Winners! Laughs, tears, more highlight 2018 SALT Awards ceremony
Brighter, faster, classier but still as upbeat and raucous as ever. This year’s Syracuse New Times Syracuse Area Live Theater (SALT) Awards roared into the new Austin and Allyn Auditorium of the Redhouse Arts Center on Salina Street. Every seat was filled, and those seats were kind to the tush for more than three hours. Josh Mele, this year’s show producer, had streamlined the presentations and disciplined the loquacious.
The early awards for sound, lighting, sets and costumes went especially quickly. Even if the evening did not end until nearly 10 p.m., it did not feel that long. Laughter and applause were still spirited in the last half-hour.
Related: 2018 Syracuse Area Live Theater Awards hit the Redhouse (photos)
Syracuse Stage was once again a big winner, with artistic director Bob Hupp taking home a crate full of trophies, many for out-of-town professionals who could not attend, but also a sweet one for himself: Best Director of a Musical for Next to Normal. In a reconfiguration of categories, Syracuse Stage now competes with Ithaca’s Kitchen Theatre Company and Auburn’s Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival and its Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, whose Brett Smock won for Best Choreographer for Mamma Mia!
The other summer companies, Cortland Repertory Theatre and Ithaca’s Hangar Theatre, now compete in the regional category with Syracuse’s Redhouse. Cortland Rep’s Kerby Thompson was the second-busiest man of the evening, especially for the risk musical Newsies, and the Hangar was shut out.
Mele was judicious in selecting the evening’s presenters: Skaneateles’ Bradley Benjamin, now on tour with Pippin, and TeNesha Murphy of WSYR-Channel 9’s morning infotainment show Bridge Street. They graced through some of the more obscure names in community theater. Murphy was so poised that when she was given the wrong page for an intro, she turned it into an asset.
Mele also went with still-admired veterans: costumer Eugene Taddeo introduced the Lifetime Achievement Award to octogenarian Marie Felice, the spark plug behind the fondly remembered Pompeian Players. That prompted the evening’s first standing ovation. Bob Brown, the mellifluous baritone, did the Hall of Fame Award introduction for the late Armond Magnarelli with a heartfelt but light tribute.
A memorial tribute to troupers lost this year featured “Beautiful City” sung by Nic MacLane. The best known of these was singer Lee Dreamer.
Lightening the timing was newly svelte and blonde Jennifer Pearson as a vamping Vanna White-styled award presenter. She made sure there was never a slack moment but did not overstay her welcome.
When he accepted an award for his direction of Our Town, Cortland Rep’s Thompson noted that, given the current world events, he thought it was time to return to a simpler era. Yet director Justin Polly topped that sentiment when he won for his direction of Central New York Playhouse’s Frost/Nixon: “When I looked at the current political situation, I thought it was time to bring back Richard Nixon.”
Exploiting a link to the same production, Tom Minion accepted his award for Best Actor with his fingers in the V-sign and a creditable Nixon mimic — only his full white beard was in preparation for playing Kris Kringle in December’s Central New York Playhouse production of Miracle on 34th Street.
Play of the Year
Professional Theater Companies
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- On Golden Pond (Redhouse Arts Center)
Community Theater Companies
- Frost/Nixon (CNY Playhouse)
Leading Actress in a Play
Professional Theater Companies
- Dorcas Sowunmi, A Raisin in the Sun (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Laura Austin, The Little Dog Laughed (Redhouse)
Community Theater Companies
- Binaifer Dabu, August: Osage County (Syracuse Shakespeare in the Park)
Leading Actor in a Play
Professional Theater Companies
- Mickey Rowe, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Jason M. Shipman, Our Town (Cortland Repertory)
Community Theater Companies
- Tom Minion, Frost/Nixon (CNY Playhouse)
Director of a Play
Professional Theater Companies
- Rita Brainin, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Kerby Thompson, Our Town (Cortland Repertory)
Community Theater Companies
- Justin Polly, Frost/Nixon (CNY Playhouse)
Supporting Actress in a Play
Professional Theater Companies
- Kyra Stevens, The Three Musketeers (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Grace Allyn, The Little Dog Laughed (Redhouse)
Community Theater Companies
- Heather Jensen, It’s Only a Play (CNY Playhouse)
