The offbeat reap awards

Few shows, many Carbonells

By Bill Hirschman

Special to the Sun-Sentinel

April 8, 2008

A bloody, dark comedy about Irish terrorists and a scatological musical about the ultimate water shortage were among the offbeat productions reaping multiple honors Monday at South Florida's awards for theatrical excellence in 2007, the 32nd annual Carbonells.

The region's oldest arts honors were presented in Fort Lauderdale at the Broward Center during a benefit show raising scholarships for arts students.

GableStage's gore-soaked TheLieutenant of Inishmore won best play, best supporting actress for Kim Morgan's fledgling terrorist and the seventh best- director award for Joe Adler.

Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre took three awards for its satirical ecological nightmare Urinetown the Musical: Jim Ballard and Rachel Jones in supporting acting categories, and David Nagy for musical direction.

The Maltz Jupiter Theatre's lushly produced shows earned six awards, the most for any company. Its Man of La Mancha won best musical, director, choreographer and lighting, while its flapper pastiche The Boyfriend took the costuming and scenic design awards.

Bestowing major honors separately for plays and musicals, the Carbonells honored Irene Adjan with the musical best actress award as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl at the New Vista Theatre Company in Boca Raton. In the play division, Lela Elam won the actress award; she portrayed a woman who has contracted AIDS from a lover in GableStage's In the Continuum.

The Coral Gables theater also hosted Gary Marachek's best actor turn in a musical as the drag queen heroine of La Cage aux Folles. Paul Tei, the fiery actor/director/playwright and co-founder of the cutting-edge Mad Cat Theatre in Miami, was honored as best actor in a play for his toxic shock jock in Mosaic Theatre's Talk Radio, and best supporting actor as well as a member of the best ensemble for his acerbic salesman in Mosaic's Glengarry Glen Ross. Talk Radio also notched a win for Matt Corey's sound design.

Davie resident Michael McKeever won the best new play award for his script Melt, portraying Miami-Dade's multicultural life, presented by the New Theatre in Coral Gables.

In the road show category, Monty Python's Spamalot won for best production.

Jack Zink, senior critic for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and a founder of the Carbonells, became the first person to twice receive the George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts.

Bill Hirschman can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it