Drury Lane, Marriott dominate Jeff musical categories

The surprising thing about the equity nominations for the 2010-2011 Joseph Jefferson Awards announced today isn't who got nominated. It's who didn't.

As usual, Lincolnshire's Marriott Theatre and Oak Brook's Drury Lane Theatre dominated the musical categories with 16 and 15 nominations, respectively.

Director Rachel Rockwell, music Director Doug Peck (who also picked up nominations for his work on Goodman Theatre's "Candide" and Court Theatre's "Porgy and Bess") and choreographer Tammy Mader (also nominated for Drury Lane's "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers") were nominated for Marriott's taptastic "42nd Street," which earned five nominations, including best musical. Marriott's bravura revival of "A Chorus Line" also earned five nominations for best musical, best ensemble, director Mark Lococo, music Director Ryan T. Nelson and choreographer Rockwell.

What's surprising is the slights Marriott's "The Music Man" received. The Jeff Committee nominated Director Gary Griffin, music Director David Kreppel and choreographer Matt Raftery, but omitted the show from best musical category. Equally surprising was the committee's failure to recognize the first-rate performances by principals Bernie Yvon as the huckster Harold Hill and Johanna McKenzie Miller as wary librarian Marian.

For its rollicking regional premiere of "Spamalot," Drury Lane received six nominations, including nods for musical, Director William Osetek, music Director Roberta Duchak, actors Matthew Crowle and Gina Milo and lighting designer Jesse Klug. The committee also recognized Drury Lane's "Hot Mikado," a jazzy reworking of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, with six nominations: for director and choreographer David H. Bell; music Director Michael Mahler (who also picked up a principal actor nod for Theatre at the Center's "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"); actors Stephen Schellhardt and Ted Louis Levy and costume designer Jeremy W. Floyd.

Competing against himself in the best actor category is Nick Sandys, nominated for "Blithe Spirit" at First Folio Theatre in Oak Brook and Remy Bumppo Theatre's "The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?" Among the category's six nominees is John Mahoney, who played the increasingly diminished Gunner in "The Outgoing Tide" at Northlight Theatre in Skokie, which also earned nominations for best play, Director BJ Jones, actress Rondi Reed, playwright Bruce Graham and sound designer Andrew Hansen, who received a leading six individual nominations.

Tying for the most nominations with 17 each was Goodman Theatre - whose "Candide" (coproduced with Washington D.C.'s Shakespeare Theatre Company) led all productions with eight nominations - and TimeLine Theatre in Chicago, a mid-size company that continues to flex its considerable muscles. TimeLine earned five nominations each for "Frost/Nixon" and "To Master the Art," a new work about the private and professional life of Julia Child, by William Brown and Doug Frew.

Also picking up multiple nominations was Goodman's Broadway-bound world premiere "Chinglish," which also earned playwright David Henry Hwang a new work nomination.

Committee members acknowledged Steppenwolf Theatre's enlightening "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (which opens on Broadway next year) with nominations for production, Director Pam MacKinnon, actor Tracy Letts and set designer Todd Rosenthal. Yet, they inexplicably ignored Amy Morton's subtle, susceptible turn as Martha.

And, while members bestowed a best actress nomination on the superb Megan McGinnis for Northlight's charming chamber musical "Daddy Long Legs," and acknowledged Mike Nussbaum's impeccable timing in Drury Lane's "Broadway Bound," they overlooked Paula Scrofano's deliciously comic turn as the dotty Madame Arcati in First Folio's "Blithe Spirit."

That said, Jessie Mueller (who heads to Broadway this fall to star opposite Harry Connick Jr. in "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever") got well-deserved nominations for her lead actress performances as the adenoidal Miss Adelaide in Marriott's "Guys and Dolls" and Amalia in "She Loves Me" at Writers' Theatre in Glencoe. Writers received 13 nominations, four of them for the whimsical "Travels with My Aunt" for production, Director Stuart Carden; ensemble (Jeremy Sher, Sean Fortunato, John Hoogenakker and LaShawn Banks) and sound designer Mikhail Fiksel.

Highland Park newcomer The Music Theatre Company received a nomination for musical in the mid-size category for "Merrily We Roll Along" while the veteran Court Theatre in Chicago received a well-deserved five nominations for its magnificently re-imagined production of the George Gershwin masterwork, "Porgy and Bess."

The 43rd annual Jeff Awards ceremony takes place Nov. 7 at Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook.