A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder Sweeps Craig Noel Awards

The San Diego Theatre Critics Circle recently announced the recipients of its 2013 Craig Noel Awards. Of the 42 productions initially nominated, 14 were honored with awards.

For design, Christopher Luessmann was recognized with the Outstanding Sound Design Award for his work on The Wizard of Oz for Moonlight Stage Productions. York Kennedy was awarded the Outstanding Lighting Design Award for Other Desert Cities, performed at The Old Globe. And Victoria Petrovich was recognized for Outstanding Projection Design in A Weekend with Pablo Picasso at San Diego Repertory Theatre.

The current Broadway hit A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder walked away with five awards from the eight nominations it received for its pre-Broadway production at The Old Globe, including Outstanding Scenic Design by Alexander Dodge, Outstanding New Musical, Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical, Male (Jefferson Mays), and Outstanding Director of a Musical (Darko Tresnjak).

A theatrical adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye, received awards for each of its three nominations: Outstanding Dramatic Production, Outstanding Ensemble, and Outstanding Direction of a Play (Delicia Turner Sonnenberg). The Bluest Eye was a co-production of Moxie Theatre and Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company.

Other multiple award recipients were the San Diego Repertory Theatre co-production (with the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts) of the musical, In The Heights, the La Jolla Playhouse revival of the musical Side Show, and the San Diego Musical Theatre production of The Sound of Music. In the Heights was honored as Outstanding Resident Musical and for its choreography (by Javier Velasco). Side Show received awards for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical, Female (shared by Erin Davie and Emily Padgett) and for its costume design (by Paul Tazewell). The Sound of Music received awards for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical, Female (Victoria Strong) and for its musical direction (by Don LeMaster).

The San Diego Theatre Critics Circle presented a special monetary award to Ion Theatre (Don Braunagel Award for Outstanding Work by a Small Theater Company) for its 2013 season, and its Outstanding Young Artist/Sandra Ellis Troy Scholarship was given to Abby DeSpain for her performance in Wait Until Dark, at the New Village Arts Theatre.

Craig Noel Awards went to Linda Libby and Randall Dodge as Actors of the Year. Each was honored for an outstanding body of work in 2013. Libby appeared in the musical Grey Gardens for Ion Theatre and was nominated for her performances in Cygnet Theatre's production of the musical Company and its production of the play The Importance of Being Earnest. Mr. Dodge appeared in two productions of South Pacific, (for the Welk Theatre San Diego and for Moonlight Stage Productions) and in the musicals, The Wizard of Oz (Moonlight Stage Productions), and Chicago (Welk Theatre San Diego). He received nominations for his leading performance in the Welk Theatre San Diego production of South Pacific and for his featured performance in the San Diego Musical Theatre production of The Sound of Music.

The critics also recognized as Outstanding Special Event the debut of two local theatre festivals, The San Diego Fringe Festival, and the La Jolla Playhouse/UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance's WithOut Walls 2013 Festival (WoW). The Fringe Festival presented Sean Sullivan in Baby Redboots' Revenge, which received a Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Solo Performance.

The program, honoring the top achievements in local semi-pro and professional theater was held at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, San Diego, in La Jolla.