The Helen Hayes Awards: ' Where You Could Hear the People Sing'

It was a boisterous crowd that filled the seats of the beautifully restored Warner Theatre where the Greater Washington theater community came together to applaud itself and recognize those artists who achieved greatness during the past theater season. How many people attended shows this past season? Would you believe close to two million people, the highest attendance in four years?

One could say this was the week that was for the hit musical Les Miserables.  Signature Theatre Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer's bold decision to attempt to stage this behemoth musical in the tiny 286 seat theater, with a cast of 38, 14 back stage, and a 14 piece orchestra proved a wise decision winning six awards of 13 nominations. It was no surprise. Schaeffer thanked producer Cameron Macintosh for allowing Signature to attempt this undertaking.

The singing Thernadiers, Sheri L. Edelin and Christopher Bloch walked away with well-deserved awards. 

And if you (like me) are singing to yourself this week the lovely ballad "I Dreamed a Dream", it is understandable. While the Signature Theatre's production was being honored, the You Tube hit video of Scotland's Susan Boyle (over 18 million hits) singing the song was playing all over television. On April 16, she was seen singing live on "CBS This Morning." They even had the originator of the song Patti LuPone on the phone raving about Boyle's voice. She commented, "She made me cry." Look for the film of her life shortly.

Last year Helen Hayes winner E. Faye Butler, Rick Hammerly, Janine Gulisano, Stephen Schmidt, Jenna Sokolowski and Michael Sazonov helped open the show with a different take to the Lion King's "Circle of Life". (Butler stars in the current Arena Stage production of Crowns, photo above). They also did a cute homage to Fiddler on the Roof.

There were as always some surprises. Sharing the award with Edelin was the cute as a button and talented as you can imagine, Angelina Kelly for her role in the Signature production of Ace: The New Musical Adventure. She gave a lovely speech thanking the important people, including her parents.

It was also a surprise to David Margulies who was shocked he won the award for Resident Musical Outstanding Lead Actor (Signature's underrated The Happy Time) beating out a tough field that included Will Chase, Hunter Foster, George Hearn, Doug Kreeger, and Greg Stone.

One of the sure bets during the evening was the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Resident Musical would go the incomparable Chita Rivera. But, there was a tie in this category as well. Sharing the award with Rivera was the talented Natascia Diaz for her role as a Scottish Jewish rock star in Rooms, a Rock Romance that was a huge hit at Metro Stage in Alexandria. Diaz quipped, "I grew up wanting to be Chita Rivera."

One of my favorite musicals of the year was the Arena Stage's Next to Normal.

Two actors from that production were honored, Aaron Tveit and Alice Ripley, both of whom are now performing in the Broadway production which opened last night to well-deserved rave reviews. I can't wait to hear the Broadway Cast Recording.

Now to the non-musical side, hats off again to the Synetic's Irina and Paata Tsikurishvili who received awards for Outstanding Choreographer and Director, respectively. I MUST finally get to the Synetic Theatre. Their Romeo and Juliet was also honored. 

The Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Resident Play has been named after legendary actor Robert Prosky. Ted Van Griethuysen won the award for his work in Major Barbara at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.

One thing I love about the Helen Hayes Awards is the competition between the larger theaters versus the smaller.  What a treat to see Lisa Joyce win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Resident Play at the Studio Theatre for Blackbird. The Studio also shared the award for Outstanding Resident Play for Blackbird with the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Twelfth Night.

Certainly a highlight was the Charles MacArthur Award of Outstanding New Play or Musical going to Honey Brown Eyes (a hostage drama set in Bosnia) by Stafanie Zadravec. When accepting the award for Theater J, Artistic Director Ari Roth commented that this was the very first Helen Hayes Award for the theater.

The John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company went to the Constellation Theatre Company.

Other theaters recognized were Wooly Mammoth Theatre Company, Round House Theatre, the Kennedy Center, and the African Continuum Theatre Company.

Following the event, guests were treated to a strange feast of breakfast-style sausage links, home fries, matzo, and matzo ball soup. 

For a complete list of winners visit www.helenhayes.org.

For comments, write to cgshubow@broadwayworld.com.

Photos of the  cast of "Crowns" and Felicia Curry and her parents at the Helen Hayes Award by Charles Shubow.