Supporting Actor in a Play
Professional Theater Companies
- Matthew Greer, The Three Musketeers (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Jason M. Shipman, Rough Crossing (Cortland Repertory)
Community Theater Companies
- Isaac Betters, It’s Only a Play (CNY Playhouse)
Costume Design of a Play
Professional Theater Companies
- Marianne Custer, The Three Musketeers (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Donnie Williams, The Little Dog Laughed (Redhouse)
Community Theater Companies
- Donnie Williams, It’s Only a Play (CNY Playhouse)
Lighting Design of a Play
Professional Theater Companies
- Michael Klaers, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Chuan-Chi Chan, 70 Scenes of Halloween (Redhouse)
Community Theater Companies
- Sarah Anson, Frost/Nixon (CNY Playhouse)
Set Design of a Play
Professional Theater Companies
- Stanley A. Meyer, The Three Musketeers (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Tim Brown, The Little Dog Laughed (Redhouse)
Community Theater Companies
- William Edward White, Frost/Nixon (CNY Playhouse)
Sound Design of a Play
Professional Theater Companies
- Todd Mack Reischman, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Anthony Vadala, On Golden Pond (Redhouse)
Community Theater Companies
- Kasey Polly, Frost/Nixon (CNY Playhouse)
Musical of the Year
Professional Theater Companies
- Next to Normal (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Newsies (Cortland Repertory)
Community Theater Companies
- Pippin (Syracuse Summer Theatre)
Leading Actress in a Musical
Professional Theater Companies
- Judy McLane, Next to Normal (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Katie Luke, Newsies (Cortland Repertory)
Community Theater Companies
- Aubry Ludington Panek, The Bridges of Madison County (Appleseed)
Leading Actor in a Musical
Professional Theater Companies
- Crawford Horton, The Wizard of Oz (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Zack Zaromatidis, Newsies (Cortland Repertory)
Community Theater Companies
- Liam Collins, Pippin (Syracuse Summer Theatre)
Best Director of a Musical
Professional Theater Companies
- Robert Hupp, Next to Normal (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Kerby Thompson, Saturday Night Fever (Cortland Repertory)
Community Theater Companies
- Dan Rowlands, Rock of Ages (CNY Playhouse)
Supporting Actress in a Musical
Professional Theater Companies
- Michelle Veintimilla, Anne of Green Gables (Merry-Go-Round)
Regional Theater Companies
- Aubry Ludington Panek, La Cage Aux Folles (Redhouse)
Community Theater Companies
- Briana Jesse Duger, Into the Woods (CNY Playhouse)
Supporting Actor in a Musical
Professional Theater Companies
- Josh Tolle, Next to Normal (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Camden Garcia, Newsies (Cortland Repertory)
Community Theater Companies
- Joshua Kimball, Pippin (Syracuse Summer Theatre)
Best Musical Director
Professional Theater Companies
- Brian Cimmet, Next to Normal (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Bridget Moriarty, La Cage aux Folles (Redhouse)
Community Theater Companies
- Dan Williams, Pippin (Syracuse Summer Theatre)
Best Choreographer
Professional Theater Companies
- Brett Smock, Mamma Mia! (Merry-Go-Round)
Regional Theater Companies
- Matthew Couvillon, Newsies (Cortland Repertory)
Community Theater Companies
- Jodi Bova-Mele, Pippin (Syracuse Summer Theater)
Costume Design of a Musical
Professional Theater Companies
- Jessica Ford, The Wizard of Oz (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Raven Ong, La Cage aux Folles (Redhouse)
Community Theater Companies
- Stephanie Long, Into the Woods (CNY Playhouse)
Lighting Design of a Musical
Professional Theater Companies
- Herrick Goldman, The Wizard of Oz (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Chuan-Chi Chan, La Cage aux Folles (Redhouse)
Community Theater Companies
- Liam Fitzpatrick, Rock of Ages (CNY Playhouse)
Set Design of a Musical
Professional Theater Companies
- Linda Buchanan, The Wizard of Oz (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Tim Brown, La Cage aux Folles (Redhouse)
Community Theater Companies
- Dan Rowlands & Christopher J. Lupia, Rock of Ages (CNY Playhouse)
Sound Design of a Musical
Professional Theater Companies
- Jonathan Herter, The Wizard of Oz (Syracuse Stage)
Regional Theater Companies
- Anthony Vadala, La Cage aux Folles (Redhouse)
Community Theater Companies
- Anthony Vadala, Pippin (Syracuse Summer Theatre)
Best Ensemble in a Musical
- Pippin (Syracuse Summer Theatre)
Individual Awards
Lifetime Achievement Award: Marie Felice
Hall of Fame Award: Armond Magnarelli
