Nov 24, 2004

One (More) Hand (Not) Clapping

Don Shirley chimes in on the non-L.A. Ovations, and more or less shares my pique. His money quote:

"Most productions have closed by the time they're up for Ovation Awards, so seldom is there any direct box-office benefit of an award. The larger goal of the Ovations is to raise the visibility of L.A. theater in general, which isn't accomplished when the most awards go to a revival in Riverside.

The Ovations are supposed to help unify and clarify the vast sprawl of the L.A. theatrical landscape. This year, the sprawl won."


Indeed--although I don't know if the answer, as he suggests, is raising the number of qualifying voters. The statistic in Don's story that blew me away: 75 Ovation voters saw La Bohème. Good to see the voters, like the rest of us, just love those comps.

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