A hot night for Fire at Toronto's Dora Awards
Last Updated: Monday, June 30, 2008 | 11:09 PM ET
CBC News
Ted Dykstra won a Dora Award for his performance as Cale Blackwell, the rocker brother in Fire, and a second Dora for musical direction. (Cylla von Tiedemann) The Canadian Stage revival of Fire burned bright at the Dora Mavor Moore Awards Monday night, earning five awards, including outstanding musical.
The annual awards for excellence in Toronto theatre also hailed The December Man, a CanStage co-production with Edmonton's Citadel Theatre, which was named outstanding production.
The winners of the awards were celebrated Monday at Toronto's Winter Garden Theatre.
Fire, a Canadian rock-gospel musical that first played in Toronto in 1985, is about two brothers — one a rock star, another a preacher — who both love the same woman.
Fire earned an oustanding direction Dora for James MacDonald and a best actress award for Nicole Underhay.
Ted Dykstra, playing the role of the rocker brother, which he first created in 1985, earned both a best actor Dora and the award for best musical direction.
Colleen Murphy's play The December Man, about the 1989 Montreal Massacre of women at École Polytechnique, earned a Governor General's Award earlier this year.
From left, Stuart Hughes, Kevin Bundy and Joseph Ziegler in Soulpepper Theatre's The Time of Your Life. Both Hughes and Ziegler won Dora Awards for their performances. (Sandy Nicholson/Soulpepper Theatre)The leads, Nicola Cavendish and Brian Dooley, who first performed the roles in Edmonton, both earned nominations for their performances.
However, they lost out to Lally Cadeau in Rose, who took the best actress Dora and Joseph Ziegler in The Time of Your Life, named best actor.
The Time of Your Life, a Soulpepper Theatre production, also earned a best performance in a featured role Dora for Stuart Hughes.
Soulpepper's Top Girls had a leading seven nominations going into the theatre awards ceremony, but came home with just one, outstanding direction of a play for Alisa Palmer.
Other Toronto productions hailed as the best of their kind were:
- Outstanding new play: Palace of the End by Judith Thompson.
- Outstanding new musical: Arthouse Cabaret by Jim LeFrancois and David Oiye.
- Outstanding touring production: The Drowsy Chaperone.
- Independent theatre best production: Waiting for Godot by Modern Times Stage Co.
- Independent theatre best new play: Pyaasa by Anusree Roy.
- Outstanding dance production: Chapel/Chapter, Harbourfront Centre.
- Outstanding opera production: From the House of the Dead, Canadian Opera Co.
- Outstanding production for young audiences: Love You Forever…and More Munsch, by Lorraine Kimsa Theatre.
Roy, who wrote and performed Pyaasa, a play about India's caste system and an 11-year-old trying to escape life as an Untouchable, won a best actress award in the independent theatre division.
Peggy Baker in Portal, a solo work that earned her awards for best choreography and best performance. (John Lauener) Godot took home a best direction award for Soheil Parsa, as well as outstanding production.
In the dance division, Peggy Baker was hailed for both oustanding choreography and best performance for her solo work, Portal.
Measha Breuggergosman won the outstanding performance Dora in the opera division for her part in Idomeneo.
Director, teacher and translator John Van Burek, was presented with the Silver Ticket Award, which allows the winner to have a lifetime of tickets to Toronto productions.
The Silver Ticket Award goes to an individual who has excelled in their own career while also nurturing the development of Canadian theatre.
Van Burek founded Théâtre français de Toronto and was its artistic director for 20 years and is now artistic director of Pleiades Theatre, which he also founded and which produces plays originating in languages other than English.
He has also translated works by Quebec playwright Michel Tremblay, and by Marivaux, Goldoni and Molière into English.
Lighting designer Michelle Ramsay received the Pauline McGibbon Award, which goes to an Ontario theatre professional early in his or her career who demonstrates great potential.
Ramsay has worked with Theatre Archipelago, Native Earth Performing Arts, The Grand London, Theatre Passe Muraille and Tarragon Theatre.
