BWW Recap: Toronto Celebrates its Best at the 2013 Dora Awards

Last night, Toronto celebrated its finest at the 34th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards. The awards presented were for the 2012/2013 theatre season.

Before the awards ceremony, the nominees and select invited guests attended a pre-show VIP cocktail party hosted by the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. Guests mingled and had a snack while meeting new faces and catching up with old friends. I was very fortunate to be able to attend and was able to meet many people from the Toronto Theatre community. Everyone I met was kind, gracious, and welcoming - which is how I would sum up the community in three words, if I had to.

Eventually we were kicked out of the Sony Centre (they had to get the show going), and we made our way over to the exquisite St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. The ceremony started a bit late because everyone took their time to get seated, but no one seemed to care very much. As the lights dimmed, the "beautiful" Matt Baram and the "talented" Naomi Snieckus welcomed us and sang a hilarious opening number! (The protocol for the evening was to call the ladies talented, and the men beautiful.) The brilliant Jian Ghomeshi, Thom Allison, Louis Pitre, and Sharron Matthews joined in the number as well.

BroadwayWorld was live tweeting the results, with me doing my best with the poor internet connection at the venue. A special thanks must go to BroadwayWorld Toronto's Kelly Cameron who was able to keep up with all the of results and help me out when I couldn't get a signal!

This was also the first year that the ceremony was live streamed onto a "Doratron" into the Jane Mallet Theatre, adjacent to the Bluma Appel Theatre - where the awards were being presented.

As the evening progressed, a record number of awards was handed out in record time as well. For a full list of winners, check out this BroadwayWorld article!

The audience choice award, sponsored by Now Magazine, was taken home by the Wizard of Oz. Danielle Wade (Dorothy) accepted on behalf of the cast saying "This is my first award show like this, but I hope they always go like this!" Oz's other win that night was for Lisa Horner, who plays the Wicked Witch of the West. Before her Dora win, her and I did an interview which you can see here.

The ceremony concluded shortly after and we all made our way out the to the incredible street party on Front Street. Music played as entertainers danced up a storm, and meanwhile delicious food was being served. It was a magical way to end an incredible evening.

See more - Broadway World Photo Coverage: Dora Awards Ceremony

See more - Broadway World Photo Coverage: Dora Awards Pre-Show VIP