The 2024 OntarioStage Awards
What they lack in prestige, they more than make up for in pointlessness.™
It’s the third time around for the annual awards compilation voted “Easiest to Ignore” by the Canadian theatre establishment.
The usual caveats apply:
- As an American, my time in Canada is limited thanks to Immigration Canada’s ongoing efforts to keep out the riffraff, but I see as much as I can, mostly during the summer season, mostly at the Festivals of southwestern Ontario. So these awards are perforce selective and highly subjective.
- The categories change from time to time. This year I am making a distinction between drama and comedy in the performance category. Actors are one of Canada’s most valuable natural resources and this season there were just too many good performances to leave some by the wayside.
Best Musical: Something Rotten at the Stratford Festival
There’s a reason people are returning to see this one for the third and fourth time.
Runner up: La Cage Aux Folles, also at Stratford
Best Actress in a Musical: Kristi Frank, My Fair Lady at the Shaw Festival
Quite loverly!
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, Heather Kosik in La Cage Aux Folles
An absolute charmer and a terrific dancer.
Runner up: Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane, Something Rotten. A close one.
Best Actor in a Musical: Steve Ross, La Cage Aux Folles
Ross gets the leading role he deserves and excels.
Runner up: Mark Uhre in Something Rotten. This one, too, was close.
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical: Henry Firmston
, Something Rotten
The bright-eyed naif who comes to the big city to make it big is a staple of plays about showbiz and Firmston carries it off beautifully.
Best Director of a Musical: Donna Feore, Something Rotten
Again, no contest.
Best Choreographer: Donna Feore, Something Rotten
The genius strikes again.
Best Set for a Musical: Brandon Kleiman, La Cage Aux Folles
Deceptively simple but brilliantly executed.
Best Costumes for a Musical: Michael Gianfrancesco, Something Rotten
And there were hundreds of them! He wins on stitches alone.
Runner up: David Boechler, La Cage Aux Folles.
Best Play/Best New Play: Salesman in China, at the Stratford Festival
A splendid achievement! A beautiful and heart-breaking imagining of a real-life event. If this impressive work doesn’t find its way to Toronto, Broadway, and the West End there’s no justice.
Best Actress in a Drama: Rosemary Dunsmore, The Saviour, at Here For Now Theatre
Once again Here For Now is providing a showcase for older female actors, playing older parts.
Runners up: Irene Poole, The Diviners at Stratford, Lucy Peacock, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? at Stratford.
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama: Lucy Hill, Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes, at the Blyth Festival
Hill distinguished herself in multiple roles in this touching play about Canadian history.
Best Actor in a Drama: Adrian Pang, Salesman in China
Runners up: Rick Roberts, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? at Stratford, Jim Mezon, The Golden Anniversaries at Blyth Festival.
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama: Damian Atkins and Ric Reid (Tie), Candida at the Shaw Festival
Two beautifully realized supporting performances.
Best Actress in a Comedy: Deborah Hay, London Assurance at the Stratford Festival
Runner up: Valerie Boyle, Doris and Ivy in the Home at Drayton. Yes, even her!
Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy: Jennifer Walls, Naked Radio at Drayton
A tour de force in a veritable kaleidoscope of roles.
Best Actor in a Comedy: Peter Fernandes, One Man, Two Guvnors at the Shaw Festival
The role Fernandes has been waiting for.
Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy: Matt Alfano, One Man, Two Guvnors
Inspired physical comedy, and then he’s unrecognizable in the skiffle band.
Best Ensemble: The cast of Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes
This all-female cast was exemplary.
Runner up: The cast of The Farm Show: Then & Now at Blyth.
The “Chameleon” Award: Eric Abel
, La Cage Aux Folles and Something Rotten
This award is intended for the performer, male or female, who effects the most startling transformation in two roles in two or more plays. This year is goes to Eric Abel who proves once again the old adage that there are no small parts. He was a hoot as Hanna, the whip-snapping dominatrix in La Cage and as baby-faced Robin in Something Rotten, a dedicated actor who likes to wear women’s clothing to bars “for research,” both at the Stratford Festival.
Best Director of a Play: Jovanni Sy, Salesman in China
Everything about Sy’s orchestration of this production struck me as nigh on perfect.
Best Sets for a Play: Joanna Yu, Salesman in China
Yu’s sets were subdued to the point of seeming drab but in total service of the director’s vision. She was ably assisted by the projections of Caroline MacCaull and Sammy Chien in creating the perfect backdrop for this tale.
Best Costumes for a Play: Ming Wong, Salesman in China
Again, a splendid example of design as an integral element in supporting an artistic vision. Spanning decades, cultures, and regimes Wong’s costumes were only occasionally showy but in every instance spot on.
As always, your mileage may differ.
For the 2023 awards, CLICK HERE.
For the 2022 awards, CLICK HERE.
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