday, January 17, 2017 at 7:30pm.
For a full list of nominees, click here.
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