Dora: I Love You Like-a Never Before-a.

By J. Kelly

The Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations were announced yesterday at the top of First Canadian Place. And for once, there is little to argue with… (Well, there’s always something to argue about, so feel free to go at it in the comments here.)
The two most-nominated shows were Urinetown and Hairspray, but given that there are separate Dora categories for musicals and a heck of a lot fewer of them than straight theatre productions, they couldn’t help back pack on the nominations.
The real big star this year is director Daniel Brooks, who was touched twice in the best director category. Two shows produced by his Necessary Angel theatre company – John Mighton’s Half Life and Rick Miller’s Bigger than Jesus – picked up a total of 13 well-deserved nominations.
In the Independent Theatre Category, Theatre Extasis and The Theatre Centre’s That Time (pictured) – a selection of Beckett’s short works that Torontoist desperately wanted to see, but missed – picked up 8 nominations. Can we have a remount please?
We would be remiss if we didn’t tell you that two shows with multiple nominations are still on stage for your viewing pleasure: Volcano’s time-travelling Hedda Gabler and the Fats Waller extravaganza Ain’t Misbehavin’.

And now a quick rant from someone who has covered several Doras now: The category names are friggin’ ridiculous. Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Principal Role – Musical? Why not Best Actress – Musical? If we must pretend that this isn’t a competition, I’d be okay with Oustanding Actress – Musical? (Though if it isn’t a competition, why release the list of nominees?) Heck, I’ll be all right with Outstanding Female Actor – Musical or Outstanding Female Performance – Musical… Theatre journalists often have to fight for every word, so why make it harder on them?