Singin' in the Rain, Uncle Vanya Win Connecticut Critics Awards

By Kenneth Jones
05 Jun 2007

The Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, honoring excellence in the state's 2006-07 theatre season, were presented June 4 at Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT.

Long Wharf Theater's Uncle Vanya won as Outstanding Production of a Play, and Goodspeed's current Singin' in the Rain won for Outstanding Production of a Musical.

Rob Ruggiero snagged a directing award for staging the world premiere William Finn musical, Make Me a Song, which is aiming for a New York City home following its popular fall 2006 run at TheaterWorks in Hartford.

The award for Outstanding Debut on a Connecticut Stage went to actress Vanessa Kai for her debut in Far East at Stamford Theatre Works.

There was a tie in the category of Outstanding Actor in a Play. The award went to both Marco Barricelli of Uncle Vanya (Long Wharf) and James Lecesne of I Am My Own Wife (Hartford Stage).

The national tour of Monty Python's Spamalot was named Outstanding Roadshow (it played the Bushnell).

The Tom Killen Memorial Award went to James Bundy, artistic director, Yale Repertory Theatre.

The CCC also honored the following:

  • Outstanding Costume Design: Angela Wendt, Singin' in the Rain, Goodspeed Musicals

  • Outstanding Sound Design: David Remedios, No Exit, Hartford Stage

  • Outstanding Set Design: Scott Bradley, Eurydice, Yale Rep

  • Outstanding Lighting Design: Russell H. Champa, Eurydice, Yale Rep

  • Outstanding Choreography: Warren Carlyle, Pirates of Penzance, Goodspeed Musicals

  • Outstanding Ensemble: Jackie Burns, Amy D. Forbes, Billy Johnstone, Erin Sousa Stanley and Eric Strong, A Grand Night for Singing, Ivoryton Playhouse

  • Outstanding Actress in a Play: Donna Wandrey, Murderers, TheaterWorks

  • Outstanding Actor in a Musical: Jon Peterson, George M. Cohan Tonight, Seven Angels

  • Outstanding Actress in a Musical: Hollis Resnick, Man of La Mancha, Long Wharf

  • Outstanding Director of a Play: Gordon Edelstein, Uncle Vanya, Long Wharf

    The Connecticut Critics Circle is made up of Connecticut-based theatre reviewers (but not critics from such major papers as the New Haven Register, Hartford Courant and the regional section of the New York Times).